🚨 4th MCBE in #Huvadhu , 🇲🇻🚨

#Coralbleaching is on full throttle in #Maldives . After 8 years of recovery from the 3rd Mass Coral Bleaching event, we're facing the 4th Mass Coral Bleaching Event in just 8 years. The resilience of these reefs is being tested once again.

My interview yesterday with Scientific American Scientific American:

“We shouldn't give up on the world's coral reefs; they’re just too valuable to lose…..The way to save them is to deal with greenhouse gas emissions….”

scientificamerican.com/article/earths…

1) Palfrey SW reef:

data.geonadir.com/image-collecti…

(2/n)

The first aerial orthomosaics from the northern GBR during the 2024 mass coral bleaching event are up online:

data.geonadir.com/image-collecti…

Images are open-source to encourage resurveys and time series analysis of > 1 million georeferenced bleached corals (1/n)

We can cannot and we should not try to sugar coat it - We are failing to protect coral reefs.There is no arguing the fact, we are failing!
Global heating pushes coral reefs towards worst planet-wide mass bleaching on record |Climate crisis| The Guardian theguardian.com/environment/20…

Phenomenal effort. Devastating reality.

'If we lose coral reefs we don’t just lose the heart of ocean biodiversity—we lose the primary source of livelihoods and food for millions of people living on the front lines of the climate crisis.' econimpact.co/mg

#fisheries #biodiversity #WorldOceanInitiative

Might sound weird, but when we dive deep, we actually spend most of the time in shallow water decompressing. And we see a lot of cool stuff! An unforgettable sight in Australia was this beautiful (and endangered) Humphead Parrotfish at Flora Reef in the Coral Sea. #ichthyology

Some pictures from this summer, to illustrate what roughly 1,000 “red” reefs actually look like:

BREAKING: The Great Barrier Reef suffering ‘most severe’ coral bleaching on record.

This is the FIFTH bleaching event in EIGHT years. This is a CLEAR sign that our climate and oceans are heating at unprecedented rates: buff.ly/3UouOgx

No time to wait. #ActOnClimate

A few of the pictures of mass bleaching and mortality of corals on the Great Barrier Reef posted around the world.

Exciting news today for scientists, divers, and MERMAID partners across the coral triangle – our website is now available in Bahasa Indonesia! 🌊 🇮🇩

Learn how to access the new translation widget here: datamermaid.org/reef-stories/b…

Terima kasih banyak! #OurOcean2024 #ForCoral

Some of the best years of my career were spent doing my #PhD among the amazing coral reefs at Lizard Island on the #GreatBarrierReef My heart bleeds for the current generation of students doing theirs among the devastation wrought by #ClimateChange 😥

If you look carefully, you’ll find ONE location across the vast southern Great Barrier Reef that is coloured blue

It’s the only tiny spot where heat exposure didn’t exceed the 4 Degree Heating Weeks threshold that triggers coral bleaching.

We’ve never seen bleaching like this.

World leaders have committed to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. But tracking progress has been challenging. A new data platform is changing this by ensuring everyone can see and identify new marine protected areas, write Antha N. Williams & John Amos
newsweek.com/world-leaders-…

#CoralBleaching : Fourth global mass stress episode underway - and here is the culprit... bbc.co.uk/news/science-e… #ClimateChange is literally off the chart 🌊🔥🪸💀

Yes, the 2024 mass coral bleaching and mortality event on the Great Barrier Reef is very severe. It is the strongest event so far (highest heat exposure on record for the southern region).

Remember too that impacts are cumulative, and this is the 5th shock in just 8 summers.

The 4th great global coral bleaching event is upon us. Dr Emily Darling of WCS Ocean says in areas where corals are proving to be more resilient, “it’s paramount to mitigate local pressures.”

news.mongabay.com/2024/04/global…

The 2024 mass coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef in numbers (preliminary analysis):

- 46% of reefs experienced record high DHW
- new record of 17.7 DHW from the southern GBR
- 37% of the GBR has been exposed to three or more >6DHW events in the past decade

(1/n)

With these data and when NOAA adds three new levels of bleaching stress categories, it's 'off the charts' to this scientist.