A warm spell in September and October of 2009 brought water temperature up to 30°C (86°F), about 1°F higher than the warmest it usually gets at Kwaj. It was enough to bleach out several species of coral and many of the large anemones. Most of the anemones made it through the bleaching episode, but many of the bleached corals, including one species of Goniopora, Stylophora, and Millepora, did not. Subsequent bleachings occurred in 2013, 2014 and 2016; such events were unknown at Kwajalein before 2009.
4 October 2009