ESSAY ON: The Effects of the 1997-98 El Nino on Coral Reefs: Bleaching, Sea Surface Temperatures and Other Factors

Number of Pages 9

This research paper: This is a 9 page paper discussing the effects of El Nino on the world’s coral reefs in addition to other factors. Excessive and sudden high sea water temperatures, El Nino, have a devastating effect on the coral reefs in over 100 countries around the world. High sea surface temperatures cause a disruption of enzymes in the coral’s zooxanthellae which then create toxic byproducts which kill the living coral resulting in a whitening or bleaching effect. Coral bleaching has been used in the last decade to study the changes in marine ecosystems using methods which include a combination of marine and satellite imagery efforts. The El Nino of 1997-98 was particularly destructive to the coral reefs as over 16 percent were instantly bleached in that year. In addition to the effects of sea temperatures rising, El Nino and human environmental factors, over 27 percent of the world’s coral reefs have been severely damaged. While it has been found that 30 percent may be recovering from the 1997-98 El Nino disaster, some reefs found in the Caribbean have shown no signs of recovery since 1998. Bibliography lists 14 sources.


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