In February, the NOAA added three new levels to its coral bleaching alert maps, to enable scientists to assess the new scale of underwater warming.
Scientists hope the stark images of mass bleaching events — and the bleak predictions for longer-term coral reef survival — will jolt world leaders into aggressive action to lower carbon emissions by moving away from fossil fuels.
Researchers are also trying to buy some time for coral reefs until the world can bring emissions under control.
For the past six years, Peter Harrison and his team at Southern Cross University in New South Wales have been developing a "coral IVF" program to increase coral reproduction on the reef. The researchers use fishing nets to capture the spawn of healthy breeding coral, tripskan then they grow the larvae in floating pools before releasing them onto damaged areas of the reef to help spur recovery.
