Underwater Umbrellas Could Protect Coral Reefs From Heat Damage
Scientists in Florida are testing the use of underwater umbrellas to protect coral reefs from heat-induced bleaching. These temporary shades reduce light exposure, helping to mitigate UV damage and preserve the symbiotic algae essential for coral survival.
Why it matters
This research provides a potential localized intervention strategy to save vulnerable coral ecosystems from the impacts of global warming.
Underwater umbrellas could protect coral reefs from heat—and even partly reverse the bleaching, according to a new study by Florida scientists.
Temporary shades placed over particularly vulnerable Caribbean corals can mitigate damage from high sea temperatures driven by global warming, which turns them ghostly white—and eventually kills them.
Restoring dead reefs is possible, but the process is difficult and expensive, and still leaves them vulnerable to future heatwaves. Now, scientists believe they’ve found a new way to protect them—at least, on a small scale.
Study lead author Dr. Karen Neely explained that shading can’t cool the water, but it prevents ultraviolet (UV) and irradiance damage, which worsens the heat damage.
“The 2023 coral bleaching event in Florida essentially wiped out branching corals, and at some inshore sites had a devastating impact on brain corals,” she explained .
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