Heat Stress Is Plunging the World’s Coral Reefs Into Crisis
A second global bleaching event this decade is underway, threatening marine ecosystems that support an estimated $2.7 trillion of economic activity.
Sam Burrell of the Coral Restoration Foundation works among dead coral at a reef site called Pickles off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.
Photographer: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Surging ocean temperatures have triggered a second global coral bleaching event in a decade, threatening crucial marine ecosystems that underpin an estimated $2.7 trillion a year of goods and services.
The occurrence — only the fourth on record — began in February 2023 and has affected coral reefs in every major ocean basin across 54 nations and territories, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement.