The primary organisation that monitors coral reefs said on Thursday that during the previous year, heat stress severe enough to cause bleaching has been experienced by about two-thirds of the world’s coral reefs.

The world’s coral reefs are currently experiencing a fourth global bleaching event, according to a report released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) last month. This is because an El Nino climatic pattern coupled with climate change has caused ocean temperatures to reach record highs.

According to the organisation, the percentage of the global reef area that has been impacted is currently 60.5%, and it is continually growing.

During a monthly briefing, Derek Manzello, the coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch programme, expressed his concerns on the condition of the world’s coral reefs.

“We are seeing (ocean temperatures) play out right now that are very extreme in nature”.

Coral bleaching, which is caused by heat stress, happens when corals expel the vibrant algae that is housed in their tissues. The corals turn pale and become more susceptible to illness and famine in the absence of these beneficial algae.

At least 62 nations and territories have seen widespread bleaching reported by scientists; effects have most recently been reported from India and Sri Lanka.

During the previous global occurrence, which lasted from 2014 to 2017, 56.1% of reef regions experienced heat stress severe enough to cause bleaching. 20% and 35% of the reef area were affected by prior disasters in 1998 and 2010, respectively.

Manzello stated that the 2014–17 incident is still regarded as the worst on record because of its intensity and tenacity, even if the current outbreak has affected a larger area. However, 2023–24 may soon overtake it, he continued.

Rising ocean temperatures have particularly damaged corals in the Atlantic, with 99.7% of the reefs in the basin experiencing heat stress severe enough to cause bleaching in the last year, according to NOAA.

According to Manzello, “the Atlantic Ocean has been off the charts.”

According to an evaluation, opens new tab released in April 2024, coral mortality in Huatulco, Oaxaca, in the Mexican Pacific has been between 50% and 93% up to this point.

This summer, things are probably going to get worse as heat stress is building up in the Southern Caribbean once more. The threshold for bleaching caused by heat stress has already been reached in certain regions.

“This is alarming because this has never happened so early in the year before,” Manzello stated.

Scientists anticipate further bleaching this summer in the Southern Caribbean, near Florida, and at the second-largest reef in the world, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.

“El Nino is fading, but the unusually warm water persists. Temperatures won’t need to rise much more than the bleaching threshold, he said.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)

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