Peer-Reviewed Publication
Nat Commun2026;17(1):1318.February 10, 2026Journal Article
Severe and widespread coral reef damage during the 2014-2017 Global Coral Bleaching Event.
C Mark Eakin1,2, Scott F Heron3,4,5, Sean R Connolly6,7, Denise A Devotta8,9, Gang Liu8, Erick F Geiger8,9, Jacqueline L De La Cour8,10, Andrea M Gomez11, William J Skirving8,12,13, Andrew H Baird14,15, Neal E Cantin16, Courtney S Couch17,18, Simon D Donner19, James Gilmour16,20, Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero16, Mishal Gudka21, Hugo B Harrison22, Gregor Hodgson23,24, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg25, Andrew S Hoey15, Mia O Hoogenboom14,15, Terry P Hughes15, Meaghan E Johnson26, James T Kerry15, Tadashi Kimura27, Jennifer Mihaly24, Aarón Israel Muñiz-Castillo28, David O Obura21, Morgan S Pratchett14,15, Andrea Rivera-Sosa28, Claire L Ross20,29, Jennifer Stein30, Angus Thompson16, Gergely Torda15, T Shay Viehman31, Cory S Walter32, Shaun Wilson16,29, Benjamin L Marsh8,12, Blake L Spady8,9, Noel Dyer33, Thomas C Adam34, Pedro Alcolado35, Mahsa Alidoostsalimi36, Parisa Alidoostsalimi37, Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip38, Mariana Álvarez-Noriega15, Jesús Ernesto Arias-González28, Keisha D Bahr39, Peter Barnes40, José Enrique Barraza Sandoval41, Julia K Baum42,43, Andrew G Bauman44, Maria Beger45,46, Kathryn Berry47, Pia Bessell-Browne48, Lionel Bigot49, Victor Bonito50, Ole B Brodnicke51, David Burdick52, Deron E Burkepile53, April J Burt54, John A Burt55, Ian R Butler15,56, Jamie M Caldwell57, Yannick Chancerelle58, Chaolun Allen Chen59, Kah-Leng Cherh60, Michael J Childress61, Darren J Coker62, Bryan Costa31, Georgia Coward63, M James C Crabbe64, Thomas Dallison65, Steven Dalton66, Thomas M DeCarlo67, Crawford Drury43, Ian Drysdale68, Clinton B Edwards69, Linda Eggertsen43, Eylem Elma70, Rosmin S Ennis71, Richard D Evans20,29, Gal Eyal25,72, Douglas Fenner73, Baruch Figueroa-Zavala74, Jay Fisch75, Michael D Fox62, Elena Gadoutsis76, Antoine Gilbert77,78, Andrew R Halford79, Tom Heintz77, James Hewlett80, Jean-Paul A Hobbs81, Whitney C Hoot82, Peter Houk52, Lyza Johnston83, Michelle A Johnston84, Hajime Kayanne85, Emma V Kennedy16, Ruy Kenji Papa de Kikuchi86, Ulrike Kloiber87, Haruko Koike88, K Lindsey Kramer89, Chao-Yang Kuo15,59,60, Judith Lang90, Alice Lawrence91, Abigail Leadbeater92, Zelinda M A N Leão86, Jen Nie Lee93, Cynthia Lewis94, Diego Lirman75, Guilherme Ortigara Longo95, Chancey MacDonald9,96, Jennie Mallela97, Sangeeta Mangubhai98, Isabel Marques da Silva99, Christophe Mason-Parker100, Vanessa McDonough101, Melanie McField102, Thayná Mello95, Celine Miternique-Agathe103, Mouchtadi Madi104, Stephan Moldzio105, Alison A Monroe106, Monica Montefalcone107, Kevin S Moses108, Pargol G Mostafavi109, Rodrigo Leão de Moura110, Chathurika S Munasinghe111, Jelvas Mwaura112, Takashi Nakamura113, Jean-Benoit Nicet114, Marissa F Nuttall84, Marilia D M Oliveira86, Hazel A Oxenford115, John M Pandolfi25, Vardhan Patankar116, Denise Perez117, Nishan Perera118, Derta Prabuning119, William Precht120, K Diraviya Raj121, James D Reimer113, Laura E Richardson91, Randi Rotjan122, Nicole Ryan123, Rod Salm124, Stuart A Sandin69, Stephanie Schopmeyer125, George Shedrawi79,126, Mohammad Reza Shokri127, Jennifer E Smith69, Kylie Smith61,128, Struan R Smith129, Tyler B Smith71, Brigitte Sommer130, Melina Soto131, Richard Suckoo132, Helen Sykes133, Kelley Anderson Tagarino134, Marianne Teoh135, Minh Quang Thai136, Tai Chong Toh137, Alex Tredinnick138, Alex Tso19, Harriet Tyley139, Ali M Ussi140, Bernardo Vargas-Angel141, Christian Vaterlaus142, Mark J A Vermeij143, Si Tuan Vo136, Christian R Voolstra144, Hin Boo Wee145,146, Bradley A Weiler75, Dana E Williams147, Saleh A S Yahya148, Thamasak Yeemin149, Maren Ziegler150, Derek P Manzello8
1Coral Reef Watch, Center for Satellite Applications and Research, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, College Park, MD, USA. corals.and.climate@gmail.com.
