Modeled effects of depth and semidiurnal temperature fluctuations on predictions of year that coral reef locations reach annual severe bleaching for various global climate model projections

Abstract

Using global climate model projections of sea-surface temperature at coral reef sites, we modeled the effects of depth and exposure to semidiurnal temperature fluctuations to examine how these effects may alter the projected year of annual severe bleaching for coral reef sites globally. Here we present the first global maps of the effects these processes have on bleaching projections for three IPCC-AR5 emissions scenarios.