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Climate change blamed for killing 14% of the world's coral reefs in just 10 years

Part 1. Vocabulary

decade

/ˈdekād/ n.

- a period of ten years

He taught at the school for nearly a decade.

succession

/səkˈseSHən/ n.

- the action or process of inheriting a title, office, property, etc.

The new king was already elderly at the time of his succession.

trigger

/ˈtriɡər/ n.

- cause 9an event or situation) to happen or exist

An allergy can be triggered by stress or overwork.

conviction

/kənˈvikSH(ə)n/ n.

- a firmly held belief or opinion

She takes pride in stating her political convictions.

profound

/prəˈfound/ adj.

- (of a state, quality, or emotion) very great or intense:

The impact of temperature rise has been profound.

 

Part 2. Comprehension questions

What are the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) findings of the rising ocean temperatures?

What do coral reefs support?

What does the death of the reefs would trigger?

Why are coral reef systems remain at risk?

What is the article all about?

 

Part 3. Article reading

Over the course of a single decade, climate change helped kill 14 percent of the world's coral reefs, a new study has found. 

In its first global report since 2008, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) finds that rising ocean temperatures due to climate change led to a succession of "large-scale bleaching events" that resulted in the decline of coral reefs worldwide. “Large-scale coral bleaching events caused by elevated sea surface temperatures are the greatest disturbance to the world’s coral reefs,” the report states. 

Coral reefs support over 25 percent of all marine species on earth yet cover just 0.2 percent of the ocean floor. The death of reefs would trigger the collapse of an entire ecosystem, scientists have long warned. The GCRMN report, which drew its findings based on data compiled over 40 years in 73 countries, finds a marked spike in the number of algae on the world's coral reefs in just a decade. 

“While the results of the report are sobering, there are examples of the ability of coral reefs to recover in the absence of major disturbances,” Margaret Johnson, general manager of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in Australia, said in a statement accompanying the report. “This reinforces our conviction that we need to step up and accelerate efforts at all levels to address key threats and increase global action at all levels to reduce the extent of climate change impacts.”

Despite the fact that they can rebound from individual bleaching events, coral reef systems remain at risk because oceans absorb the vast majority of heat caused by climate change. Last year, the oceans reached their warmest temperature on record, and five of the warmest years recorded have all occurred since 2015. 

“Most of the excess atmospheric heat is passed back to the ocean. As a result, upper ocean heat content has increased significantly over the past few decades,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says on its website. 

Coral reefs, which require sunlight, are found in shallow waters, where the impact of temperature rise has been profound

“We are running out of time: We can reverse losses, but we have to act now,” Inger Andersen, head of the United Nations Environment Program, said in a statement regarding the report's findings. 

 

Source: David Knowles, October 6, 2021, https://www.yahoo.com/news/climate-change-blamed-for-killing-14-percent-of-the-worlds-coral-reefs-in-just-10-years-181428341.html

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