Warming Trends and Bleaching Stress of the World’s Coral Reefs 1985–2012

Coral reefs across the world’s oceans are in the midst of the longest bleaching event on record (from 2014 to at least 2016). As many of the world’s reefs are remote, there is limited information on how past thermal conditions have influenced reef composition and current stress responses. Using sate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2016-12, Vol.6 (1), p.38402-38402, Article 38402
Main Authors: Heron, Scott F., Maynard, Jeffrey A., van Hooidonk, Ruben, Eakin, C. Mark
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/172/4081
704/829/2737
Animals
Anthozoa - physiology
Bleaching
Climate
Climate Change - statistics & numerical data
Climate models
Community composition
Computer Simulation
Coral Reefs
Data processing
Environmental Monitoring - statistics & numerical data
Humanities and Social Sciences
Models, Statistical
multidisciplinary
Oceans
Oceans and Seas
Science
Seasons
Spatial variations
Temperature
Temperature effects
Thermal stress
Trends
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Summary:Coral reefs across the world’s oceans are in the midst of the longest bleaching event on record (from 2014 to at least 2016). As many of the world’s reefs are remote, there is limited information on how past thermal conditions have influenced reef composition and current stress responses. Using satellite temperature data for 1985–2012, the analysis we present is the first to quantify, for global reef locations, spatial variations in warming trends, thermal stress events and temperature variability at reef-scale (~4 km). Among over 60,000 reef pixels globally, 97% show positive SST trends during the study period with 60% warming significantly. Annual trends exceeded summertime trends at most locations. This indicates that the period of summer-like temperatures has become longer through the record, with a corresponding shortening of the ‘winter’ reprieve from warm temperatures. The frequency of bleaching-level thermal stress increased three-fold between 1985–91 and 2006–12 – a trend climate model projections suggest will continue. The thermal history data products developed enable needed studies relating thermal history to bleaching resistance and community composition. Such analyses can help identify reefs more resilient to thermal stress.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep38402