Coral Bleaching

[Old Rocks]

October 8, 2015 – A consortium of ocean scientists, reef mappers and community-based monitoring teams, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), XL Catlin Seaview Survey, The University of Queensland, and Reef Check, today confirmed a “global coral bleaching event” is underway. Increased ocean temperatures due to climate change, combined with the warming effects of an El Niño pattern and a Pacific warm water mass referred to as “The Blob”, are driving temperatures to record levels and threatening to severely deplete the coral reef ecosystems that support fish habitats, shoreline protection and coastal economies. The announced global coral bleaching event, only the third of its kind in recorded history, is expected to impact approximately 38% of the world’s coral reefs by the end of this year and kill over 12,000 square kilometers (4,633 square miles) of reefs, according to NOAA. Although reefs represent less than 0.1 percent of the world’s ocean floor, they help support approximately 25 percent of all marine species. As a result, the livelihoods of 500 million people and income worth over $30 billion are at stake. A summary of these findings, as well as new information about coral bleaching and never before seen high-resolution imagery, has been specially developed to explain the event: Global Coral Bleaching. The declaration of the 2015-16 global coral bleaching event was confirmed by NOAA after its bleaching predictions were verified by scientists and citizen scientists in the Atlantic/Caribbean basin including rapid response surveying teams from the XL Catlin Seaview Survey, The University of Queensland and Reef Check. These reports added to the growing list of reports in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

http://www.globalcoralbleaching.org...al-Bleaching-Event-for-2015_Press-Release.pdf

Not at all a good thing.

 

[waltky]

93% of the Great Barrier Reef has been affected by coral bleaching...

Just 7% of Barrier Reef escapes bleaching
Wed, 20 Apr 2016 - An extensive aerial and underwater survey reveals that 93% of the Great Barrier Reef has been affected by coral bleaching.

An extensive aerial and underwater survey has revealed that 93% of Australia's Great Barrier Reef has been affected by coral bleaching. This follows earlier warnings that the reef was experiencing its worst coral bleaching event on record. Prof Terry Hughes from the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce told the BBC the link between bleaching and global warming was "very well established". Rising water temperatures cause corals to drive out colour-giving algae. The corals can die if conditions do not return to normal. The taskforce's survey shows that the extent of the damage is most severe in the northern section of the 2,300km (1,429 mile)-long reef, which lies off the cost of Queensland state. Only 7% of the reef showed no signs of bleaching, Prof Hughes said. The effects of El Nino, as well as climate change, are being blamed for the rise in sea temperatures that causes the bleaching.

More than 900 individual reefs were surveyed using a light plane and a helicopter, with the accuracy of the aerial survey then checked by teams of scuba divers. "I'm inherently an optimist, but I think we have a rapidly narrowing window of opportunity to save the Great Barrier Reef," Prof Hughes said. "If we don't take action on global warming it will become more degraded. "After three bleaching events the mix of coral species has already changed." This bleaching event is far more severe than previous bleaching events recorded in 2002 and 1998, he said. "We know that this time only 7% of the reef didn't bleach. It was closer to 40% in the other two events. "If these events start coming as frequently as every five to 10 years there will not be sufficient coral regeneration," he said.

Tourism to the Great Barrier Reef generates $A5bn ($3.9b, £2.7bn) each year and employs around 70,000 people, the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce said. "Thankfully many parts of the reef are still in excellent shape," said Daniel Gschwind, chief executive of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council in a statement. "But we can't just ignore coral bleaching and hope for a swift recovery." The current worldwide bleaching event, which is also affecting reefs on Australia's north-west coast, is predicted to be the worst on record. The Australian Department of Environment previously said that state and federal governments were investing a projected A$2bn over the next decade to protect the reef.

Just 7% of Australia's Great Barrier Reef escapes bleaching - BBC News

See also:

Barrier Reef: Vinegar could curtail coral-eating starfish
Scientists have found a cheap new way to kill coral-eating starfish that are damaging the Great Barrier Reef.

The crown-of-thorns starfish is one of the main culprits in a massive coral cover decline on the reef. A trial conducted by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims) found that injecting the starfish with vinegar showed a 100% mortality rate. Vinegar is cheaper and more accessible than ox bile, which is currently injected into the starfish.

Current eradication methods are limited to those that manually remove each starfish or lethally inject them. "For that, vinegar is a great method. Vinegar can be bought at any supermarket and is roughly half the price," lead researcher Lisa Bostrom-Einarsson from James Cook University told the BBC's Rone McFarlane. She said the method still needs further testing before it can be fully rolled out and used on the reef. Research needs to ensure that the vinegar does not harm other sea life.

Crown-of-thorns starfish feeding on coral in the Great Barrier Reef.​

The method is not enough to save the Great Barrier Reef, she said, but could help save individual reefs in the meantime. "The ideal would be to stop the cots (crown-of-thorns starfish) outbreaks from occurring altogether, but we still know relatively little about what causes them."

