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On a blistering hot day in Galveston, the air inside Moody Gardens Aquarium is cool. A little boy stomps around excitedly, ogling an illuminated exhibit where translucent jellyfish propel themselves through the water.
Just down the hall is a small coral rescue lab tucked into the aquarium’s walls. Inside, a team of scientists and curators tediously works to rehabilitate corals from the Gulf. Many of the corals come from theFlower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary,which sits about 100 miles off the coast of Galveston.
Corals are tiny, tube-shaped animals that build sprawling reefs which serve as a home to abouta quarter of marine species, but those reefs face threats as the Texas Gulf Coast endures some of its hottest weeks of the summer and ocean temperatures in the region trendabout two degrees warmer than normal.
The threat against coral reefs
Warm temperatures in the Gulf can harm coral reefs, with ripple effects to other sea life and the economy.When water is too warm, corals can lose their color, turning white from the stress — a process known as"coral bleaching."
According to Keisha Bahr,the chair forCoral Reef and Ocean Health at the Harte Research Institute, if the water warms too much, the corals can die.
"That’s what we’re concerned about is it’s just getting too hot, too fast, and staying too hot for too long, and the corals aren’t able to cope with that temperature increase," Bahr said.
According to Bahr, while there haven't been that many coral bleaching events globally, researchers are seeing it happen more often as it becomes more severe.
"With every bleaching event, we lose some corals, and those corals are no longer able to contribute to this three-dimensional structure that is really important for the rest of the marine species," Bahr said.
Areportreleased in August by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network found that a series of marine heatwaves over the last three decades has triggered the loss of at least 9.5% of the world's corals.
Warming waters
According to meteorologist Jeff Masters, the Gulf has been warming at about twice the rate of the rest of the ocean. These rising temperatures are due to a combination of man-made climate change and natural weather variation, according to Masters.
Masters said warm water is being pushed toward the Americas in the midst of a particularly strong El Niño weather pattern.
Typically, average ocean temperaturesalong the Texas Gulf Coast range from 83 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit in September.Recent recordshave shown the water reaching up to 87 degrees Fahrenheit this summer.
Studiesshow that more than 50 days above 85 degrees Fahrenheit could result in a bleaching year at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
The impact
Losing coral reefs is a cause for concern, according to Bahr.
"If we lose corals, they’re essentially our canary in a coal mine ... we might lose other species associated with corals. For example, there’s certain fish that only feed on certain types of corals, and if you lose those corals, you lose those fish, which is really, really alarming," Bahr said.
Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report that the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary has a social, ecological, scientific and economic value ranging from $6 billion to $19 billion per year.
Bahr said a lot of medicine and new discoveries have been associated with coral reefs as well.
Current status
According to sanctuary staff, coral reefs at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary haven't yet had widespread bleaching this year. Bahr said the reefs are significantly deeper in the water, which helps keep them cool and provides a buffer from the hot surface water.
Because of that buffer, bleaching at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary doesn't usually happen until mid-September or early October, according to sanctuary staff.
At the beginning of August, NOAA issued a "level one" bleaching alert for the sanctuary. Bahr said this meant there would be pretty significant bleaching occurring at the sanctuary, with estimates that it could occur within the next four weeks.
As of Sept. 14, the sanctuary still sat at alevel one bleaching alert, with level two being the highest.
Solutions
Back at the aquarium lab, Zurita said the team within the Coral Rescue Lab is ready to help the reefs if a bleaching event does occur at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
"If we do get corals that are bleached, we can feed them every day. We can make sure we get them what they need," Zurita said.
As they recover, the corals regain their color, going from pale white to healthy shades of brown, tan, green and orange. Eventually, researchers can return them to their sanctuary.
Zurita said researchers are also working toward breeding and planting new corals that are more heat-resistant.
"So when we do go out planting, hopefully the next generation of corals will be a little bit more resilient to these warming temperatures," Zurita said.
Bahr said overall, reducing carbon emissions in the atmosphere and slowing the rate of global warming would help corals hold on.A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programmestates that global warming is set to cross 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, likely within the next few years.
According to the report, there's a low possibility of corals surviving this century if temperatures stay that high or go above that level.
A little cooling would go a long way for corals, according to Bahr, who noted that corals are among the oldest species on Earth, dating back to before the dinosaurs.
"It becomes very important for these very sensitive species that have existed for over 500 million years," Bahr said. "It’s very important that we try to do what we can to help make sure that they’re going to be there for future generations."
On a smaller scale, Zurita said little things can help, too, such as donating to a conservation fund or using less plastic.
"You can make a difference, but it doesn’t have to be big. We just have to work together to make that difference," Zurita said.
Houston Public Media’s Natalie Weber contributed to this article.
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