Scientists are already warning that the warming now taking place in the Caribbean Sea is the worst ever experienced. Corals have already died in Florida and now large parts of the Caribbean reef are bleaching, which can lead to mass death and the corals in the area being completely wiped out.
The El Niño weather phenomenon is back, and with it comes naturally higher temperatures. The problem is that the stress thereby becomes all too high for the corals when climate change imposes further increases on the already high water temperature. The reefs have barely recovered from the last round of El Niño that ended six years ago, before it is now time for new stress tests.
Difficult for corals to recover
Bleaching does not always result in the death of reefs, and corals can recover quickly, but if water temperatures remain high, it will be difficult for reefs to survive in the long run.
“The entire Caribbean is affected by bleaching. If you pick a random spot on the map in the Caribbean and jump in the water, you’ll see bleached coral,” says the coral reef ecologist Derek Manzello.
He now warns that the world is facing a new global bleaching event, which through El Niño will have greater impact in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, tells NBC News.
2023-10-23 00:39:13
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