The past 30 years have seen a 50% drop in coral cover on the reef, according to researchers at Aims. Crown-of-thorns starfish, along with cyclones, have caused the most damage. Research by Aims has suggested that increasingly frequent outbreaks of the starfish might be fuelled by nutrients from land-based agriculture. Agricultural nutrients in the seawater cause an increase in the amount of phytoplankton, which the starfish larvae feed on.

Barrier Reef: Vinegar could curtail coral-eating starfish - BBC News

 

[skookerasbil]

El Nino strikes again!!

 

[skookerasbil]

The most hysterical thing about threads like this is that there is always this implication that we can actually do something about this . Ummm..........no........we cant. Like if we all get together in a big room and sip a few latte's together, we can collectively throw a switch and reverse coral bleaching!!

So what we have here is a science news flash s0ns!!

Anyway........NOAA experts say the event is going to be over soon...........

Great Barrier Reef Bleaching 'Worst in Its History' : DNews

 

[waltky]

Bleaching kills a third of Great Barrier Reef coral...

Mass coral bleaching destroys at least a third of Great Barrier Reef
Tuesday 31st May, 2016 - Mass coral bleaching has destroyed at least 35 per cent of the northern and central Great Barrier Reef, Australian scientists said on Monday, a major blow to the World Heritage Site that attracts about $5-billion Australian ($3.59-billion U.S.) in tourism each year.

Australian scientists said the coral mortality figure will likely rise as some of the remaining 65 per cent of coral in the northern and central reefs fails to recover from bleaching. The report casts a shadow over the long-term prospects of the Great Barrier Reef against a backdrop of climate change and scientists said UNESCO may reconsider its decision not to put the World Heritage Site on its endangered list. “Australia argued that the world heritage values were in tact because of the northern region and now of course it has taken a huge hit,” said Professor Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Queensland state.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee last May stopped short of placing the Great Barrier Reef on an “in danger” list, but the ruling raised concern about its future. Australian scientists said in March that just 7 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef had avoided any damage as a result of bleaching, and they held grave fears particularly for coral on the northern reef. After further aerial surveys and dives to access the damage across 84 reefs in the region, Australian scientists said the impact of the bleaching is more severe than expected. “This year is the third time in 18 years that the Great Barrier Reef has experienced mass bleaching due to global warming, and the current event is much more extreme than we’ve measured before,” said Hughes.

Dead coral in shallow waters at Cygnet Bay in Western Australia.​

The findings would have been worse had Cyclone Winston, which hit the reef in January, not bought cooler conditions across the central and southern reefs, the scientists said. Bleaching occurs when the water is too warm, forcing coral to expel living algae and causing it to calcify and turn white. Mildly bleached coral can recover if the temperature drops, otherwise it may die. Although the impact has been exacerbated by one of the strongest El Nino weather systems in nearly 20 years, which raised sea temperatures in the western Pacific, scientists believe climate change is the underlying cause.

The bleaching survey findings come just days after Australia’s Department of Environment confirmed it omitted its contribution to a U.N. report examining the impact of climate change on world heritage sites over concerns it could create “confusion” and have a negative impact on tourism. Australia is one of the largest carbon emitters per capita because of its reliance on coal-fired power plants for electricity. Climate scientists argue that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth, creating global warming.

Mass coral bleaching destroys at least a third of Great Barrier Reef

 

[waltky]

60% coral bleaching in the Maldives due to global warming...

'Alarming' bleaching of Maldives corals: Conservationists
Tuesday 9th August, 2016: Coral reefs in the Maldives are under severe stress after suffering mass bleaching this year as sea temperatures soared, a top conservationist body warned Monday (Aug 8).

Around 60 per cent of Maldives' coral colonies have been bleached, with the figure reaching 90 per cent in some areas, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a statement. It cited data from a survey it carried out with the Maldives Marine Research Center (MRC) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "Preliminary findings of the extent of the bleaching are alarming, with initial coral mortality already observed," said Ameer Abdulla, the research team leader and senior advisor to IUCN on marine biodiversity and conservation science. "We are expecting this mortality to increase if bleached corals are unable to recover."

Bleaching occurs when abnormal conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae and thus become drained of colour. Bleached corals risk dying if conditions do not return to normal. Land and ocean surface temperatures rose to record highs in 2015 and at the beginning of this year, according to scientists. The surge has coincided with an exceptionally strong El Nino - a cyclical phenomenon that disrupts weather around the Pacific and is driven by sea temperature.

