Eakin, C.M., Heron, S.F., Connolly, S.R. et al. (176 more authors) (2026) Severe and widespread coral reef damage during the 2014-2017 Global Coral Bleaching Event. Nature Communications, 17. 1318. ISSN: 2041-1723
Abstract
Ocean warming is increasing the frequency, extent, and severity of tropical-coral bleaching and mortality. During 2014–2017, marine heatwaves caused the Third Global Coral Bleaching Event. We analyze data from 15,066 reef surveys globally during 2014–2017. Across all surveyed reefs, 80% and 35% experienced moderate or greater (affecting >10% of corals) bleaching and mortality, respectively. We assess the global extent of coral bleaching and mortality by applying bleaching response curves calibrated from surveyed reefs to predict bleaching globally, based on comprehensive remote-sensing of heat stress. These models predict that 51% and 15% of the world’s coral reefs suffered moderate or greater bleaching and mortality, respectively, during one or multiple years, surpassing damage from any prior global coral bleaching event. Our findings demonstrate that the impacts of ocean warming on coral reefs are accelerating, with the near certainty that ongoing warming will cause large-scale, possibly irreversible, degradation of these essential ecosystems. With heat stress levels during this event surpassing those observed previously, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration developed more extreme Bleaching Alert levels that are now being used during the ongoing Fourth Global Coral Bleaching Event.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply 2026. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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| Institution: | The University of Leeds |
| Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Mar 2026 16:29 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Mar 2026 16:29 |
| Status: | Published |
| Publisher: | Springer Nature |
| Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41467-025-67506-w |
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| Sustainable Development Goals: | |
| Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:238486 |


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