An ongoing global coral bleaching event, one that's affected more than 70 percent of tropical reefs worldwide, may finally be coming to a close. A new forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests that the high ocean temperatures that lead to bleaching are no longer widespread in the Indian Ocean, potentially signaling the end of what's been a worldwide event for the past three years. But there's still ongoing heat stress in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, meaning corals in these parts of the world may not be out of the woods yet.

Female elk learn to evade hunters

If you come across an old elk in southwestern Canada, chances are the animal is female. Though male elk, or bulls, rarely make it past 5 years old because they are targeted by hunters, female elk, or cows, can live as long as 20 years. Remarkably, cows over age 10 seem nearly invulnerable to hunters. Recently researchers at the University of Alberta reported that some cows adopt more stealth strategies as they age, moving shorter distances and seeking safer ground when hunters are around. Older cows clearly used rugged terrain, for instance, more often during bowhunting season than rifle-hunting season, the scientists reported. It is harder for bowhunters to get close enough to kill an elk in such a setting.

Massive melt seen on West Antarctica

Scientists have documented a recent, massive melt event on the surface of West Antarctica that, they fear, could be a harbinger of future events as the planet continues to warm. In the Antarctic summer of 2016, the surface of the Ross Ice Shelf, the largest floating ice platform on Earth, developed a sheet of meltwater that lasted for as long as 15 days in some places. The total area affected by melt was 300,000 square miles, or larger than the state of Texas, the scientists report. That's bad news because surface melting could work hand in hand with an already documented trend of ocean-driven melting to compromise West Antarctica, which contains more than 10 feet of potential sea level rise.

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