The Elephant

The climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens

Topic: Coral Reefs


Featured Articles:

Climate tipping points are nearer than you think – our new report warns of catastrophic risk

  2023-12-06 by in The Conversation

Coral reefs are already being lost, and four other vital climate systems may tip soon.

  Tagged under: Collapse | Coral Reefs | Tipping Points


Related Articles (52)

Visual Feature | Status of Coral Reefs of the World

  2024-03-10 (or before) in UN Environment Programme

UNEP has created a dynamic data visualization that distills the report findings with an aim to generating increased interest and awareness.

  Tagged under: Media | Data | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


What is Coral Bleaching and What Causes It - Fight For Our Reef

  2024-03-10 (or before) in Australian Marine Conservation Society

Coral bleaching is a global crisis, caused by increased ocean temperatures caused by carbon pollution and climate change.

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs | Oceans


Coral bleaching

  2024-03-10 (or before) in Great Barrier Reef Foundation

The first visible sign that a coral is under stress is a change in colour from its original hue to a brilliant white.

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs


Experts Warn of Imminent Mass Coral Bleaching as Oceans Warm

  2024-03-06 by in Earth.Org

The imminent mass coral reef bleaching event could be the world in the history of our planet, experts have warned.

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs | Oceans


Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers ‘extensive’ coral bleaching, as scientists fear seventh mass bleaching event | CNN

  2024-02-29 by in CNN

The southern Great Barrier Reef is suffering from extensive coral bleaching due to heat stress, the reef’s managers said Wednesday, raising fears that a seventh mass bleaching event could be unfolding across the vast, ecologically important site.

  Tagged under: Climate Change Impacts | Extreme Heat | Coral Reefs | Great Barrier Reef | Australia


This chart of ocean temperatures should really scare you

  2024-02-28 by in Vox

The Atlantic Ocean is freakishly warm right now. Scientists are sounding the alarm.

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs | Oceans


Aerial surveys of Great Barrier Reef ordered as flights show extensive coral bleaching

  2024-02-28 in The Guardian

Helicopter flights over almost 50 reefs off the Queensland coast found bleaching in the south was “fairly uniform”

  Tagged under: Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs | Oceans


NOAA Coral Reef Watch extends alert scale following extreme coral heat stress in 2023

  2024-02-10 (or before) in Climate.gov

Last year's marine heat wave and coral bleaching was so unprecedented, NOAA had to add new risk levels to this satellite-based monitoring scale.

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs


‘Unprecedented mass coral bleaching’ expected in 2024, says expert

  2023-12-07 in The Guardian

2023 is first year of potential pair of El Niño years and since 1997, every instance of these pairs has led to mass coral mortality

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs | Wildlife | COP28 | El Niño | Caribbean


Climate tipping points are nearer than you think – our new report warns of catastrophic risk

  2023-12-06 by in The Conversation

Coral reefs are already being lost, and four other vital climate systems may tip soon.

  Tagged under: Collapse | Coral Reefs | Tipping Points


New Study Warns of an Imminent Spike of Planetary Warming and Deepens Divides Among Climate Scientists - Inside Climate News

  2023-11-02 by in Inside Climate News

During the past year, the needles on the climate dashboard for global ice melt, heatwaves, ocean temperatures, coral die-offs, floods and droughts all tilted far into the red warning zone. In summer and fall, monthly global temperature anomalies spiked beyond most projections, helping to drive those extremes, and they may not level off anytime soon, […]

  Tagged under: Drought | Oceans | Global Warming | Coral Reefs | Heatwaves


Marine heatwaves don’t just hit coral reefs. They can cause chaos on the seafloor

  2023-11-01 (or before) in newsroom.unsw.edu.au

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs | Heatwaves


Many scientists don’t want to tell the truth about climate change. Here’s why

  2023-10-04 (or before) in WBUR

Climate scientists, in an effort to stave off despair, aren’t telling the truth about our warming planet. In reality, we're incredibly close to the point of no return: when rising seas drown island nations and almost all coral reefs die. I’m here to tell climate scientists — and my fellow climate journalists — to knock it off, writes Barbara Moran.