2Corals and Climate, Silver Spring, MD, USA. corals.and.climate@gmail.com.
3Coral Reef Watch, Center for Satellite Applications and Research, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, College Park, MD, USA. scott.heron@jcu.edu.au.
4College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. scott.heron@jcu.edu.au.
5Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. scott.heron@jcu.edu.au.
6College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. ConnollyS@si.edu.
7Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón, Panama. ConnollyS@si.edu.
8Coral Reef Watch, Center for Satellite Applications and Research, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, College Park, MD, USA.
9Global Science & Technology LLC, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
10Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
11Greater Atlantic Regional Office, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, Gloucester, MA, USA.
12ReefSense, Cranbrook, QLD, Australia.
13University of Reading, Reading, UK.
14College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
15Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
16Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
17Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.
18Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Honolulu, HI, USA.
19Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
20Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
21CORDIO East Africa, Mombasa, Kenya.
22School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
23Angelo King Center for Research & Environmental Management, Silliman University, Dumaguete, Philippines.
24Reef Check Foundation, Westlake Village, CA, USA.
25School of The Environment, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
26National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, Manteo, NC, USA.
27Palau International Coral Reef Center, Koror, Palau.
28Laboratorio de Ecología de Ecosistemas de Arrecifes Coralinos, Departamento de Recursos del Mar, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.
29Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. Kensington, Perth, WA, Australia.
30Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Marathon, FL, USA.
31National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
32International Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration, Mote Marine Laboratory, Summerland Key, FL, USA.
33Office of Coast Survey, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA.
34Marine Science Institute, Moorea Coral Reef LTER, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
35Instituto de Oceanologia, Havana, Cuba.
36School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
37Department of Marine Biology, Science and Research Branch, Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
38Biodiversity and Reef Conservation Laboratory, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
39Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA.
40Ningaloo Marine Park, Parks and Wildlife Service - Exmouth District, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Exmouth, WA, Australia.
41Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Dirección de Ecosistemas y Biodiversidad, San Salvador, El Salvador.
42Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
43Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, Kāne'ohe, HI, USA.
44National Coral Reef Institute, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Marine and Environmental Science, Nova Southeastern University, Dania Beach, FL, USA.
45School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
46Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of the Environment, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
47Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada.
48CSIRO, Castray Esplanade, Battery Point, TAS, Australia.
49Entropie (IRD, UR, CNRS, UNC, IFREMER), Labex CORAIL, IRD-University of La Réunion, Saint Denis Cedex 9, France.
50Reef Explorer Fiji, Votua Village, Nadroga, Fiji.
51Offshore Biodiversity and Ecology, DHI A/S, Hørsholm, Denmark.
52University of Guam Marine Laboratory, Mangilao, GU, USA.
53Department of Ecology, Evolution, & Marine Biology, Moorea Coral Reef LTER, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
54The Seychelles Islands Foundation, Mont Fleuri, Mahe, VIC, Seychelles.
55Mubadala ACCESS Center & Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
56CoraLogic Environmental Consulting, Cook, ACT, Australia.
57High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
58Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l'Environnement/SNO Corail, Papetoai, Moorea Island, French Polynesia, France.
59Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nangang, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
60Taiwan Environmental Information Association, New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC.
61Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
62Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
63Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, American Samoa Coral Reef Advisory Group, Pago Pago, AS, USA.
64Wolfson College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK.
65Blue Pangolin Consulting Ltd, London, UK.
66Department of Primary Industries, NSW Fisheries, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia.
67Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA.
68Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative, West End, Roatan, Honduras.
69Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
70Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
71Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, USVI, USA.
72The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
73Coral Reef Consulting, Pago Pago, AS, USA.
74Centro Ecológico Akumal, Akumal, Mexico.
75Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
76Save Our Seas Foundation - D'Arros Research Centre, Genève, Switzerland.
