Corals expel their symbiotic algae, zooxanthellae, when stressed, often by water temperatures staying 1°C above the usual summer maximum for weeks. NOAA forecasts this using satellite data on sea surface temperatures and models called Degree Heating Weeks. But for me in Chennai, bleaching isn't just a distant forecast—it's the grey, crumbling skeletons I saw at the Gulf of Mannar last field trip, where local fishing families said the water has been "too warm for too long" for years now, bleaching their livelihoods along with the reefs.
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