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Coral Reefs


America’s most iconic coral reef is dying. Only one thing will save it.

  2023-09-17 by in Vox

An extreme heat wave has pushed Florida’s reef to the brink — and burned up years worth of progress.

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Coral Reefs | Florida


Scientists Find Success With New Direct Ocean Carbon Capture Technology - Inside Climate News

  2023-09-02 by in Inside Climate News

As human activity and climate change increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the ocean, harming coral reefs and marine life, researchers have designed a new technology using aqueous sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate to remove carbon dioxide from ocean water, helping reverse acidification and reduce global warming.   “It took years to pull this off […]

  Tagged under: Oceans | Climate Change | Ocean Acidification | Coral Reefs | Innovation | Carbon Capture and Storage


Time Is Running Out: Coastal Wetlands Can’t Keep Up With Climate Change, Warns New Study

  2023-08-31 in SciTechDaily - Science, Space and Technology News 2023

The survival of marshes and other vulnerable coastal regions hinges on the ability to restrict global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), as outlined in the Paris Agreement. According to a recent study published in Nature, coastal marshlands and coral reef islands may not e

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Wetlands | Coral Reefs


Ocean Temperature Outlooks | Coral Bleaching Risk

  2023-08-27 (or before) in Bureau of Meteorology, Australia

  Tagged under: Oceans | Coral Reefs


HISTORIC HEATWAVE TRIGGERING CORAL DIE-OFF IN FLORIDA

  2023-07-21 in Coral Restoration Foundation | United States

The vibrant coral reefs of Florida, crucial to the local community and the state’s economy, are facing a severe and urgent crisis due to soaring water temperatures. The potential loss of coral populations within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is quickly becoming an alarming reality. Just as humans thrive within a specific temperature range, so too do corals, delicate animals that are now succumbing to the heat at an alarming rate. "On July 20th, CRF™ teams visited Sombrero Reef, a re

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs | Florida


Plastic pollution on coral reefs gets worse the deeper you go, study finds

  2023-07-12 in The Guardian

Volume of debris in the unexplored twilight zone is an ‘emerging threat’ to reefs already stressed by climate crisis, say scientists

  Tagged under: Wildlife | Coral Reefs


NOAA Coral Reef Watch Coral Bleaching Heat Stress Outlook (CFS based) for the next Four Months

  2023-07-11 (or before) by in Coral Reef Watch at NOAA

  Tagged under: Oceans | Coral Reefs


Galapagos, Ecuador Regional Products 2023-09-06

  2023-06-19 (or before) by in Coral Reef Watch at NOAA

  Tagged under: Oceans | Coral Reefs


What Is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?

  2023-01-31 (or before) in Sustainable & Eco Friendly eCommerce Packaging | SR Mailing

The Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch is considered by many to be one of humanity’s biggest crimes against the planet – and really, just the name of it gives away the horror of what it actually is, considering the size of the Pacific Ocean. We talk a lot about what can be done to save the planet here at SR Mailing, and that’s because we’re absolutely passionate about it! The fact that there is so much to be done, and that there is so much that we can all be doing in our daily lives that can help us to save planet Earth from global warming and climate change. The issue, of course, is much, much bigger than...

  Tagged under: Microplastics and Nanoplastics | Oceans | Greenhouse Gases | Climate Change | Pacific Ocean | Methane | Fish | Rivers | Whales and Dolphins | Wildlife | Economic Growth | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs | California | South America | BP | Sea Level | Indonesia | Activism | India


Northern Red Sea reefs resist bleaching in warming seas

  2023-01-14 (or before) in KAUST Discovery - Saudi Arabia

While corals die out worldwide, resistant reefs in the northern Red Sea could endure a dire global warming scenario.

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs


Oil pollution: Investigation reveals Egypt’s 'super coral' at risk - BBC News

  2022-11-16 (or before) in The BBC

A climate-change resistant Red Sea reef is being flooded with toxic wastewater, leaked documents show.

