A fourth global coral bleaching event is confirmed

April 16 () –

According to NOAA scientists, The world is currently experiencing a global coral bleaching event. This is the fourth global event on record and the second in the last 10 years.

Heat stress caused by bleaching, monitored and predicted remotely by the US NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Coral Reef Watch (CRW), has been, and continues to be, extensive in the basins of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. and Indian. CRW thermal stress monitoring is based on sea surface temperature data, spanning from 1985 to the presentcoming from a combination of NOAA and partner satellites.

“From February 2023 to April 2024, significant coral bleaching has been documented in the northern and southern hemispheres of every major ocean basin,” he said. it's a statement Derek Manzello, NOAA CRW coordinator.

From the beginning of 2023, massive bleaching of coral reefs has been confirmed throughout the tropics, including in Florida, USA; Caribbean; Brazil; the eastern Tropical Pacific (including Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia); Australia's Great Barrier Reef; large areas of the South Pacific (including Fiji, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Samoas and French Polynesia); the Red Sea (including the Gulf of Aqaba); the Persian Gulf; and the Gulf of Aden.

NOAA has also received confirmation of widespread bleaching elsewhere in the Indian Ocean basinincluding Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Tromelin, Mayotte and off the west coast of Indonesia.

“As the world's oceans continue to warm, coral bleaching is becoming more frequent and severe,” Manzello said. “When these events are severe or prolonged enough, they can cause coral mortality, which harms the people who depend on coral reefs for their livelihoods.

Coral bleaching, especially on a widespread scale, impacts economies, livelihoods, food security, and more, but it doesn't necessarily mean that corals will die. If the stress caused by bleaching is reduced, corals can recover and reefs they can continue to provide the ecosystem services on which we all depend.

“Climate model predictions for coral reefs have suggested for years that bleaching impacts would increase in frequency and magnitude as the ocean warms,” ​​said Jennifer Koss, director of the Coral Reef Conservation Program ( CRCP) from NOAA.

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