NOAA, coral reefs, Florida Keys, coral reefs, coral bleaching, climate change, warm oceansCoral reefs off the coast of Florida are being hit by a mass bleaching event due to record high ocean temperatures, and early indications suggest a global mass bleaching event could be underway. The Sentinel climate research and monitoring site in the Florida Keys has recorded 100% coral bleaching since late July. There have been eight mass coral bleaching events that have impacted the entire Florida Keys since 1987, Manzello said. "We're talking about thousands upon thousands of miles of coral reefs undergoing severe bleaching heat stress," Manzello said. "Now, it's still way too early to predict whether or not there will be a global bleaching event, but if we compare what is happening right now to what happened in the beginning of the past global bleaching event, things are worse now than they were in 2014 to 2017."

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Persons: Derek Manzello, Ian Enochs, They're, Enochs, Manzello, zooxanthellae, El Nino, Andy Bruckner, Bruckner, what's, Jennifer Koss, Koss Organizations: NOAA, National Oceanic, Reef Watch, Oceanographic, Meteorological Laboratory, Southeast, Florida Keys, Florida Keys National, Islands, Reef Conservation Locations: Florida, Southeast Florida, Columbia, Cuba, El, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Belize, Panama , Puerto Rico, elkhorn