{"id":396406,"date":"2025-08-20T09:01:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T07:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=396406"},"modified":"2025-08-20T09:01:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T07:01:53","slug":"new-study-corals-thrived-in-warmer-than-today-temps-and-when-sea-levels-were-meters-higher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=396406","title":{"rendered":"New Study: Corals Thrived In Warmer-Than-Today Temps And When Sea Levels Were Meters Higher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

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

By\u00a0Kenneth Richard<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New research<\/a><\/strong> from Indonesia indicates that from about 10,000 to 6000 years ago, when the ocean was warmer than today, coral reef growth was rapid, averaging ~6 mm per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sea levels rose rapidly from the Early to Mid-Holocene in this region, as they were up to 2 m higher than today 6000 years ago. The higher sea levels meant there was more room for coral reef growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the ocean cooled and sea levels fell ~2 meters from the Mid-Holocene highstand, coral growth slowed to ~2-3 mm per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today corals are only growing at rates of ~1 mm per year, as the water depths are too low to accommodate reef expansion. In fact, coral coverage \u201chas declined on the flats over the last few decades,\u201d as the \u201caccommodation space is less than a meter at points.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Illustration
Image Source:\u00a0Hynes et al., 2025<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Research from the Great Barrier Reef region (e.g.,\u00a0Leonard et al., 2020<\/a><\/strong>) also indicates coral growth experienced \u201cturn-off\u201d periods during cold centuries (such as the Little Ice Age) with falling sea levels. When the ocean was \u201c~1-2\u00b0C warmer than present\u201d and sea levels were \u201c~1.0 m higher than present,\u201d this \u201callowed reefs to accrete uninhibited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Image Source:\u00a0Leonard et al., 2020<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

New research\u00a0from Indonesia indicates that from about 10,000 to 6000 years ago, when the ocean was warmer than today, coral reef growth was rapid, averaging ~6 mm per year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":396412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"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":[691837397,691818100,691818192,691819027,691818989],"class_list":["post-396406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-coral-reef-growth","tag-great-barrier-reef","tag-holocene","tag-indonesia","tag-sea-levels","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AQMrdP4yvMdDHX0npkcnQ5L9BFjfZ80FJyB5jUgHelQb6Utlm_lSaqFQuqPWuemnUqYEJ-6cXBZ8PyCiOYfYLYS6wM3tfL4-mXrsCGKfMbC1jPbhTBBctfTrjqLOTTRiIDeESHTtxT0_0G9FJdE97fs3mWpC2g.jpeg?fit=1280%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1F7E","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":404566,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=404566","url_meta":{"origin":396406,"position":0},"title":"Corals Won\u2019t Disappear, Contrary to What the New York Times Claims","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/24\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In a recent The New York Times\u2019 article, \u201cCorals Won\u2019t Survive a Warmer Planet, a New Study Finds,\u201d Sachi Kitajima Mulkey reports that nearly all Atlantic corals will cease growing by the end of this century due to projected rising temperatures. 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