El Niño could bring more widespread coral bleaching, NOAA warns

Science El Niño could bring more widespread coral bleaching, NOAA warns By Emily Mae Czachor Emily Mae Czachor News Editor Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and climate. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek. Read Full Bio Emily Mae Czachor June 3, 2026 / 12:10 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The expected arrival of El Niño in the next few months could trigger another mass coral bleaching event, just a year after the last one's conclusion, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned this week.This would mark the fifth global bleaching incident in recorded history if it comes to fruition, said NOAA, a U.S. federal agency that also conducts weather and climate research around the world. Its updated coral bleaching outlook, shared Tuesday, predicts that reefs are at a high risk of losing their colors this summer across much of the northern Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii. Reefs surrounding Florida and the Caribbean may face the same threats, the latest outlook said.Coral reefs are vital underwater ecosystems that broadly support marine life and provide habitats for approximately one-fourth of all marine species. The undue stress of higher ocean temperatures can cause them to deteriorate, stripping them of their pigments and turning them white. Visible bleaching has occurred often and at times infamously in recent decades, a pattern that many scientists attribute to climate change. Last October, researchers at the University of Exeter declared coral reefs the first environmental system on Earth to pass a climate "tipping point," after years of repeated degradation. Coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef during a mass bleaching event in 2017. Brett Monroe Garner / Getty Images Derek Manzello, who coordinates the Coral Reef Watch program that produced NOAA's bleaching outlook, said in a...