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The end of #CoralReefs as we know them

Years ago, scientists made a devastating prediction about the ocean. Now it’s unfolding.

By Benji Jones@BenjiSJones Apr 26, 2024

"More than five years ago, the world’s top climate scientists made a frightening prediction: If the planet warms by 1.5 degrees Celsius, relative to preindustrial times, 70 to 90 percent of coral reefs globally would die off. At 2°C, that number jumps to more than 99 percent.

"These researchers were essentially describing the global collapse of an entire #ecosystem driven by #ClimateChange. Warm ocean water causes #corals — large colonies of tiny animals — to 'bleach,' meaning they lose a kind of beneficial #algae that lives within their bodies. That algae gives coral its color and much of its food, so bleached corals are white and starving. Starved #coral is more likely to die.

"In not so great news, the planet is now approaching that 1.5°C mark. In 2023, the hottest year ever measured, the average global temperature was 1.52°C above the #preindustrial average, as my colleague Umair Irfan reported.

"That doesn’t mean Earth has officially blown past this important threshold — typically, scientists measure these sorts of averages over decades, not years — but it’s a sign that we’re getting close."

Read more:
https://www.vox.com/climate/24137250/coral-reefs-bleaching-climate-change