77Ginger-Soproner, BP3583, Nouméa cedex, New Caledonia, France.
78Direction des Ressources Marines, Fare Ute, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia, France.
79Pacific Community (SPC), Nouméa, New Caledonia, France.
80Finger Lakes Community College, Canandaigua, NY, USA.
81School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
82Guam Coral Reef Initiative, Bureau of Statistics and Plans, Hagatna, Guam, USA.
83Johnston Applied Marine Sciences, Saipan, CNMI, USA.
84NOAA Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, Galveston, TX, USA.
85The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo, Japan.
86Department of Oceanography - Federal University of Bahia, RECOR - Coral Reefs and Global Change Lab, National Institute of Science and Technology for the Tropical Marine Environments (INCT AmbTropic), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
87Chumbe Island Coral Park, Zanzibar, Tanzania.
88Fishery Solutions LLC, Yokohama City, Kanagawa, Japan.
89State of Hawai'i Division of Aquatic Resources, Kailua-Kona, HI, USA.
90Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA), Big Pine Key, FL, USA.
91School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Anglesey, UK.
92Blue Ventures, The Old Library, Bristol, UK.
93Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.
94Department of Biology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
95Marine Ecology Laboratory, Department of Oceanography and Limnology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
96California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA.
97Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
98Talanoa Consulting, Suva, Fiji.
99Lúrio University, Nampula, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.
100Marine Conservation Society Seychelles, Mahé, Victoria, Seychelles.
101Biscayne National Park, Homestead, FL, USA.
102Healthy Reefs Initiative/Smithsonian Institution, Ft. Pierce, FL, USA.
103Reef Conservation, Pereybere, Cap Malheureux, Mauritius.
104Moheli Marine Park, Nioumachoua, Comoros.
105Green Corals, Rischauer Moor 1, Braunschweig, Germany.
106Department of Life Sciences, Marine Genomics Laboratory, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA.
107DiSTAV, University of Genova, Corso Europa 26, Genova, Italy.
108Zoological Survey of India, Marine Biology Regional Center, Chennai, India.
109Department of Marine Sciences, Faculty of Natural resources and Environment, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University (I.A.U), Tehran, Iran.
110Instituto de Biologia and SAGE/COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
111Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
112Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Mombasa, Kenya.
113Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan.
114MAREX Saint-Leu Reunion, Saint-Leu, France.
115CERMES, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Saint Michael, Barbados.
116GVI Travel II Limited t/a GVI Experiences, Exeter, England.
117The Nature Conservancy Caribbean Division, San Juan, PR, USA.
118Blue Resources Trust, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
119Reef Check Indonesia Foundation, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia.
120Coastal and Marine Sciences, Bio-Tech Consulting, Miami, FL, USA.
121Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute, Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, India.
122Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
123Australian Institute of Marine Science, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, Crawley, WA, Australia.
124The Nature Conservancy (Retired), Kailua, HI 96734; Science Advisory Board, Coral Triangle Center, Bali, Indonesia.
125Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, St. Petersburg, FL, USA.
126Australian Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
127Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
128I.CARE, Islamorada, FL, USA.
129Natural History Museum, Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, Flatt's, Bermuda.
130School of Life and Environmental Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
131Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
132Coastal Zone Management Unit, Barbados, and University of the West Indies, Saint Michael, Barbados.
133Marine Ecology Consulting, Suva, Fiji.
134University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, Honolulu, HI, USA.
135Fauna & Flora International, Cambridge, UK.
136Institute of Oceanography, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam.
137Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
138MISE Lab, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
139Coral Cay Conservation, Tongham, Surrey, UK.
140State University of Zanzibar, Zanzibar, Tanzania.
141NOAA Restoration Center, Charleston, SC, USA.
142marinecultures.org, Zanzibar, Tanzania.
143Carmabi Foundation/ University of Amsterdam, Willemstad, Curaçao.
144Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
145Centre for Tropical Climate Change System, Institute of Climate Change, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
146Institute of Oceanography and Environment (INOS), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.
147Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
148Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Tanzania.
149Marine Biodiversity Research Group, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok, Thailand.
150Department of Holobiont Biology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
Abstract
Ocean warming is increasing the frequency, extent, and severity of tropical-coral bleaching and mortality. During 2014-2017, marine heatwaves caused the Third Global Coral Bleaching Event. We analyze data from 15,066 reef surveys globally during 2014-2017. Across all surveyed reefs, 80% and 35% experienced moderate or greater (affecting >10% of corals) bleaching and mortality, respectively. We ass…
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