"El Nino to Exacerbate Third Global Coral Bleaching Disaster"

ARTICLE: This circumstance is not limited to above-normal temperatures; coral bleaching has also occurred in cooler waters, notably in the Florida Keys in 2010, NOAA said. The previous two global bleaching events occurred in 1998 and 2010.

So far, this event is not as severe as those in 1998 and 2010, Mark Eakin NOAA's Coral Reef Watch coordinator, told AccuWeather.

"However, this may change in 2016 as the continuing strong El Niño means that this bleaching event will continue well into 2016 - perhaps through the end of 2016," he said.

In Hawaii, the ongoing El Niño is playing a role, but so is climate change and a blob of warm water in the Pacific, Eakin said.

"It's the worst bleaching ever seen in the main Hawaiian islands but not as severe as the bleaching seen in parts of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands last year," Eakin said.

The current El Niño started to develop during March and April of 2015, and the peak is expected for November or December, which is typical of any El Niño, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jack Boston said.

El Niño is strengthening, Boston said, but at a slower rate than it did this spring and summer.

According to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), this is the second year of extreme bleaching across the Hawaiian Archipelago. Darla White, special projects coordinator for the DLNR's Division of Aquatic Resources, recently led a special dive off the coast of Maui to examine the Molokini Crater. While on the dive, she discovered that at least half of the corals at Molokini are currently bleached.

SUMMARY: This article speaks on the effects of El Nino on coral reefs, as we have discussed in class before. The Hawaiian islands are being heavily affected and experts have taken notice. El Nino slowly gets stronger and scientists are worried about the well being of other corals. My environmental science teacher has also spoken on this issue, and says that the next great extinction may just be coral reefs, something that would devastate the oceans' ecosystems because many organisms depend heavily on the reefs.

LINK: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/el-nino-to-exacerbate-third-global-coral-bleaching-event-record-hawaii-main-islands/53106387