Part of a consortium including Reef Check, The University of Queensland in Australia, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and XL Catlin Seaview Survey, says that the coral bleaching that is now a worldwide threat is said to be brought about by a combination of El Nino, global warming and the existing warm “blob” in the Pacific Ocean.
Advertisement
Severe or long-term bleaching is often lethal for corals.
On land, the “equivalent would be tropical forests turning white… and then dying”, said Richard Vevers, Executive Director of XL Catlin Seaview Survey which also contributed to the report.
Though there is no place with coral that has not been hit by bleaching, there are a few regions like Hawaii that have been hit harder than others.
“What’s happened is that the base temperatures of the oceans have risen to such a degree that now coral reefs are no longer able to cope with are are normal fluctuation in temperature”. NOAA coral reef watch coordinator Mark Eakin said that due to excessive heat the living coral turns while and then they become vulnerable to disease.
Corals, tiny creatures which build stony skeletons, eject the colorful algae they live with when under stress.
Warm water causes bleaching and ocean temperatures are at record high levels, partly because of steady manmade global warming and partly because of the El Nino, which is an occasional warming of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide, Eakin said. It said that corals, including in Hawaii, have been harmed by a huge mass of warm water called “The Blob” in the north eastern Pacific has harmed.
The last super El Nino, in 1997-1998, was the first global bleaching event.
NOAA believes the strong El Niño may cause bleaching to spread globally again in 2016.
“The last two events have gone virtually unnoticed”, he told Reuters of the bleachings in 2010 and 1998. The outlook for 2016 appears even worse. And what worries marine ecologist Gregor Hodgson, who heads the group ReefCheck, is the forecast that the blob will hit the Great Barrier Reef in Australia next spring.
“Coral reefs are hugely important”, says Vevers. Coral reefs protect shorelines, produce tourism dollars and help provide food for 500 million people around the world, he said.
Among the reefs in the world that are in danger of coral bleaching, those around Haiti, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands are said to be affected the most, with approximately 95 percent of the US corals experiencing conditions that will enhance bleaching by the end of this year.
Advertisement
Eakin raised concerns by unveiling that range of 10 to 20% of the coral reefs could be lost this year.
