Recorded wind gave no clear heat buffer in four Atlantic and Pacific coral samples from 2000 to 2019

We tested whether higher recorded wind reduced the link between heat stress and coral bleaching. We used repeat-year Reef Check surveys from a public global database. The pooled model had 5,974 site-month records at 1,305 sites and controlled site, ocean-year, ocean-month and depth. Its wind-by-heat coefficient was +0.084 percentage points per four TSA degree-heating weeks per archived wind unit, with a 95% interval of -0.377 to +0.546. Four separate Atlantic and Pacific period samples from 2000 to 2019 had adjusted intervals that included zero. Timing, local annual controls, curved responses and alternate heat checks did not establish a common buffer. The wind field has unclear physical units and no stated averaging window. Selected surveys, few regional clusters and coarse heat data further limit inference. This conditional test does not estimate total wind-driven cooling or prove no wind effect. Code, a raw-data rebuild, source hashes, a derived panel, all results and calculation checks are included.

coral bleaching · wind · heat stress · observation bias · regional replication · null result