Carbon Neutral 4 Corals

Alex Mustard · Issue 35, Mar/Apr 2007 · pp. 49–51

Carbon Neutral 4 Corals by Alex Mustard In May 1998, while photographing in the Maldives, I had my first encounter with coral bleaching. Over the course of just a couple of days all the reef-building corals turned first pastel shades, then bright white. The 1998 event was the biggest bleaching event ever recorded and is estimated to have killed 90% of coral on 16% of the world’s reefs (although about 40% of these are now recovering well). We now know that the primary cause of mass bleaching is increased sea temperature, usually no more than 1-2˚C above the long-term average maximum is enough to set it off. Mass coral bleaching is a new phenomenon. First recorded less than 30 years ago, the 1998 event killed many corals more than 1000 years old. It is now clear that global warming is driving the increasing occurrence of bleaching. 11 of the last 12 years rank among the warmest 12 years si…