Warming Trends and Bleaching Stress of the World's Coral Reefs 1985-2012
Bleaching-level stress is defined as DHW ≥ 4°C-weeks. Maps (left) show results for a subset of each region; histograms (right) show the distribution of results in the full region with the regional average ±one standard deviation (Click on the image for full size view). Credit: Heron et al., 2016
Coral reefs across the world are currently being affected by the longest bleaching event on record (from 2014 to at least 2016). As oceans warm, bleaching events are expected to become more common and more severe. Unfortunately, there is a relative dearth of information on how past thermal conditions have affected the compositions of coral reefs and their ability to respond to subsequent stress events. This paper seeks to address this perceived gap in knowledge by analyzing satellite temperature data from 1985-2012 in order to assess and provide ways to understand thermal history trends and patterns for reefs worldwide. This article is freely available in the online journal Nature.
