04/23/2025

The World’s Largest Coral Reef Bleaching Event Has Occurred

The event harmed 84 percent of coral reefs

Around the world, coral reefs are losing their color at an unprecedented scale as a result of rising sea temperatures, federal marine scientists announced this week, with 84 percent of reefs exposed to bleaching levels of heat since 2023.

The massive blow to marine habitats reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — the highest share ever recorded — comes as the planet experiences its fourth global coral bleaching event, which occurs when bleaching is confirmed in every one of the oceans’ basins at once.

NOAA says the latest global event began on Jan. 1, 2023, and mass bleaching has now been observed across at least 83 countries and territories, threatening marine life from Fiji to the Florida Keys to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.