Coral reef bleaching and sea surface temperature anomalies: 1991-1996 global patterns

Conference · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:577207

Goreau, T J; Hayes, R L; Strong, A

Global spatio-temporal patterns of mass coral reef bleaching during the first half of the 1990s continued to show the strong temperature correlations which first became established in the 1980s. Satellite sea surface temperature data and field observations were used to track thermal bleaching events in real time. Most bleaching events followed warm season sea surface temperature anomalies of around +1 degree celsius above historical means. Global bleaching patterns appear to have been strongly affected by worldwide cooling which followed eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991. High water temperatures and mass coral reef bleaching took place in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific in 1991, but there were few thermal anomalies or bleaching events in 1992 and 1993, years which were markedly cooler worldwide. Following the settling of Mount Pinatubo aerosols and resumption of global warming trends, extensive ocean thermal hot spots and bleaching events resumed in the South Pacific, South Atlantic, and Indian Oceans in 1994. Bleaching again took place in hot spots in the Indian Ocean and Caribbean in 1995, and in the South Atlantic, Caribbean, South Pacific, North Pacific, and Persian Gulf in 1996. Coral reefs worldwide are now very close to their upper temperature tolerance limits. This sensitivity, and the fact that the warmest ecosystems have no source of immigrant species pre-adapted to warmer conditions, may make coral reef ecosystems the first to be severely impacted if global temperatures and sea levels remain at current values or increase further.

• OSTI ID: 577207
• Report Number(s): CONF-970522--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOLS
CLIMATIC CHANGE
COOLING
ECOSYSTEMS
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
INDIAN OCEAN
PERSIAN GULF
REEFS
VOLCANIC GASES