Bleaching has been recorded in at least 53 countries and territories in both hemispheres.
Bleached corals in the waters of Raja Ampat Regency in east Indonesia's West Papua region in 2023. Photo: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty ImageIt's the fourth global bleaching event on record, and the second in the last decade. Bleaching threatens the reefs, which are"As the world's oceans continue to warm, coral bleaching is becoming more frequent and severe," said Derek Manzello, NOAA's Coral Reef Watch coordinator.
"When these events are sufficiently severe or prolonged, they can cause coral mortality, which hurts the people who depend on the coral reefs for their livelihoods," Manzello added.Bleaching occurs when coral stressed from environmental changes loses the photosynthetic algae, or zooxanthellae, they need to survive.starvation and disease while bleached but can survive if conditions quickly return to normal.
Mass events are defined as significant bleaching being recorded in all three ocean basins that host coral reefs — the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic — within a year.Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef ecosystem, could be among the areas hardest hit, the agency said at the time.the current widespread coral bleaching event across the Great Barrier Reef is the fifth mass event the reef has suffered in the last decade and the seventh on record.
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