Worldwide Coral Bleaching Event

“In 1998 coral reefs around the world experienced the most extensive and severe bleaching in recorded history. Coral bleaching was reported in 60 countries and island nations at sites in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Mediterranean and Caribbean... Unlike most previous bleaching events in which severe impacts were limited to less than 15 m water depth the 1998 bleaching affected corals at up to 50 m water depth... The 1998 mass bleaching was coincident with anomalously high sea surface temperatures. That year was the warmest of this century, and tropical sea surface temperatures were the highest in the modern record.”