'MORE FREQUENT, MORE SEVERE'

Warmer seas are a main culprit for the decline of coral reefs - considered among the most diverse and delicate ecosystems on the planet. "Bleaching events are becoming more frequent and more severe due to global climate change," Abdulla said. Coral reef and bleaching experts from 11 countries and international institutions and universities helped conduct the survey at the height of the 2016 El Nino event, the statement said. The Maldives, a nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands, contain around three percent of global coral reefs. It is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impact of climate change since its average land height is only 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) above sea level. The Maldives is not the only place where coral reefs are threatened. Reefs worldwide have been facing widespread bleaching since mid-2014, according to the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

And this year, Australia's 2,300-kilometre (1,429-mile) long Great Barrier Reef the world's biggest coral ecosystem -- is suffering from its worst bleaching in recorded history. In a bid to rein in the problem at home, the Maldives government has created a national task force and a monitoring programme, in cooperation with the EPA and IUCN. The programme aims to help marine biologists, divers and others to contribute data that could help understand the national effects of the global bleaching event. Activities such as dredging, sand replenishment, and fishing or purchasing of herbivorous fish like parrotfish and surgeonfish, which are essential for reef recovery, are also discouraged, according to the programme.

'Alarming' bleaching of Maldives corals: Conservationists

 

[Crick]

Billiy Boy, Westwall, LaDexter, Crusader Frank and jc456 say bleaching is not taking place. They say that these are all lies by climate scientists who have some agenda that pushes them to conspire to lie. Can you prove that they do not?

 

[waltky]

Warming sea temperatures still bleaching Australia’s Great Barrier Reef...

Great Barrier Reef experiences second year of bleaching
Sat, Mar 11, 2017 - Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing an unprecedented second straight year of mass coral bleaching, scientists said yesterday, warning many species would struggle to fully recover. The 2,300km reef last year suffered its most severe bleaching on record due to warming sea temperatures in March and April.

Bleaching is once again occurring, the government’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said after an aerial survey off Australia’s eastern coast on Thursday. “Regrettably, the temperatures have been high on the Great Barrier Reef this summer as well, and unfortunately [we] are here to confirm ... a mass coral bleaching event for the second consecutive year,” agency reef recovery director David Wachenfeld said in a video on Facebook. “And importantly, this is the first time we’ve ever seen the Great Barrier Reef bleached two years in sequence. We’ve seen heat stress build since December.” The agency said more bleaching was being observed in the central part of the reef, which last year escaped widespread severe bleaching.

Last year’s bleaching was more severe in the northern areas of the biodiverse site. The back-to-back occurrence of widespread bleaching also meant there was insufficient time for corals to fully recover, the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s Neal Cantin said. “We are seeing a decrease in the stress tolerance of these corals,” Cantin added in a statement. “This is the first time the Great Barrier Reef has not had a few years between bleaching events to recover.” “Many coral species appear to be more susceptible to bleaching after more than 12 months of sustained above-average ocean temperatures,” he added.

A handout photograph made available by WWF-Australia yesterday shows the Great Barrier Reef experiencing mass coral bleaching for the second year in a row near Cairns, Australia​

Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their color. Corals can recover if the water temperature drops and the algae are able to recolonize them. However, researchers in January said coral reefs that survive rapid bleaching fueled by global warming would remain deeply damaged with little prospect of full recovery. The Great Barrier Reef escaped with minor damage after two other bleaching events in 1998 and 2002.

Conservation group WWF-Australia yesterday said that the latest bleaching increased the urgency of tackling climate change in Australia, one of the world’s worst per capita greenhouse gas polluters. “I did not anticipate back-to-back bleaching this decade,” WWF-Australia oceans division head Richard Leck said. “Scientists warned that without sufficient emissions reductions we could expect annual mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef by 2050. Consecutive bleaching events have arrived 30 years early.”

Great Barrier Reef experiences second year of bleaching - Taipei Times

 

[waltky]

The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its worst bleaching on record...

Great Barrier Reef survival relies on halting warming, study warns
Thu, 16 Mar 2017 - The survival of Australia's natural wonder relies on tackling warming, new research warns.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef can be saved only if urgent steps are taken to reduce global warming, new research has warned. Attempting to stop coral bleaching through any other method will not be sufficient, according to scientists. The research, published in the journal Nature, said bleaching events should no longer be studied individually, but as threats to the reef's survival.

Severe coral bleaching on Australia's Great Barrier Reef​

The bleaching - or loss of algae - in 2016 was the worst on record. "Climate change is the single greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef," said co-author Prof Morgan Pratchett, from Queensland's James Cook University. "It all comes down to what the governments in Australia and around the world do in terms of mitigating further rises in temperatures."

Mass coral bleaching

* Coral bleaching is caused by rising water temperatures resulting from two natural warm currents.
* It is exacerbated by man-made climate change, as the oceans are absorbing about 93% of the increase in the Earth's heat.
* Bleaching happens when corals under stress drive out the algae known as zooxanthellae that give them colour.
* If normal conditions return, the corals can recover, but it can take decades, and if the stress continues the corals can die.

