The extreme heatwave that boiled the oceans off Florida during the months of June and July has died down; however, coral life still faces threats, as seawaters are still hot and nearly unfit for oceanic life to survive.
The fierce ocean heatwave was recorded to be 38.3 degrees Celsius (101 Fahrenheit), which may be the highest temperature recorded in the region in the month of July. The heat melted down after a week.
According, to the researchers, marine corals have received too much heat that too very early in the summer.
“The concern is not just that the Manatee Bay buoy recorded shockingly high, hot tub level temperatures actually, “close to the limit of hot tub temperatures for several days in a row”, says Benjamin Kirtman, a climate scientist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science.
Ocean heat waves are becoming the new normal, as swells of heat more and more frequently crest atop the baseline warming of the global ocean due to climate change.
“The global oceans have warmed up so much … we’re seeing a ratcheting up that’s unprecedented in the modern instrument record, and maybe in the last 125,000 years,” Kirtman says. “It’s really quite remarkable.”
The temperatures of the coastal waters of Florida have returned to normal as of now. But several ocean living beings are still in danger of surviving in the hot water temperatures, including corals and many vulnerable fish species.
The Coral Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit marine conservation organization based in Key Largo, discovered 100 percent coral death at one site, Sombrero Reef off Key West, as sea temperatures reached their peak in July. The corals were bleached due to the heat.
Bleaching happens when corals' symbiotic algae, which are their primary source of food, depart, leaving the corals colorless and virtually starved. Corals may recover from bleaching, but if the occurrences are severe or frequent enough, they can kill entire reefs. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, the global heat burden on corals has been increasing since the 1980s.
Despite the return of normal summertime water temperatures off Florida's coastlines, the effects of July's heat wave on the region's corals are still being felt.
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