SOURCE: The Guardian
DATE: May 30, 2017
SNIP: Some of America’s most protected corals have been blighted by bleaching, with scientists warning that US reefs are on course to largely disappear within just a few decades because of global warming.
New research has shown that strict conservation measures in Hawaii have not spared corals from a warming ocean in one of its most prized bays, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicting yet more bleaching is likely off Hawaii and Florida this summer.
“As scientists we are breathlessly trying to catch up,” said Cobb [Kim Cobb, an oceanographer at Georgia Tech]. “Things started to run away from us around 10 years ago but we were perhaps a little naive in not realizing that.”
“This is another data point on the staggering breadth of damage across the global oceans. You can run but you can’t hide from the train wreck that is coming. The recent bleaching has been a brush with death and shows that this fatal stress is upon us.”