Scientists had predicted skeletal breakdown of corals would occur on the scale of years to decades, not days to weeks as this new study suggests, Albright said. And marine warming events are only expected to happen more often and get more severe, meaning the Great Barrier Reef could disappear sooner than scientists expected.

“What we thought was the worst-case scenario was global mass bleaching events that were impacting the majority of reefs worldwide on short timescales,” Albright added. But the direct heat-killing of corals, and rapid increase in dissolving skeletons “is even a worse scenario than that"

does this change how we should view climate change as a cause? if so, how?

(note: sorry if the title seems click-baity, if you have a better summery feel free to share)