Marine heatwaves brought about by climate change are known to be responsible for mass mortality on some of the planet’s most iconic coral reef systems.
Marine heatwaves brought about by climate change are known to be responsible for mass mortality on some of the planet’s most iconic coral reef systems.
However, scientists have discovered that an extreme weather event that resulted in rapid sea temperature drops of up to 10 degrees was the primary cause of a catastrophic coral die-off event.
Combined with widespread rise in harmful algal blooms, the extent of collapse of the reefs in Costa Rica’s section of the Eastern Tropical Pacific in 2009 was abnormally high.
The two factors resulted in coral cover at some sites decreasing by between 20% and 100%, with the levels of recovery also varying significantly in the years since.
Read more at University of Plymouth
Image: Corals off the coast of Costa Rica before the extreme weather event of 2009 (Credit: Maria Marta Chavarria)
