Climate change is stressing out coral 🪸

Ocean heat and carbon dioxide (CO2) are both absorbed by the ocean as greenhouse gas levels increase. When CO2 is absorbed, the water becomes more acidic. This makes it harder for corals and some other marine life to grow shells and protect themselves. Plus, marine heat waves are making it too warm for many corals to survive.

NASA is helping by sharing its decades of data with the world. For example, in a recent NASA-partnered study, scientists used satellite data to give people important information about their local reefs so that they could take actions to protect them.

Image Description: The Landsat 8 satellite’s Operational Land Imager captured this image of coral reefs in the northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia, on August 22, 2020. Against the dark blue ocean, are neon green reefs of different shapes and sizes.

#NASA #NationalOceanMonth #ClimateChange #Earthdata #Coral #CoralReefs