Heat-Tolerant Coral Found Off Majuro After 2024 Bleaching Event

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Anne Cohen identified a heat-tolerant coral reef off the Laura community in Majuro lagoon during an April 2026 visit. The reef showed strong recovery after the 2024 El Niño bleaching event that turned many Majuro reefs white. Cohen, 62, has studied coral reefs and climate change for 30 years.

She began the Super Reefs project in 2018 and launched a joint global initiative with The Nature Conservancy and Stanford University in 2021 targeting Belize, Hawaii, and the Marshall Islands. Inside Climate News reported that more than 80 percent of the world’s reefs have been impacted by the current bleaching event across at least 83 countries and territories.

The world has lost more than half of its coral reefs to climate change and other human activity.

Cohen worked with Woods Hole oceanographers Weifeng Zhang and Yan Jia to build a computer model simulating a decade of temperatures, currents, and wave energy in Majuro lagoon. The model flagged Laura as one of the hottest sites, where surviving corals would likely show unusual heat tolerance.

Stanford University’s Resist, Recover and Rebuild group conducted heat-tolerance tests on coral samples from Majuro sites.

Marine biologist Stephen Palumbi said fragments from Laura ranked among the toughest in the experiments. The team built a coral-testing lab on a local dock using picnic coolers, aquarium heaters, chillers, and temperature controllers. Water temperature at the Laura site runs nearly two degrees hotter than much of the rest of the capital.

Majuro lagoon spans more than 100 square miles. A 2021 World Bank analysis shows 40 percent of existing buildings in Majuro are endangered by rising sea levels. The Marshall Islands Conservation Society has collaborated with the Super Reefs team since 2020.