3-year global coral bleaching event easing, but still bad
WASHINGTON — A mass bleaching of coral reefs worldwide is finally easing after three years, U.S. scientists announced Monday.
About three-quarters of the world’s delicate coral reefs were damaged or killed by hot water in what scientists say was the largest coral catastrophe.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a global bleaching event in May 2014. It was worse than previous global bleaching events in 1998 and 2010.
The forecast damage doesn’t look widespread in the Indian Ocean, so the event loses its global scope. Bleaching will still be bad in the Caribbean and Pacific, but it’ll be less severe than recent years, said NOAA coral reef watch co-ordinator C. Mark Eakin.