Coral In Crisis

Right now, coral reefs across the globe are undergoing the most severe bleaching event in recorded history. Warming oceans are to blame for pushing our already fragile corals to their limits. As the warming occurs, so does the bleaching: a loss of color, life, and balance to our ecosystems. 

Here are three tools to build your toolkit to help you learn more about coral in crisis:

1. Real-Time Coral Bleaching Tools

You don’t need to be a marine biologist to witness what’s happening. Use these free, open-source platforms to explore reef health and bleaching alerts across the planet. By zooming in and tracing lines on these mapping tools, you can explore the reefs to get a bigger picture on what is happening with coral communities.

• Allen Coral Atlas--this website tracks real-time satellite data on bleaching risk, reef habitat, and human stressors.

• NOAA Coral Reef Watch--this website shows weekly heat stress maps, temperature anomalies, and historical comparisons.

Want to take your coral curiosity further? Become a Citizen Scientist by using one of the following platforms to contribute live data:

• Reef Check – Participate in global reef monitoring efforts.

• iNaturalist – Record marine species sightings, tag reef health, and connect with a global community of observers.

• Marine Debris Tracker – Document plastic waste near coastal and reef areas.

2. Read Up on the Topic

Here are some good articles to show the concern, brought about by climate change.

• NBC News' article: 84% of the World’s Coral Reefs Hit by Worst Bleaching Event on Record
  
• The Guardian's article: ‘Catastrophic’: Great Barrier Reef hit by its most widespread coral bleaching, study finds
• Scientific American's article: Coral Crisis: Great Barrier Reef Bleaching Is "The Worst We've Ever Seen"

3. Play Coral Reef Jeopardy

Gamify your knowledge base with this coral-oriented Jeopardy-style game on Factile.com to learn more.

To go to a larger screen version, click here.

Explore more at Playfactile.
Jeopardy-style game, created by me at factile.com: https://www.playfactile.com/jeopardy-game/mcce2bax7w, Image from https://ejfoundation.org/news-media/corals-and-communities-ejf-report-highlights-devastating-impacts-of-climate-crisis-on-reefs