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Reuters

The global mass coral bleaching event is now the world’s most extensive on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told Reuters exclusively this week.A staggering 77% of the world’s coral reef areas – from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Indian oceans – have so far been subjected to bleaching-level heat stress since February 2023, according to satellite data, as fossil fuel driven climate change fuels record and near-record ocean temperatures across the world.The NOAA coral reef authority declared the global bleaching event in April 2024, making it the fourth of its kind since 1998. The previous record from the 2014 to 2017 mass bleaching affected just below 66 percent of the world’s reef area.Triggered by heat stress in warm oceans, coral bleaching occurs when corals expel the colourful algae living in their tissues. Without these helpful algae, the corals become pale and are vulnerable to starvation and disease. A bleached coral is not dead, but ocean temperatures need to cool off for any hope of recovery.NOAA has so far stopped short of calling this mass bleaching, which has now affected reefs in 74 countries and territories, the ‘worst’ on record. In the coming months and years, scientists will conduct underwater assessments of dead corals. This will help scientists tally up the severity of the event.Scientists had previously projected that coral reefs would cross a tipping point at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) of global warming, whereby up to 90% of reefs would be lost. The latest record bleaching adds to growing evidence that reefs have already passed a point of no return at just 1.3 C (2.3 F) of warming.This would have dire implications for ocean health, subsistence fisheries, and tourism. Every year, reefs provide about $2.7 trillion in goods and services, according to a 2020 estimate by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.

The global mass coral bleaching event is now the world’s most extensive on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told Reuters exclusively this week.

The global mass coral bleaching event is now the world’s most extensive on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told Reuters exclusively this week.

Global coral bleaching now the largest on record

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Global coral bleaching now the largest on record

Reuters

Published Oct 18, 2024 01:26 AM PHT

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coral bleaching

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