Changes in hard coral cover between 2016 - 2020

Changes in live hard coral cover associated with the 2016 heatwave (left), the 2020 heatwave (middle) and overall (right). The 2016 heatwave-associated coral changes reflect the difference between values observed on surveys before 2016 versus after 2016 but before 2020. The 2020 changes reflect differences in values from after the 2016 event but before the 2020 event, versus after the 2020 event. Changes in percent cover are absolute changes and do not depend on the initial cover, so a decline from 30% cover to 20% would be shown as a 10% decline.