The intervals between bouts of coral bleaching are less than half of what they used to be, according to a new study.

The intervals between bouts of coral bleaching are less than half of what they used to be, according to a new study.
Photo Credit: Mark Eakin/NOAA via AP

Coral reefs have not enough time to recover: study

Climate change is raising ocean temperatures and a new study shows that is causing coral bleaching so frequent that reefs don’t have enough time to recover. The study published in the journal Science looked at 100 coral reefs around the world between 1980 and 2016.

Coral reefs are built by organisms that cannot withstand higher ocean temperatures.
Coral reefs are built by organisms that cannot withstand higher ocean temperatures.

Researchers found that bleaching events over that time period occurred every six years where they used to happen about once every 25 to 30 years. When water gets too warm coral polyps expel the algae which provide them with food and the reefs become white and are no longer living. In the past, the reefs could recover between bleaching events, but now the interval is too short. The study suggests the current El Nina conditions increases the chances that bleaching will occurring annually in the coming decades.

Coral reefs shelter tens of thousands of species and are at the heart of complex ocean ecosystems.

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