Scientists say the third worldwide bleaching ever recorded is now underway, a potentially devastating situation that could kill thousands of square miles of coral reef.
A reef in American Samoa that bleached in early 2015. Approximately 80% of the corals on this reef died as a result.
XL Catlin Seaview Survey / Via globalcoralbleaching.org
Corals are organisms that, famously, form reefs off coasts around the world. They get their distinctive color from algae.
When water temperatures rise the corals expel that algae, turning them white in a process called bleaching. Bleaching doesn't automatically kill the corals, but it does weaken them and increase the likelihood that they will die.
A close-up image of bleached staghorn coral in American Samoa
XL Catlin Seaview Survey / Via globalcoralbleaching.org
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Queensland, and a group of private companies announced the bleaching event early Thursday. Previous global bleaching events happened in 1998 and 2010.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1MfHOY5
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