2023-09-03 04:14:06
The United States warned regarding the worrying situation of coral reefs in Florida (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) (Andrew Ibarra/NOAA via AP)
Record ocean temperatures have caused widespread coral bleaching in the Florida Keys. The extreme heat and discoloration have been deadly. for the corals.
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The National Environmental Information, Data and Satellite Service (known as NOAA for its initials in English) of the United States has issued an alert for the increase in ocean temperatures and the consequent new concerns regarding coral reefs.
NOAA satellites have been tracking the steady rise in ocean temperatures since last April. That situation is causing unprecedented heat stress conditions in the Caribbean basin, as well as in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico waters surrounding Florida. This year’s marine heat wave has raised further concern regarding the future of already fragile coral reefs below the ocean’s surface.
Coral reefs were already suffering from bleaching problems but this year they were added to by the marine heat wave (Photo: GP Schmahl/FGBNMS)
Derek Manzello, coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch, has researched the impacts of ocean warming around the Florida Keys for more than 20 years.
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During that time, he assessed five different warm-water coral bleaching events, both on-site and with remote-sensing technology.
“If ocean temperatures are higher than the maximum monthly average for a month or more, especially during the warmest part of the year – even by as little as 1 or 2 degrees – corals will bleach,” the expert said.
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A bleached coral means that it is starving because it has lost its main source of nutrition: the algae that live symbiotically in its tissues. The damage suffered by corals from marine heat waves depends on the duration of heat stress and its magnitude.
For the period from July to October, it is predicted that there will be more heat stress that will contribute to more coral bleaching. It also affects corals in Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Colombia, among other countries/NOAA
Corals can recover from bleaching if heat stress decreases. But corals that do recover often have poor growth and reproduction, and are susceptible to disease for two to four years following recovery. Corals that manage to survive an episode of heat stress suffer negative effects, the scientist said.
If the heat stress does not subside, the coral will die. Mortality is likely if corals experience sea temperatures one degree above the two-month high monthly average, or 2 degrees above the one-month maximum monthly average.
Furthermore, if there is a temperature deviation of, say, 3 degrees, the corals are expected to start dying in less than three weeks.
According to Manzello, data that has been collected over the past few months shows that sea surface temperatures are warmer than they have ever been in the satellite record (dating back to 1985) earlier in the year.
The state of corals in Florida is unprecedented in satellite records. Before, the bleaching episodes lasted less time. (Andrew Ibarra/NOAA via AP)
During previous large-scale bleaching events in the Florida Keys (the most recent severe episodes occurred in 2014 and 2015), bleaching did not occur until mid-August. In 2023 it occurred in July.
“This means that unless there is significant cooling (for example, repeated hurricanes or tropical storms), corals in the Florida Keys may be facing more than three consecutive months of stressful thermal conditions. This is unprecedented in satellite records, since most of the previous bleaching lasted between four and six weeks,” recalled the specialist.
Recent research by NOAA and the US Geological Survey has shown that 70% of Florida’s coral reefs are in a state of net erosion, meaning that reef structures are slowly eroding.
“This is alarming because the many marine species that inhabit coral reefs are directly dependent on their three-dimensional and architecturally complex structure,” he warned.
The Mission Iconic Corals program seeks to cultivate corals and transplant them to seven different reefs in the Florida Keys/ Photo by Beata Lerman/FKNMS
“We are losing this structure because there is not enough living coral left to maintain and build it. Many species that depend on coral reef habitat are vital to Florida’s economy, such as various fish, spiny lobster, and stone crabs,” she stressed.
As measures to mitigate the problem, the Iconic Coral Mission program is carried out. It is an initiative that “is urgently working to grow corals and transplant them to seven different reefs in the Florida Keys. The objective is to restore the coral cover and guarantee the maintenance of the ecological services provided by these reefs”.
Coral reefs protect the coastline from storms and rising sea levels, so keeping them healthy and maintaining their structure is extremely important to people who live in coastal areas near coral reefs.
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