Coral reefs worldwide are suffering from massive bleaching. US researchers say we are experiencing a phase of intense coral bleaching for the second time in a decade.
More than half of all colorful coral areas in the oceans have been affected by bleaching and have turned “into a ghost landscape. ” This situation was originally only predicted by marine researchers for the year 2030. The current global bleaching event is the fourth since records began and the second in ten years. Experts had already warned about this phenomenon in 1998, 2010 and 2016.. Coral reefs in the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic are particularly affected. Affected regions include the well-known Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Seychelles, and larger areas of the South Pacific, such as the corals off the Fiji Islands. As global warming continues, the effects of this phenomenon will only get worse, according to experts. It is predicted that we are on the path to a global catastrophe by the end of the century.