![]() When temperatures get too high, the coral expels the algae, making the reefs appear white or bleached. ![]() The reefs get their colour from the algae that live inside them and are the corals' food. ![]() Previous Alert Level 2s were reached in August, she said.Ĭoral reefs are made up of tiny organisms that link together. Surface temperatures around the Keys have been averaging about 91 degrees (33 Celsius), well above the normal mid-July average of 85 degrees (29.5 Celsius), said Jacqueline De La Cour, operations manager for NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program. That level is reached when the average water surface temperature is about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) above the normal maximum for eight straight weeks. Scientists with NOAA this week raised their coral bleaching warning system to Alert Level 2 for the Keys, their highest heat stress level out of five. "The corals are pale, it looks like the colour's draining out," said Lesneski, who has spent several days on the reefs over the last two weeks.
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