Warming Trends and Bleaching Stress of the World’s Coral Reefs 1985–2012

Coral reefs across the world's oceans are in the midst of the longest bleaching event on record (from 2014 to at least 2016). As many of the world's reefs are remote, there is limited information on how past thermal conditions have influenced reef composition and current stress responses. Using satellite temperature data for 1985-2012, the analysis we present is the first to quantify, for global reef locations, spatial variations in warming trends, thermal stress events and temperature variability at reef-scale (~4 km). Among over 60,000 reef pixels globally, 97% show positive SST trends during the study period with 60% warming significantly. Annual trends exceeded summertime trends at most locations. This…

• NF
  National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
• TF
  Total Foundation
• NO
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• NE
  National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
• CR
  Coral Reef Conservation Program