Measured seawater temperatures and bleaching observations
in 1998 and 2012 were compared against coral bleaching predic-
tions from HotSpots which were obtained from the NOAA Coral
Reef Watch Program (archived at http://www.ospd.noaa.gov/ml/
ocean/cb/hotspots.html). The Hotspot anomaly is based on the
climatological mean sea surface temperatures of the hottest
month in the year. We analyzed the data obtained from NOAA/
NESDIS Coral Bleaching HotSpots for the Eastern Hemisphere at
the study site during April–July 1998 and April–August 2010. In
1998, the seawater temperature anomaly started on 17 April,
reaching the maximum on 2 June and decreased to normal
conditions on 21 July. However in 2010, the seawater temperature
anomaly started on 19 April, reaching the peak on 15 July and
decreased to normal conditions on 30 August (Fig. 2).