Most of the world’s colorful corals turn white in record-breaking bleaching
The world’s rainbow reefs are ghostly white all over the globe.
so far International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) is a global partnership between countries and non-governmental and international organizations focusing on the sustainable management of coral reefs.
The new figures are much worse than previous events that hit 21% to 68% of coral reefs.
But scientists say coral reefs and corals have not yet died and can still rebound if people take the right measures, including conservation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Corals are small marine animals that live in colonies with colorful symbiotic algae that can give them rainbow colors and provide them with most of their food. But when the water is too hot for too long, the algae releases toxic compounds, while the corals expel it, leaving white bones behind, causing “bleaching.”
The current global bleaching activity started for the fourth time since 1998, began in January 2023, and has attacked different parts of the world at different times over the past two years. Record-breaking ocean temperature.
It was officially announced as a global coral bleaching event in April 2024. Last year, Earth’s Recorded under recordthe ocean also broke the record, with the average sea surface temperature from the poles reaching an average of 20.87℃.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, oceans around the world are experiencing large-scale coral bleaching events. This means that the coral in each major sea basin turns white or even dies because the water it inhabits is too hot.
Can’t see the end?
Britta Schaffelke, a researcher at the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences and coordinator of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, said in a statement accompanied by an ICRI press release that the facts ongoing in two years have brought the world’s reefs into “unknown waters.”
“In the past, many coral reefs around the world have been able to recover from serious events such as bleaching or storms,” she said.
But the length of this bleaching event and the fact that it fears coral scientists during the day are getting longer and longer.
Mark Eakin, communications secretary for the International Coral Reef Association, retired head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch program, said it was an open question and even the current bleaching will end.
“We may never see the thermal stress that causes bleaching drop below the threshold that triggers global events,” he told the Associated Press.
The reefs in Florida’s keys have been damaged by disease, human activity and rising ocean temperatures. Susan Ormiston, CBC’s international climate correspondent, encountered new corals with scientists in a laboratory and planted them in the wild to restore critical ecosystems.
Valeria Pizarro, a researcher at the nonprofit Perry Institute for Marine Sciences, who studies corals in the Caribbean, said bleaching once occurred at the end of summer when the waters were the warmest.
But the current activity begins in the region in July, with temperatures already between 30 c and 32 c, usually at this time of year 28°C.
It also damages even very common species, she said, “shocking.”
Nicola Smith, assistant professor of biology at Concordia University in Montreal, also studying coral reefs in the Caribbean, noted that the intergovernmental group for climate change is expected Coral reefs to drop 70% to 90% If the global temperature is warm to 1.5°C before industry temperature is high.
“We are seeing it work in front of our eyes,” she said. “That’s how it looks, not only during bleaching, but throughout the year.”
Smith said the loss of coral reefs could harm many fish and other marine life.
“They actually provide habitat, food, shelter and breeding sites for thousands of other species.”
The Kerryzis said that not only one-third of marine life relies on coral reefs, but also directly or indirectly, one billion people (either directly or indirectly), such as food, tourism and protection from storms. It estimates that they contributed $10 trillion to the global economy.
Not dead yet
Nevertheless, if people take protective measures and cut greenhouse gas emissions to slow ocean warming, the Financial Daily believes that corals can still survive this century. Other scientists say that despite grim news, corals can often bear and bounce back from bleaching.
Melanie McField, founder and director of Florida-based nonprofit Healthy Coral Reef, said that even without their food to feed symbiotic algae, the corals starve very slowly.
“It usually takes months,” she said. “They kind of hang on it. Part of it is still alive, part of it is dead.”
Even if the coral dies, other reef creatures (such as sponges and crusts, pink coral algae) can survive.
This summer, an “unprecedented” ocean heat wave occurred. Paul Withers explains what ocean heat waves are and what that means for ecosystems.
“Australians call it the Living Dead. So you still have a reef, you still have some fish,” McFall said. “Everything is brown and gray.”
However, the reef was vulnerable at the time, as sponges, worms and other creatures no longer rebuild themselves.
“Then, when the hurricane came, it turned into rubble,” McFilder said.
It can be horrible for people living on the coast protected by reefs, she said: “It’s life and safety.”
The Allen Coral Atlas is the first international attempt to not only map every reef on Earth, but also monitor how these reefs change as our oceans warm. Working with scientists on the ground, the atlas may affect places where quick work is needed to save and restore coral reefs.
The International Red Cross officials estimate that spending on solutions will need to increase sevenfold to save coral reefs and those who rely on them. Things that may help include selective breeding, coral restoration, reducing pollution and preventing overfishing.
Mcfield said many strategies have so far “very small effort” and require more strategies.
However, keeping global temperatures above 1.5 C above 1.5 C is “a necessary condition to provide job opportunities for these coral protection measures.”
McFaird agreed. “You can do all of these efforts with a 1.5 or 1.6 or 1.7 effort, but probably not 2.. Don’t go beyond [or] I’m not sure if we can save them. ”
