{"id":307678,"date":"2024-03-13T19:30:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T18:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=307678"},"modified":"2024-03-13T19:30:16","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T18:30:16","slug":"wrong-reuters-and-cnn-coral-doing-well-amidst-modest-warming-bleaching-%e2%89%a0-coral-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=307678","title":{"rendered":"Wrong, Reuters and CNN, Coral Doing Well Amidst Modest Warming, Bleaching \u2260 Coral Death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From ClimateRealism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By H. Sterling Burnett<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reuters and CNN each posted stories in the past week warning that a major coral bleaching event may soon appear affecting coral communities in the Southern Hemisphere, in particular the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)\u2014and climate change is the cause, by the way. Bleaching may occur, but history shows such events do not equal coral death, and the evidence suggests that the cause for any bleaching that occurs this year is a short-term spike in ocean temperatures due to natural El Ni\u00f1o patterns, not climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its story, \u201cExclusive: World on brink of fourth mass coral reef bleaching event, NOAA says<\/a>,\u201d Reuters writes, \u201c[t]he world is on the verge of a fourth mass coral bleaching event which could see wide swathes of tropical reefs die, including parts of Australia\u2019s Great Barrier Reef, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMarine biologists are on high alert following months of record-breaking ocean heat fueled by climate change and the El Ni\u00f1o climate pattern,\u201d Reuters\u2019 continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story was hardly \u201cExclusive,\u201d since CNN had basically published the same claim in its post, \u201cAustralia\u2019s Great Barrier Reef suffers \u2018extensive\u2019 coral bleaching, as scientists fear seventh mass bleaching event<\/a>,\u201d on February 27, nearly a week before Reuters published its story. It\u2019s hard to be original when you are all working from the same script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the two stories, one must first ask, which is it, the seventh mass bleaching event or the fourth? It seems the mainstream media can\u2019t even get their numbers straight, although they certainly agree on three things: a mass bleaching is either in process or immanent; it means death for the corals affected, and it is caused by human induced climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reuters and CNN may be right that a large amount of coral in the southern hemisphere may bleach in the coming year, but they are wrong about the cause and the consequences for coral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reuters and CNN both acknowledge that El Ni\u00f1o is a significant factor in present ocean warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOcean temperatures are also becoming even hotter under the current El Ni\u00f1o \u2014 a natural climate pattern that brings warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures \u2014 which is one of the strongest on record,\u201d writes CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data does not support the claim that ocean temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere have warmed dramatically over the past 30 years. Rather, each and every mass bleaching event that Reuters and CNN cite as evidence of climate change coincided with and was a response to either a strong or a weak El Ni\u00f1o<\/a>. When an El Ni\u00f1o strikes, Southern Hemisphere corals are impacted, no El Ni\u00f1o, minimal or no bleaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As discussed in Climate at a Glance: Coral Reefs<\/a>, coral thrive in warm water, not cold water, As a result, the recent modest warming has allowed coral to expand their range poleward, while still thriving near the equator and the tropics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evidence also clearly shows that coral bleaching is not tantamount to coral death, which has been proven repeatedly at the GBR, which Reuters and CNN express such concern for. Indeed, subsequent to previous strong El Ni\u00f1o induced recent bleaching events at the GBR, the coral reef repeatedly set new records<\/a> for coral extent. That\u2019s right, the coral not only recovered, but the coral colonies also seemingly adapted and expanded. This fact has been discussed in a number of previous Climate Realism<\/em> posts, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether an El Ni\u00f1o induced spike in Southern Ocean temperatures causes coral reefs to bleach en masse<\/em> this year or not, the evidence suggests that most if not all of the coral will recover, evolving and become hardier in the face of future temperature increases. Coral have existed continuously for the past 60 million years, surviving temperatures and carbon dioxide levels significantly higher than what is occurring today, and the evidence suggests until the next ice age, they will continue to thrive and expand their range. Reuters and CNN should honestly acknowledge this rather than trying to generate fear amongst their readers by shoehorning a false coral demise story into the narrative that \u201cclimate change causes everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bleaching may occur, but history shows such events do not equal coral death, and the evidence suggests that the cause for any bleaching that occurs this year is a short-term spike in ocean temperatures due to natural El Ni\u00f1o patterns, not climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":307682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Bleaching may occur, but history shows such events do not equal coral death, and the evidence suggests that the cause for any bleaching that occurs this year is a short-term spike in ocean temperatures due to natural El Ni\u00f1o patterns, not climate change.