Rights statement: This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science 05 Jan 2018: Vol. 359, Issue 6371, pp. 80-83 DOI: 10.1126/science.aan8048 © 2018 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights Reserved
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene
AU - Hughes, Terry
AU - Anderson, Kristen D.
AU - Connolly, Sean R.
AU - Heron, Scott F.
AU - Kerry, James T.
AU - Lough, Janice M.
AU - Baird, Andrew H.
AU - Baum, Julia K.
AU - Berumen, Michael L.
AU - Bridge, Tom C.
AU - Claar, Danielle C.
AU - Eakin, C. Mark
AU - Gilmour, James P.
AU - Graham, Nicholas Anthony James
AU - Harrison, Hugo
AU - Hobbs, Jean-Paul A.
AU - Hoey, Andrew S.
AU - Hoogenboom, Mia
AU - Lowe, Ryan J.
AU - McCulloch, Malcolm
AU - Pandolfi, John M.
AU - Pratchett, Morgan
AU - Schoepf, Verena
AU - Torda, Gergely
AU - Wilson, Shaun K.
N1 - This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science 05 Jan 2018: Vol. 359, Issue 6371, pp. 80-83 DOI: 10.1126/science.aan8048 © 2018 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights Reserved
PY - 2018/1/5
Y1 - 2018/1/5
N2 - Tropical reef systems are transitioning to a new era in which the interval between recurrent bouts of coral bleaching is too short for a full recovery of mature assemblages. We analyzed bleaching records at 100 globally distributed reef locations from 1980 to 2016. The median return time between pairs of severe bleaching events has diminished steadily since 1980 and is now only 6 years. As global warming has progressed, tropical sea surface temperatures are warmer now during current La Niña conditions than they were during El Niño events three decades ago. Consequently, as we transition to the Anthropocene, coral bleaching is occurring more frequently in all El Niño–Southern Oscillation phases, increasing the likelihood of annual bleaching in the coming decades.
AB - Tropical reef systems are transitioning to a new era in which the interval between recurrent bouts of coral bleaching is too short for a full recovery of mature assemblages. We analyzed bleaching records at 100 globally distributed reef locations from 1980 to 2016. The median return time between pairs of severe bleaching events has diminished steadily since 1980 and is now only 6 years. As global warming has progressed, tropical sea surface temperatures are warmer now during current La Niña conditions than they were during El Niño events three decades ago. Consequently, as we transition to the Anthropocene, coral bleaching is occurring more frequently in all El Niño–Southern Oscillation phases, increasing the likelihood of annual bleaching in the coming decades.
U2 - 10.1126/science.aan8048
DO - 10.1126/science.aan8048
M3 - Journal article
VL - 359
SP - 80
EP - 83
JO - Science
JF - Science
SN - 0036-8075
IS - 6371
ER -