Ocean temperatures are so hot, scientists are moving coral indoors

Ocean temperatures across the globe just broke a heat record going back to 2016, after seawater off the Florida Keys reached more than 100-degrees in recent weeks.

Nicole Fogarty is working to spawn tropical coral species for reef rehabilitation at UNC-Wilmington's Coral REEF Lab. She says her colleagues are currently working to remove corals from the ocean and move them into land-based facilities.

"You know it's bad when they're trying to remove an organism from its natural habitat, and put it in a nursery setting on land in order for it to survive," Fogarty said.

The hot tub-level temperatures are threatening the vital barrier reef ecosystem. Though they cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, coral reefs support an estimated 25% of all marine life.

"Coral reefs live really close to their temperature threshold, and so even increases and one or two degrees Celsius is enough to bleach corals," Fogarty said.

Corals get their hues from microalgae that live on them and provide nutrition. Temperature changes cause the symbiotic algae relationship to turn toxic, cutting off the coral's food source and causing them to lose color.

When extreme marine heat waves last extended periods of time, fish and other organisms can migrate to cooler water while corals are left to cook.

Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say the worst is yet to come.

"There is a developing marine heat wave along the Gulf Stream, particularly in the waters off of North Carolina, and our models suggest these high ocean temperatures could intensify and potentially stick around as late as September of this year," said Dillon Amaya, a research physical scientist at the Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories in Boulder, Colorado.

The mass coral bleaching happening throughout the Keys is the most severe in the state’s history, according to NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program.

Scientists will be conducting surveys over the next few months to fully understand how much coral has died, as efforts continue to save what's left.