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691820471,691819287,691822484,691827588],"class_list":{"0":"post-307678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-coral-bleaching","10":"tag-el-nino-2","11":"tag-great-barrier-reef-gbr","12":"tag-reuters-and-cnn","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0-Great-Barrier-Reef-12.jpg?fit=1547%2C871&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1i2y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":289282,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=289282","url_meta":{"origin":307678,"position":0},"title":"Corals\u2019 Fantastic Recovery Exonerates Skeptical Scientists\u2019 Coral Analyses!","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/11\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jim Steele A coral survey ending in May 2022 found that despite decades of worrisome bleaching the northern and central Great Barrier Reef recorded their highest amount of coral cover since the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) began monitoring 37 years ago. 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Sadly, in a story titled, \u201cParts of Great Barrier Reef record highest amount of coral in 36 years,\u201d\u00a0CNN\u00a0tried to turn this good news contained in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-98.png?fit=1200%2C794&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-98.png?fit=1200%2C794&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-98.png?fit=1200%2C794&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-98.png?fit=1200%2C794&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-98.png?fit=1200%2C794&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":364009,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=364009","url_meta":{"origin":307678,"position":2},"title":"Truths about Coral Bleaching: CO2 Warming vs Reduced Clouds Cover?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The coral that now form our modern reefs evolved 240 million years ago during the Age of Dinosaurs when coral formed a marvelously fluid symbiotic relationship with symbiodinium algae. The new algae symbionts absorbed CO2 and produced sugars via photosynthesis for the coral. 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Sterling Burnett A thriving coral reef. ABC News ran an Associated Press (AP) story titled, \u201cClimate change is hurting coral worldwide. But these reefs are thriving.\u201d The article is misleading in at least three ways: first coral reefs are not in decline all over the globe as the AP\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ABC News\"","block_context":{"text":"ABC News","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=abc-news"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0GettyImages-521652072-5bb274e046e0fb00261cc14c.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0GettyImages-521652072-5bb274e046e0fb00261cc14c.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0GettyImages-521652072-5bb274e046e0fb00261cc14c.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0GettyImages-521652072-5bb274e046e0fb00261cc14c.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0GettyImages-521652072-5bb274e046e0fb00261cc14c.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":330632,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=330632","url_meta":{"origin":307678,"position":4},"title":"DOWNPLAYING LIGHT STRESS TO HYPE GLOBAL WARMING MISINFORMS THE PUBLIC ABOUT CORAL BLEACHING","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/05\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Why have major coral bleaching events occurred during EL Nino events?","rel":"","context":"In \"CO2\"","block_context":{"text":"CO2","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=co2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0GOnZeEQa4AMJU8-.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0GOnZeEQa4AMJU8-.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0GOnZeEQa4AMJU8-.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0GOnZeEQa4AMJU8-.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0GOnZeEQa4AMJU8-.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":409097,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=409097","url_meta":{"origin":307678,"position":5},"title":"Australia\u2019s ABC News Claim: \u2018We\u2019ve Hit a Climate Change Tipping Point\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/10\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Purported climate change tipping points are much in the news around the world. From ABC News in Australia, as the guest post below explores, to here in the United States with CNN\u2019s story, \u201cThe planet has entered a \u2018new reality\u2019 as it hits its first climate tipping point, landmark report\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ABC News\"","block_context":{"text":"ABC News","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=abc-news"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMrdP4yvMdDHX0npkcnQ5L9BFjfZ80FJyB5jUgHelQb6Utlm_lSaqFQuqPWuemnUqYEJ-6cXBZ8PyCiOYfYLYS6wM3tfL4-mXrsCGKfMbC1jPbhTBBctfTrjqLOTTRiIDeESHTtxT0_0G9FJdE97fs3mWpC2g.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMrdP4yvMdDHX0npkcnQ5L9BFjfZ80FJyB5jUgHelQb6Utlm_lSaqFQuqPWuemnUqYEJ-6cXBZ8PyCiOYfYLYS6wM3tfL4-mXrsCGKfMbC1jPbhTBBctfTrjqLOTTRiIDeESHTtxT0_0G9FJdE97fs3mWpC2g.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMrdP4yvMdDHX0npkcnQ5L9BFjfZ80FJyB5jUgHelQb6Utlm_lSaqFQuqPWuemnUqYEJ-6cXBZ8PyCiOYfYLYS6wM3tfL4-mXrsCGKfMbC1jPbhTBBctfTrjqLOTTRiIDeESHTtxT0_0G9FJdE97fs3mWpC2g.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMrdP4yvMdDHX0npkcnQ5L9BFjfZ80FJyB5jUgHelQb6Utlm_lSaqFQuqPWuemnUqYEJ-6cXBZ8PyCiOYfYLYS6wM3tfL4-mXrsCGKfMbC1jPbhTBBctfTrjqLOTTRiIDeESHTtxT0_0G9FJdE97fs3mWpC2g.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMrdP4yvMdDHX0npkcnQ5L9BFjfZ80FJyB5jUgHelQb6Utlm_lSaqFQuqPWuemnUqYEJ-6cXBZ8PyCiOYfYLYS6wM3tfL4-mXrsCGKfMbC1jPbhTBBctfTrjqLOTTRiIDeESHTtxT0_0G9FJdE97fs3mWpC2g.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=307678"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307683,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307678\/revisions\/307683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/307682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=307678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=307678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=307678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}