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A U.S. government agency has warned that the world is currently experiencing the largest coral bleaching event ever recorded, due to rising ocean temperatures, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

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More than two-thirds of coral reefs in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans are affected by thermal stress, a phenomenon linked to climate change that threatens the survival of these biodiversity-rich coral reef regions.

Derek Manzello, coordinator of the Coral Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), stated, “The planet is currently experiencing the largest bleaching event ever recorded.” This event, which is ongoing, is the fourth since 1998.

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Manzello added in an email, “Between January 1, 2023, and October 10, 2024, nearly 77% of the world’s coral reefs faced heat stress at levels associated with bleaching,” and this percentage is still increasing.

When water temperatures are extremely high, as during the marine heatwaves from Florida to Australia last year, coral reefs suffer from thermal stress.

This causes them to expel zooxanthellae, algae that live symbiotically with coral and provide them with the nutrients they need. Without these algae, coral loses both its color and its food source.

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Severe, prolonged, and repeated episodes like this can result in coral death, but reefs can recover if temperatures decrease or other factors, such as pollution or overfishing, improve.

Record Numbers After two events in 1998 and 2010, the previous record was set between 2014 and 2017, when 65.7% of the world’s coral reefs experienced bleaching.

“We have surpassed the previous record by 11.3% in half the time.”

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NOAA received confirmed reports of bleaching in 74 countries or territories across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Australia announced last April that the famous Great Barrier Reef had experienced its worst bleaching event ever, with more than 70% of its coral reefs affected.

Around 850 million people worldwide rely on coral reefs for employment and food. Coral reefs, which are home to rich and highly diverse ecosystems, also protect coastlines from storms and erosion, according to the environmental NGO WWF.

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Ocean temperature rise rates have almost doubled since 2005, according to a report from the European Copernicus Observatory published at the end of September.

This phenomenon coincides with an increase in marine heatwaves. In 2023, 22% of the world’s oceans experienced at least one intense or extreme marine heatwave.

This warming is attributed to the fact that, since 1970, oceans have absorbed “over 90% of the excess heat in the climate system,” caused by massive human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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NOAA studies rely on satellite measurements taken since 1985.

The agency announced the latest global bleaching event in April. At that time, Pepe Clarke of the WWF said, “The scale and intensity of the mass coral bleaching clearly show the damage caused by climate change.”