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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/23/coral-reef-bleaching-worst-global-event-on-record>
"The world’s coral reefs have been pushed into “uncharted territory” by the
worst global bleaching event on record that has now hit more than 80% of the
planet’s reefs, scientists have warned.
Reefs in at least 82 countries and territories have been exposed to enough heat
to turn corals white since the global event started in January 2023, the latest
data from the US government’s Coral Reef Watch shows.
Coral reefs are known as the rainforests of the sea because of their high
concentration of biodiversity that supports about a third of all marine species
and a billion people.
But record high ocean temperatures have spread like an underwater wildfire over
corals across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, damaging and killing
countless corals.
The 84% of reefs exposed to bleaching-level heat in this ongoing fourth event
compares with 68% during the third event, which lasted from 2014 to 2017, 37%
in 2010 and 21% in the first event in 1998.
Even reefs considered by scientists to be refuges from the ocean’s rising
levels of heat have been bleached, Dr Derek Manzello, the director of Coral
Reef Watch, said.
“The fact that so many reef areas have been impacted, including purported
thermal refugia like Raja Ampat and the Gulf of Eilat, suggests that ocean
warming has reached a level where there is no longer any safe harbour from
coral bleaching and its ramifications,” he said.
Many areas have seen bleaching in back-to-back years, including the world’s
biggest reef system, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, where last week
authorities declared a sixth widespread bleaching event in just nine years."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