Lead author Prof Terry Hughes warned bleaching events had become "the new normal". Last week, he said an aerial survey had shown evidence of mass bleaching in consecutive summers for the first time. The scale of the damage will be examined in the next three weeks by the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, a collaboration of scientists and reef managers.

Prof Pratchett said he remained optimistic the reef could recover, but the "window of opportunity" to curb emissions was closing. "It's the number one thing we need to think about now to save the reef," he told the BBC. Improving fishing practices or water quality would not be enough, he said. he reef - a vast collection of thousands of smaller coral reefs stretching from the northern tip of Queensland to the state's southern city of Bundaberg - was given World Heritage status in 1981. The UN says it is the "most biodiverse" of all the World Heritage sites, and of "enormous scientific and intrinsic importance".

Great Barrier Reef survival relies on halting warming, study warns - BBC News

 

[waltky]

Half of Hawaii’s Coral Reefs Bleached...

Scientists: Half of Hawaii’s Coral Reefs Bleached
November 03, 2017 — Nearly half of Hawaii’s coral reefs were bleached during heat waves in 2014 and 2015 and fisheries close to shore are declining, a group of scientists told state lawmakers.

The scientists from the Nature Conservancy briefed the lawmakers Thursday about what they called an unprecedented situation for Hawaii’s sea life. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said 56 percent of the Big Island’s coral were bleached, along with 44 percent along West Maui and 32 percent around Oahu.

Worse to come

The scientists said more severe and frequent bleaching is predicted. “In the 2030s, 30 to 50 percent of the years will have major bleaching events in Hawaii,” said Kuulei Rogers of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. When ocean temperatures rise, coral expel the algae they rely on for food. This causes their skeletons to lose their color and appear “bleached.” Coral can recover if the water cools. But they die if high temperatures persist. Eventually reefs degrade, leaving fish without habitats and coastlines less protected from storm surges.

Fish decline as well

As for Hawaii’s fish, University of Hawaii researchers compiled data for 15 years and found a 90 percent decline in overall catch from the last 100 years, which includes fish such as ulua, moi and oio. “What we found was pretty overwhelming,” University of Hawaii scientist Alan Friedlander said. “About 40 percent of the species will be classified as overfished. The correlations are more people, less fish.” Friedlander suggested expanding marine reserves and said gear restrictions and size limits help, but bag limits and quotas don’t work.

Fish swim over a patch of bleached coral in Hawaii's Kaneohe Bay off the island of Oahu. Nearly half of Hawaii's coral reefs were bleached during heat waves in 2014 and 2015 and fisheries close to shore are declining, a group of scientists told state lawmakers.​

Those who fish argued against more regulations. “If the fishermen don’t stand up and come down here and fight for fisherman’s rights now, we’ll lose more than we can possibly ever imagine,” said Makani Christensen of the Hunting, Farming and Fishing Association.

Scientists: Half of Hawaii’s Coral Reefs Bleached

See also:

New US Report on Climate Change Offers Dire Warnings
November 03, 2017 - The U.S. government on Friday released a report on climate change that said there was "no convincing alternative explanation" for global warming besides human causes.

The National Climate Assessment, which the government is mandated by law to publish every four years, said Friday that climate change is almost entirely driven by human action. It warns that sea levels could rise by nearly 2.5 meters by the year 2100. It lists a number of incidents of damage across the United States that it attributes to the rise of global temperature by 1 degree Celsius since 1900. It said the U.S. was already experiencing increasing temperatures, precipitation levels and numbers of wildfires; that more than 25 U.S. coastal cities were already experiencing flooding; and that there was no precedent in history with which these meteorological changes could be compared.

A woman, at right, takes photos of the flooded banks of the Seine in Paris. Scientists said at the time that man-made climate change had nearly doubled the likelihood of April 2016's devastating French flooding.​

But, it said, there is "very high confidence" that the rate of climate change will depend on the amount of greenhouse gases released globally over the next few decades. The report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, an interagency unit that coordinates and integrates research on environmental changes, runs counter to the position on climate change taken by the current U.S administration, including that of the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Trump, Perry, Pruitt have doubts

President Donald Trump, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and EPA head Scott Pruitt have all questioned how much human activity has contributed to climate change. The president has announced the United States will leave the Paris climate agreement that would obligate the U.S. to cut its overall greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025, compared with 2005 levels.

One of the study authors, climate scientist Robert Kopp of Rutgers University, told The Washington Post he thought the report was "basically the most comprehensive climate science report in the world right now." In response to Friday's release, White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah noted a line in the report that said there was "uncertainty in the sensitivity of Earth's climate to emissions. The climate has changed and is always changing."

New US Report on Climate Change Offers Dire Warnings