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Ocean Heatwaves Are On The Rise And Killing Coral


Coral Reefs

According to a recent study from scientists working on the Great Barrier Reef, the frequency, length, and severity of marine heatwaves are rising, posing a threat to corals. Heatwaves are dangerous to people's health. They may cause life-threatening complications such as dehydration and stroke. Marine heatwaves, like high temperatures on land, may dramatically change life beneath the water.


According to research published in Nature Climate Change, marine heatwaves have become more often in the last three decades, and it's becoming apparent how dangerous hotter temperatures are really for biodiversity. Heatwaves in the ocean occur whenever the water temperature in a particular area is unusually high. Marine heatwave periods have risen by slightly over 54% in the last 30 years, a pattern the study's authors found to be compatible with declining ocean life.


The research includes high-profile maritime heatwaves like "the blob," a massive collection of warm water that existed off the coast of the United States from 2014 to 2016. Everything from insects to marine animals died in large numbers because of the blob.


Pollution of nutrients and plastics

Corals and the maritime environment are under stress from a variety of factors, including global warming. Pollution is indeed a significant contributor to the extraordinary global decrease in reef health & coral cover.


Plastic contamination accounts for a significant part of marine pollution. It can be seen in all the world's seas, although it's believed to be most prevalent in coastal and reef settings, where large quantities of trash wash in from land.


Very warm water

We find that extreme marine heatwave episodes may have a much more severe effect than coral bleaching: the sea surface temperatures are so high that the coral animal dies, and its underneath skeleton is all that remains. According to a paper published in the journal Current Biology, the researchers' utilized computer tomography scanning methods to investigate marine devastation. And over 30% of the northeast corner of Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffered temperatures too hot for corals to survive in 2020.


Coral devastation

Warming ocean waves have wreaked havoc on many of the world's coral reefs, and it's no secret. According to recent research, a 2019 marine heatwave destroyed nearly one-third of the Great Barrier Reef's coral. Coral reefs have an impact on huge undersea ecosystems. It will also impact the hundreds of thousands of people that rely on such ecosystems for fishing, tourism, and other purposes. Scientists are interested in learning how corals will fare for climate change causes longer and more intense marine heatwaves. Marine heatwaves may destroy corals directly in severe instances. They cook them alive. It is now discovered that this occurred to some people on the Great Barrier Reef. They used data from satellite photos and ocean surveys to compile their findings.



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