Map showing sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies off the northeastern coast of Australia on the 14th of March 2022. Red areas show a SST anomaly increase equal to 2 degrees or more. Bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef (top right) are caused by warmer than average sea surface temperatures. In March 2022, Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority confirmed that a mass bleaching event occurred. This was the sixth bleaching event since 1998 and the first to occur in La Nina conditions.