The 2022 summer marine heatwaves and coral bleaching in China's Greater Bay Area.

From July to August 2022, scleractinian coral communities in China's Greater Bay Area (GBA) in the northern South China Sea (nSCS) experienced an unprecedented bleaching event, despite the fact that coral communities in this area are often considered coral thermal refugia due to their high latitude distribution. Field surveys of six sites covering three main coral distribution areas of the GBA revealed that coral bleaching occurred at all sites. Bleaching was more severe in shallow water (1-3 m) than in deep water (4-6 m), as indicated by both percent bleached cover (51.