More Than 60% Of All Maldives Coral Reefs Bleached; 90% Bleached In Some Areas

[hatrack]

More than 60% of coral in reefs in the Maldives has been hit by “bleaching” as the world is gripped by record temperatures in 2016, a scientific survey suggests.

Bleaching happens when algae that lives in the coral is expelled due to stress caused by extreme and sustained changes in temperatures, turning the coral white and putting it at risk of dying if conditions do not return to normal.

Unusually warm ocean temperatures due to climate change and a strong “El Nino” phenomenon that pushes up temperatures further have led to coral reefs worldwide being affected in a global bleaching event over the past two years.

Preliminary results of a survey in May this year found all the reefs looked at in the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, were affected by high sea surface temperatures. Around 60% of all assessed coral colonies, and up to 90% in some areas, were bleached. The study was conducted by the Maldives Marine Research Centre and the Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/08/more-than-60-of-maldives-coral-reefs-hit-by-bleaching

[lapfog_1]

1. Within 10 to 20 years

we are going to have a profoundly different ocean planet.

One largely without coral reefs. Completely. And the biodiversity that comes with coral reefs.

Not sure of all the implications of this, but it will be a much different ocean planet.