Harmful bleaching of the world’s coral has now grown to include 84% of the ocean’s reefs in the most intense event of its kind in recorded history.

Bleached coral dies when exposed to heat stress for too long, threatening the bountiful marine ecosystem that depends on it for survival.

The current event, confirmed by NOAA and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), has already surpassed the previous record bleaching event from 2014–2017, which affected 68.2 per cent of reefs worldwide. This marks the fourth recorded global bleaching event, and the second in less than a decade.