coral bleaching

19 Stories

Endangered Sea Corals Get a New Home

Scientists move about 300 from South Florida to Texas' Gulf Coast

(Newser) - Scientists have moved about 300 endangered sea corals from South Florida to the Texas Gulf Coast for research and restoration, reports the AP . Nova Southeastern University and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researchers packed up the corals Wednesday at the NSU's Oceanographic Campus in Florida's Dania Beach. The...

Coral Bleaching Event Has Begun, Scientists Say

Total affected as oceans heat up increases 1% per week

(Newser) - Rising ocean temperatures have started a bleaching event that scientists say will affect more coral reefs worldwide than any of the previous three. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its international partners made the announcement Monday, the New York Times reports. "The increasing frequency and extremity of marine...

Reef Alert System Now Considers 'Worst Case Scenario'

NOAA's Coral Reef Watch adjusts bleaching alerts as what was once 'unimaginable' turns real

(Newser) - The US government program that informs coral bleaching response plans around the world has added three new alert levels to its heat stress category system after stress on coral reefs spun off the charts. Since 2009, the NOAA's Coral Reef Watch (CRW) has issued bleaching alerts up to Level...

Freezing Coral May Be Ticket to Saving Reefs

And researchers are looking into storing them on the moon

(Newser) - The future isn't looking great for corals as the marine invertebrates face rising ocean temperatures, disease, acidic water, and pollution. But MIT Technology Review reports that there's new hope in preserving them, which can bolster and revive future reefs. Researchers have been perfecting methods of cryopreserving coral, a...

Coral Rebounds to Record Levels for Great Barrier Reef

Survey finds strong growth in large swaths, but also warns of vulnerability

(Newser) - News out of the Great Barrier Reef generally has been pretty bleak of late , so much so that the UN is considering listing the World Heritage Site as endangered. However, a major new survey of the ecosystem by the Australian Institute of Marine Science has welcome news for those worried...

At Great Barrier Reef, a 'Heart-Breaking' Scene

4th mass bleaching event in 6 years is confirmed

(Newser) - The Great Barrier Reef, thought to have been in recovery after three mass coral bleaching events in quick succession, has been devastated for a fourth time in six years. The Marine Park Authority has confirmed a new mass bleaching event through aerial surveys of 750 separate reefs across the 1,...

Great Barrier Reef Just 'Gave Birth'
Great Barrier Reef
Just 'Gave Birth'
in case you missed it
Nov 28, 2021 4:33 PM CST

Great Barrier Reef Just 'Gave Birth'

Mass coral spawning is a sign of hope after bleaching

(Newser) - The conditions were perfect for what ABC Australia calls "the world's biggest sex event." From one section of the 1,429 mile-long Great Barrier Reef, marine biologist Gareth Phillips described witnessing a "magical" scene "with the water like glass and beautiful light coming from the...

Bleaching Hits Great Barrier Reef Like Never Before

With warmer temperatures, deadly problem is 'more widespread than ever'

(Newser) - An aerial survey of the Great Barrier Reef shows coral bleaching is sweeping across the area off the east of Australia for the third time in five years. Bleaching has struck all three regions of the world’s largest coral reef system and is more widespread than ever, scientists from...

Study on Our Coral Reefs: 'Honestly, Most Sites Are Out'
Coral Reefs in the Red Sea?
That May Be All That's Left
in case you missed it
Feb 22, 2020 7:00 AM CST

Coral Reefs in the Red Sea? That May Be All That's Left

Things aren't looking good by 2100, according to new simulations

(Newser) - "Honestly, most sites are out." That's the grim pronouncement from a University of Hawaii at Manoa researcher who looked at the likely status of the planet's coral reefs by 2100 based on projected climate conditions. Renee Setter and her team discovered that small areas of Baja...

Mysterious Killer Is Striking Florida's Coral Reefs

Scientists are racing to identify the pathogen and find a cure

(Newser) - Something is turning healthy coral into ghostly skeletons along the Florida Reef Tract. As the third-largest barrier reef in the world, the 360-mile stretch of vitally important sea life provides a buffet of nutrients for plants and animals along the state's Atlantic coast. Now, scientists are racing to find...

'Mass Mortality' Hits Great Barrier Reef, Shocks Scientists

'Unprecedented bleaching event' killed off half the coral there over 2 years

(Newser) - An "unprecedented" bleaching event struck the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, with perilously high temperatures affecting the 1,400-mile-long stretch of coral. The Atlantic notes we already knew that this occurred , but that the toll is just now being fully understood: It describes a new study published in the...

This Could Be the Only Way to Save the Great Barrier Reef

Cloud brightening could cool the ocean just enough: researchers

(Newser) - You'd think the search for a solution to bleaching coral in the Great Barrier Reef would have scientists looking down into the ocean, rather than up at the sky. But clouds could be key to combating warming ocean temperatures blamed for the bleaching, say Australian researchers. They believe that...

Scientists Warn That Coral Reefs Face Total Wipeout

We've already lost half in just 30 years

(Newser) - There were startling colors at the South Ari Atoll just a year ago, a dazzling array of life beneath the waves. Now this Maldivian reef is dead, killed by the stress of rising ocean temperatures. What's left is a haunting expanse of gray, a scene repeated in reefs across...

Great Barrier Reef Lost 22% of Its Coral This Year

It's the biggest one-time die-off on record

(Newser) - This year saw the worst mass die-off of coral ever recorded at the Great Barrier Reef, with the "most-pristine" parts of the reef being hit the hardest, the Guardian reports. One 430-mile section in the northern portion of the 1,400-mile-long reef lost 67% of its shallow-water coral. All...

Bleaching Kills a Third of Barrier Reef Coral

It's even worse in some parts of world's biggest reef

(Newser) - Mass bleaching has killed more than a third of the coral in the northern and central parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, though corals to the south have escaped with little damage, scientists say. Researchers who conducted months of aerial and underwater surveys of the 1,400-mile reef off...

We Could Be Seeing Biggest-Ever Coral Death

We may lose 5% of world's corals in latest bleaching event: scientists

(Newser) - A coral bleaching event is hitting the globe for just the third time on record, scientists say, and could lead to the biggest coral die-off in history, reports the Guardian . We could lose about 5% of the planet's corals (or 4,500 square miles) this year, while 38% may...

Coral Reefs Gone By Century's End


 Coral Reefs Gone 
 by Century's End 
NEW BOOK
Sep 11, 2011 8:50 AM CDT

Coral Reefs Gone by Century's End

Not just pretty: end of reefs often signals mass extinction events

(Newser) - Climate change and the acidification of the oceans—along with overfishing, coastal development, and pollution—will destroy the Earth's coral reefs in as little as 30 years, reports the Independent . The mass-bleaching in the Indian Ocean in 1998 alone destroyed 16% of the world's reefs in just a...

Sultry Year Threatens World's Coral

Widespread bleaching expected in weeks to come

(Newser) - This year is set to be the hottest on record and scientists warn that could spell disaster for coral reefs. Reefs around the world are bleaching—expelling the algae that give them their color—on a scale only ever seen once before, in 1998. An estimated 16% of the world's...

Great Barrier Reef Rebounds From Crisis

Scientists credit luck for natural wonder's 'spectacular' healing

(Newser) - Parts of the Great Barrier Reef bleached by warming waters 3 years ago have made a speedy recovery because of a few lucky breaks, the Guardian reports. Reefs typically take at least a decade to overcome human-created crises, but a combination of biological factors helped the reef's speedy healing, Australian...

19 Stories