At a Glance

Hurricane Dorian destroyed roughly 30% of the coral reef around the Bahamas.Coral ecosystems are highly sensitive to climate change, as they are sensitive to severe temperature changes and salinity levels. The Bahamas’ reefs were in trouble before Hurricane Dorian. In 2016, the Perry Institute found that the area's reefs were under stress and classified them as impaired.

Hurricane Dorian destroyed roughly 30% of the coral reef around the Bahamas, . And, as the study states, “hurricane impacts may continue to result in coral loss for a year or more after the storm.”

made landfall in Abaco on September 1, 2019. The record-breaking hurricane battered Abaco and Grand Bahama for two days. Upon landfall, it whipped Abaco with — the strongest winds ever recorded during landfall for an Atlantic hurricane. The slow-moving storm decimated communities and estimated at .

The impacts of the storm were devastating for coral. Reefs the size of cars were destroyed. Large amounts of sand and sediment have left pieces of coral covered and damaged.

Coral reefs harbor the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem globally, . Despite covering less than 0.1% of the ocean floor, reefs host more than a quarter of all marine fish species. Among their many benefits, coral reefs protect the shores from flooding and erosion, .

Moreover, reefs have played a vital role in the Bahamas’ economy. Reef diving and snorkeling are an important part of the country’s tourism industry, which accounts for some 50% of GDP.

The Bahamas’ reefs were in trouble before Hurricane Dorian. In 2016, the Perry Institute found that reefs in the Bahamas to be under stress and .

Though the majority of the reefs made a rapid recovery to pre-storm conditions, roughly 30% suffered severe damage.

Hurricanes can cause intense damage to coral reef ecosystems such as physical damage to the coral itself, loss of living coral tissue through abrasion by sand and coral getting covered by sand and sediments. This is all accompanied by the threat of coral bleaching due to the change in stressors like salinity and temperature.

While much of the reef was damaged, the location and extent of the damage was not what researchers expected. While they expected the extent of the damage to follow the eye wall area, it did not. An area roughly 3 miles away from the eyewall and the point of landfall, however, received more damage. The report suggests that further coral monitoring of the region is necessary.

The study of coral is vital for climate adaptation. Coral ecosystems are to climate change, as they are sensitive to severe temperature changes and salinity levels.

Kim Cobb, a professor at Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences who was not involved in the study, “Corals are early warning signs of the kind of system failures that we know are coming down the pipe.”

The Perry Institute’s report was submitted to the government of the Bahamas. The researchers used data collected from coral reefs around Abaco and Grand Bahama over the year prior to the storm and data collected from the same reefs less than two months after the storm. To assess reef health, they used four metrics: physical destruction of reefs, sediment movement, debris and coral bleaching.

“Researchers from the Perry Institute have studied reefs in the Bahamas for years,” . “When Dorian hit, they were in position to assess the damage quickly even though boats and scientific equipment were also damaged in the storm.”

The researchers concluded that “there is hope for recovery of most coral reefs in the area, which will play an important role in rebuilding communities and the blue economy of Abaco and Grand Bahama.”