Global coral bleaching records from 2003-2019

Global coral bleaching records used for Eason, T., Garmestani, A. S. and Nash, K., "Shifting Temperature Regimes Shape Coral Bleaching Worldwide" Data for this study was gathered from the global coral bleaching database (GCBD) which compiles data from multiple sources (e.g., Reef Check and the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment Program) and houses over 41 thousand coral bleaching records spanning more than 91 countries from 1980–2020 (van Woesik and Kratochwill, 2022). Each record includes detailed sampling information such as site location, collection date, percent bleaching, percent coral cover, environmental variables (e.g., turbidity) and a myriad of temperature variables. Given the focus of our study, we extracted records that specifically documented hard coral cover and population level bleaching for each site (N=11,234). We removed records lacking substrate, bleaching and temperature data or without unique spatial-temporal entries (i.e., identical site, date and temperatures but different depths). The final dataset consists of 8,022 records capturing the dynamics of 31 temperature variables, bleaching and hard coral cover from 2003-2019. The compiled Excel workbook includes worksheets with descriptions of the dataset, sampling station details ordered by Haversine distance, annual processed data and a combined dataset encompassing all records used in the study. Reference: VAN WOESIK, R. & KRATOCHWILL, C. 2022. A global coral-bleaching database, 1980–2020. Scientific Data, 9, 20.