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Coral Reefs


Coral reefs face a grim future, including those once thought safe from climate change

  2022-10-28 (or before) in SBS | TV, Radio, On Demand, News, Sport, Food, Movies

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Coral Reefs


Climate Tipping Points May Be Triggered Even If Warming Peaks at 1.5C

  2022-09-09 (or before) in Bloomberg

Ice-sheet collapse, abrupt permafrost thaw and the loss of coral reefs are possible even if the world meets Paris Agreement targets, scientists warn. 

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Coral Reefs | Collapse | Tipping Points


‘Devastating’: 91% of reefs surveyed on Great Barrier Reef affected by coral bleaching in 2022

  2022-05-10 in The Guardian

Report reveals extent of sixth mass bleaching event with worst-affected reefs between Cape Tribulation and Whitsundays

  Tagged under: Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


Fact Sheet: Global Species Decline - Earth Day

  2022-03-18 by in Earth Day

The world is facing a mass extinction of species.  All species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods (insects and arachnids), fish, crustaceans, corals and other cnidarians, and plants have declined, in many cases, severely. Human civilization has had a negative impact on most living things.   We are currently living through a mass species extinction […]

  Tagged under: Fish | Insects | Coral Reefs | Extinction


Great Barrier Reef hit by sixth mass bleaching event, leading coral scientist says

  2022-03-17 in The Guardian

Prof Terry Hughes says he believes bleaching is under way as the Australian government conducts monitoring flights over 2,300km reef

  Tagged under: Wildlife | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


Death and decimation: Whitby devastated by declining marine life

  2022-02-10 in The Guardian

Unprecedented levels of crabs, lobsters, coral and sea birds are dying on north-east coast

  Tagged under: Fish | Wildlife | Coral Reefs | Sea Level | Sealife


Safe havens for coral reefs will be almost non-existent at 1.5°C of global warming – new study

  2022-02-01 (or before) by in The Conversation

Marine heatwaves will happen so often that reefs will struggle to weather successive bleaching events.

  Tagged under: Heatwaves | Coral Reefs


Great Barrier Reef could face another mass bleaching by end of January, forecast says

  2021-12-18 in The Guardian

Scientists are hoping La Niña conditions might yet stave off threat from predicted heat accumulation in northern and central reef

  Tagged under: Predictions | Wildlife | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


Nobel-winning stock market theory used to help save coral reefs

  2021-11-28 in The Guardian

Portfolio selection rules on evaluating risk used to pick 50 reefs as ‘arks’ best able to survive climate crisis and revive coral elsewhere

  Tagged under: Oceans | Wildlife | Coral Reefs


Earthshot Prize: Costa Rica wins £1m from William's Earthshot prize - BBC News

  2021-10-18 (or before) in The BBC

Two friends growing coral and the country of Costa Rica are among five winners receiving £1m each.

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs


Some corals ‘killed’ by climate change are now returning to life

  2021-09-24 (or before) by in New Scientist

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Coral Reefs


BP is planning to drill for fossil gas on edge of world’s largest cold-water coral reef | The Independent

  2021-06-21 (or before) in The Independent

Exclusive: Oil giant’s plan to drill off west coast of Africa could raise the risk of biodiversity loss, further global heating and toxic fuel spills, an investigation reveals

  Tagged under: BP | Climate Change | Africa | Coral Reefs | Biodiversity Loss


Coral reefs in the Anthropocene - Nature

  2021-05-04 (or before) in Nature

Coral reefs support immense biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services to many millions of people. Yet reefs are degrading rapidly in response to numerous anthropogenic drivers. In the coming centuries, reefs will run the gauntlet of climate change, and rising temperatures will transform them into new configurations, unlike anything observed previously by humans. Returning reefs to past configurations is no longer an option. Instead, the global challenge is to steer reefs through the Anthropocene era in a way that maintains their biological functions. Successful navigation of this transition will require radical chang...

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Coral Reefs


'It is the question of the century': will tech solve the climate crisis – or make it worse?

  2021-03-06 in The Guardian

Robots on coral reefs, vast barriers to hold back the glaciers, simulated volcanic eruptions to offset global heating ... Can technology repair the mess we have made? Elizabeth Kolbert is not convinced

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs


'Existential threat to our survival': see the 19 Australian ecosystems already collapsing

  2021-02-25 by in The Conversation

Iconic ecosystems, from coral reefs to Tasmania’s ancient forests, are collapsing across the continent and into Antarctica. It’s not too late to act — in fact, our lives depend on it.

