The Largest Coral Atoll In The World Lost 80 Percent Of Its Coral To Bleaching

This is an automatic summary, original reduced by 79%.

Kiritimati is the largest coral atoll in the world, and up until about 10 months ago, one of the most pristine marine ecosystems on Earth.

Their estimate is, as of early April, about 80 percent of the coral colonies at Kiritimati are now dead, and another 15 percent are severely bleached and likely to die.

Global warming will make the pressure on global corals even worse in the coming decades, and many of the world's reefs can expect future bleaching events to occur more frequently.

For some, like those in Kiritimati, the last few months - the worst global coral bleaching episode in history - may be a point of no return.

The temperature surge from El Niño was the driving force behind the widespread bleaching and coral mortality in Kiritimati, but the devastation wouldn't have been as total without a boost from global warming.

She says that the death of the corals at Kiritimati is proof that "Climate change isn't just a steady linear progression to some different kind of planetary state. Climate change will occur through these kinds of extremes. It's like a staircase to a different kind of system."

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