Tag: coral reefs

Image Credits: The Australian Institute of Marine Science.

WHOI Develops Tool to Predict Coral Bleaching Months Before It Strikes

6/9/2026 - By whoi.edu, whoi.edu. A new forecasting tool from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution could give reef managers and coastal communities a five-to-six-month head start on one of the ocean's most destructive events: coral bleaching. Called the Bleaching Event Early Predictor (BEEP), the system works by tracking three large-scale climate patterns in… SEE MORE

Coral bleaching at Cheeca Rocks in the Florida Keys in 2023. [Credit: NOAA]

World’s Fourth Mass Coral Bleaching Event Likely Ended in 2025

6/7/2026 - By nesdis.noaa.gov, nesdis.noaa.gov. After analyzing satellite data and bleaching observations, NOAA’s experts say the record-breaking fourth global coral bleaching event likely concluded in mid-2025. The fourth global coral bleaching event was confirmed by NOAA on April 15, 2024. From early-2023 to mid-2025, bleaching-level heat stress impacted 84% of the world’s coral… SEE MORE

During the Coral Health Experience, divers record their observations of healthy, diseased, paling, or bleached corals on a dive slate, and later transfer the data to a state-wide public database. Photo: Rachel Plunkett/NOAA

Becoming an Iconic Reef Guardian: A Purposeful Dive in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

3/22/2026 - By Sanctuaries.noaa.gov, Sanctuaries.noaa.gov. The first time I laid eyes on a coral reef was in the Florida Keys in 2012 after I had just learned to scuba dive. I remember hovering above the reef in awe trying to take in the colors of coral and sponges, the fish moving through… SEE MORE

Why Are Corals So Colorful? Understanding Reef Health Indicators

1/4/2026 - By Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, whoi.com. For harbor communities and coastal areas that depend on healthy reef ecosystems, understanding coral coloration provides valuable insights into reef health. Coral reefs protect harbors from wave action, support commercial and recreational fisheries, and indicate overall marine ecosystem conditions—making the science behind coral color… SEE MORE

Image Credits: A gorgonian coral (Muricea pendula). (Image credit: UNC National Undersea Research Center)

From Threat to Threatened: A Brief History of Coral Reef Research

1/21/2025 - By noaa.gov. Alexander Dallas Bache was the second Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey. He was dedicated to charting our coastlines and improving the safety and effectiveness of marine navigation. In 1851, seeing coral reefs as a threat to the safety of ships traveling our coasts, he commissioned controversial American… SEE MORE

The Caribbean has a Defense System Against Deadly Hurricanes — but it’s Vanishing

7/12/2024 - By Benji Jones. Hurricane Beryl and other superstorms would be much more dangerous without these iconic ocean animals. Hurricane season has begun, and it’s off to a frightening start. On Wednesday morning, Beryl — a Category 4 storm and the first named hurricane of the year — was churning toward… SEE MORE

New Coral Disease Forecasting System Could Help Ecological Forecasting

7/10/2024 - By ecomagazine.com. Research led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) has led to a new tool for forecasting coral disease that could help conservationists step in at the right times with key interventions. Ecological forecasts are critical tools for conserving and managing marine… SEE MORE

‘Knight in Spiny Armor’: Could Cobsters Help Save Florida’s Dying Corals?

6/5/2024 - By Richard Luscombe. A three-year study found that the spiny lobsters’ urine scared off predatory worms and snails who snack on the delicate organisms. An unexpected champion has emerged in the increasingly grave battle to save Florida’s imperiled coral reefs: spiny lobsters that urinate in the water and scare off… SEE MORE

The Future of Coral Restoration in the Florida Keys after Unprecedented Marine Heat Wave of 2023

Coastal News

5/20/2024 - By Haley Thiem. In the summer of 2023, portions of the Florida Keys experienced an extreme marine heat wave, unlike any other in recorded history for the region. Heat records were broken and some reefs were completely bleached—they expelled their food-producing algal partners and turned white. Throughout this prolonged heat wave NOAA scientists and partners raced… SEE MORE

Coral Reef off southeast US Covers Area Larger than Vermont

1/19/2024 - By noaa.gov Covering 6.4 million acres, an area larger than Vermont, an underwater seascape of cold-water coral mounds off the shore of the southeast United States coast has been deemed the largest deep-sea coral reef habitat discovered to date, according to a paper recently published in the scientific journal Geomatics. "This strategic… SEE MORE