Ocean temperatures that went “crazy out of control”, especially in the Atlantic, are close to making the current global coral bleaching event the worst in history. It’s so bad that scientists hope a few hurricanes will cool things down.
More than three-fifths – 62.9% – of the world’s coral reefs are severely damaged by a bleaching event that began last year and continues. That’s approaching the record 65.7% in 2017, when between 2009 and 2017 about a seventh of the world’s corals died, said Derek Manzello, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Coral Reef Observation Program.
When the water gets too hot, corals, which are living creatures, bleach and sometimes die.
In the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida and the Caribbean, about 99.7% of coral reefs have been hit by “very, very severe” losses of staghorn and elkhorn species, Manzello said Thursday at the US’s monthly climate briefing. NOAA. are seeing damaged corals, with Thailand closing an island full of tourists to try to save the corals there.
Forecasters say a La Nina – a natural cooling of parts of the Pacific that changes climate around the world – is predicted to develop soon and perhaps cool the oceans a bit, but Manzello said it could be too little, too late. .
“I’m still very concerned about the state of the world’s coral reefs just because we’re seeing things happening now that are very unexpected and extreme,” Manzello said.
“This wouldn’t be happening without of Climate Change. That’s basically the cornerstone of all the ocean warming we’re seeing,” Manzello said. But beyond that are changes in El Niño, the reverse of La Niña and a natural warming of ocean waters; reduction of sulfur pollution from ships and eruption of an underwater volcano.
Former NASA climate scientist James Hansen said “it is now difficult to deny the acceleration of global warming” in a new analysis and statement on Thursday.
For corals, it all comes down to how warm the water is and “things have gone crazy out of control with ocean temperatures over the past year,” Manzello said. He said hurricanes bring cold water up from the depths and benefit coral reefs if they don’t hit them directly.
“Hurricanes can be devastating for reefs,” Manzello. “But in the grand scheme of things and given the current situation we find ourselves in on planet Earth, now they are essentially a good thing, which is mind-blowing.”
On Wednesday, parts of the Atlantic where hurricanes often develop had an oceanic heat content – which measures the heat of water at depth – equivalent to mid-Augustsaid hurricane researchers Brian McNoldy of the University of Miami and Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University.
Last month, the world’s oceans broke the record for the hottest April on record. It was the 13th consecutive month that global seas have set records, and because oceans are slow to cool or warm, more records are likely, said Karin Gleason, NOAA’s chief of climate monitoring.
Coral reefs are essential for seafood production and tourism around the world. Scientific reports have long said that coral loss is one of the great inflection points of future warming as the world approaches 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming since pre-industrial times. This is a limit that countries agreed to try to respect in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
“This is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet,” said Andrew Pershing, a biological oceanographer and vice president of science at Climate Central. “It’s an ecosystem that we will literally see disappear in our lifetimes.”
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