New study suggests eddies may influence coral resilience as ocean temperatures rise

Large colonies of boulder star coral and symmetrical brain coral cover the coral reef cap of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Credit: G.P. Schmahl/NOAA

Increasing sea surface temperatures and persisting marine heatwaves lead to more frequent and severe coral bleaching events, but one natural phenomenon may enhance their resilience.

In the face of climate change and rising ocean temperatures, scientists actively seek ways to make coral reefs more resilient to these extreme conditions globally. A new study spanning two decades of research may indicate a series of reefs from the surface to 150 meters deep in the Gulf of Mexico are more resilient to warmer oceans as they are exposed to a wider range of temperatures brought on by a physical movement of seawater called “eddies.”

Eddies are swirls of ocean water rotating either clockwise or counterclockwise, and either pushing warm surface waters down (anticyclonic eddies) or bringing cool, salty deep water up (cyclonic eddies). Eddies are found everywhere in the ocean, some of them branching from major ocean currents, and they can carry masses of ocean waters over long distances.