  Tagged under: Antarctic | Coral Reefs | Trees | Collapse


Catastrophic Oil Spill From Abandoned Ship in The Red Sea Could Happen Any Second, Study Warns

  2020-12-16 (or before) by in ScienceAlert

If the coral refuge of the Red Sea can survive local pollution, scientists think these reefs might be the last ones standing on a rapidly warming planet. But that's a big 'if'.

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs


Great Barrier Reef corals have more than halved in past 25 years, study shows

  2020-10-14 in The Guardian

Mass bleaching events triggered by record-breaking water temperatures have the most impact on coral depletion

  Tagged under: Greenhouse Gases | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


Unchecked Global Warming Could Collapse Whole Ecosystems, Maybe Within 10 Years - Inside Climate News

  2020-04-08 in Inside Climate News

Global warming is about to tear big holes into Earth’s delicate web of life, pushing temperatures beyond the tolerance of thousands of animals at the same time. As some key species go extinct, entire ecosystems like coral reefs and forests will crumble, and some will collapse abruptly, starting as soon as this decade, a new […]

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs | Collapse | Trees


Great Barrier Reef's third mass bleaching in five years the most widespread yet

  2020-04-06 in The Guardian

Government’s chief marine scientist says he fears people will lose hope for the future of the reef but it is a clear signal for action

  Tagged under: Wildlife | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


Climate crisis may have pushed world's tropical coral reefs to tipping point of 'near-annual' bleaching

  2020-03-31 in The Guardian

Exclusive: Mass bleaching seen along Great Barrier Reef could mark start of global-scale event, expert warns

  Tagged under: Oceans | Tipping Points | Extreme Weather | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


Great Barrier Reef suffers third mass coral bleaching event in five years

  2020-03-25 in The Guardian

Renowned scientist Terry Hughes says huge swathes of reef have been affected in a ‘severe’ situation

  Tagged under: Wildlife | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


The Great Barrier Reef Is Heading for a Mass Bleaching of Unprecedented Scale

  2020-03-04 (or before) in VICE

Forecasts for the largest living structure on Earth have become "devastating," scientists say, and the coral carnage will be even more widespread than the last mass bleaching in 2016-2017.

  Tagged under: Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


Set a global target for ecosystems

  2020-02-22 (or before) in Nature

The conservation community must be able to track countries’ progress in protecting wetlands, reefs, forests and more, argue James Watson and colleagues. The conservation community must be able to track countries’ progress in protecting wetlands, reefs, forests and more, argue James Watson and colleagues.

  Tagged under: Forests | Wildlife | Conservation | Coral Reefs | Wetlands | Trees


Australia Will Lose to Climate Change

  2020-01-06 (or before) in The Atlantic

Even as the country fights bushfires, it can’t stop dumping planet-warming pollution into the atmosphere.

  Tagged under: Oceans | Global Warming | Climate Change | Australia | Bushfires | Wildfires | Economic Growth | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Reefs


The Return of the 'Blob': Hawaii's Reefs Threatened by Marine Heat Wave (Published 2019)

  2019-10-21 in The New York Times

  Tagged under: Oceans | Coral Reefs


Climate change: Marine heatwaves kill coral instantly - BBC News

  2019-10-03 (or before) in BBC

Marine heat waves, associated with climate change, cause the rapid death of corals, research reveals.

  Tagged under: Coral Reefs | Heatwaves | Climate Change


Climate crisis: CO2 levels rise to highest point since evolution of humans | The Independent | The Independent

  2019-08-15 (or before) in The Independent

‘We don’t know a planet like this’

  Tagged under: Wildfires | Greenhouse Gases | Climate Change | Coral Reefs | Sea Level


Heatwaves sweeping oceans ‘like wildfires’, scientists reveal

  2019-03-04 in The Guardian

Extreme temperatures destroy kelp, seagrass and corals – with alarming impacts for humanity

  Tagged under: Oceans | Wildfires | Heatwaves | Coral Reefs


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