NOAA Coral Reef Watch – Successfully Predicting and Monitoring Coral Reef Bleaching Worldwide Since 1997
Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. They provide significant ecological, economic, and societal benefits, from supporting marine species to protecting our coastlines to generating $9.8 trillion per year globally and $3.4 billion in the United States alone. But global threats like climate change are putting corals and other reef organisms at risk. Warming ocean temperatures create heat stress for corals, causing them to eject the microscopic algae that give …