Many coral reefs will be unable to grow fast enough to keep up with predicted rising sea levels, leaving tropical coastlines and low-lying islands exposed to increasing erosion and flooding risk, new research suggests.
NOAA contributed to a study published today in the journal Nature that compares the upward growth rates of coral reefs with predicted rates of sea-level rise and found many reefs would be submerged in water so deep it will hamper their growth and survival. The study was done by an international team of scientists led by the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
“Reef-building corals contain symbiotic algae and require light to grow,” said Ian Enochs, a co-author from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. “Ever increasing water depths decrease the availability of that light and lessen a coral's ability to grow and thrive.”
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Image via NOAA.