WASHINGTON Some of the nations leading coral scientists stressed Thursday that the situation facing coral reefs is nothing short of desperate and a drastic cut in global carbon dioxide emissions wont be enough to protect corals from deadly bleaching events and other environmental threats.

In hopes of giving the reefs a fighting chance, a newly formed committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will review a variety of potential intervention strategies, from genetic modification of coral species to spraying salt water into the atmosphere to shade and cool reefs.

At the committees first meeting on Thursday, Mark Eakin, coordinator of the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administrations (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch, said the severity of what has occurred between June 2014 and May 2017 the longest, most widespread, and possibly the most damaging bleaching event on record has changed the scientific communitys perspective about what should be done.

The dire situation is here now, he told the 12-person committee at its first meeting on Thursday. We know that climate change is accelerating and accelerating bleaching. And so we need to make sure that this study isnt something that talks about some nice areas of science but is too little and too late for the corals.