Description: Abiotic data were collected to assess the environmental conditions that coincided with the 2016 mass bleaching event documented at Shell island (Shenton Bluff), Cygnet Bay, Kimberley region, northwestern Australia. Photosynthetically active irradiance (PAR) was recorded in both the intertidal and subtidal reef zone. Downwelling planar PAR was measured at each zone for a few days over a spring tide at three time periods in 2016 (12–17 January, 6–8 and 10–12 April, 17–20 October) using Odyssey light loggers. No light data are available from January 2016 due to the logger malfunctioning. Each of the Odyssey loggers was calibrated under water against a factory-calibrated LiCor PAR sensor. All loggers were deployed on tripods ~20 cm above the benthos.

Description: Abiotic data were collected to assess the environmental conditions that coincided with the 2016 mass bleaching event documented at Shell island (Shenton Bluff), Cygnet Bay, Kimberley region, northwestern Australia. Temperature is of particular importance because heat stress is one of the key drivers of coral bleaching. Water temperature was recorded every 15 min by HOBO U22 v2 temperature loggers (±0.2°C) in both intertidal and subtidal environments from September 2015 until October 2016.

Description: Coral tissue chlorophyll a concentrations were measured to assess how corals in the Kimberley region, NW Australia, were impacted by and recovered from the 2016 mass bleaching event documented at this location. The corals were collected at Shell island (Shenton Bluff), Cygnet Bay, in both the intertidal and subtidal reef zone. Tissue samples were collected from tagged colonies of the dominant coral species at this location, Acropora aspera, in April 2016 (peak bleaching) and 7 months after peak bleaching in October 2016. The health status of all tagged colonies was assessed in April 2016 and after 7 months of recovery in November 2016 using the Coral Watch Coral Health Chart where a change of two units in brightness indicates a significant change in symbiont density and chlorophyll a content (Siebeck et al., 2006). Colonies were considered either “healthy” (brightness scale, 3.6–6) or “bleached” (brightness, 1–3.5). Corals were stored at -80°C prior to processing. To quantify bleaching, chlorophyll a concentration was determined spectrophotometrically (Jeffrey and Humphrey, 1975; doi:10.1016/S0015-3796(17)30778-3) and used as a proxy for bleaching susceptibility. Tissue was removed from a branch tip using an airbrush and separated into animal and symbiont fraction via centrifugation (2 x 10 min at 3,000 g). Chlorophyll a from the symbiont fraction was extracted in 100% acetone in the dark at 4°C for 24 h and the concentration determined spectrophotometrically (Jeffrey and Humphrey, 1975) and then standardized to surface area. Surface area was calculated using the relationship between skeletal mass (x, in g) and the respective computer tomography (CT)- determined surface area (y, in cm2) of A. aspera skeletons from our study site (y = 9.4871x0.7729, n = 6, R2 = 0.99).

Description: Abiotic data were collected to assess the environmental conditions that coincided with the 2016 mass bleaching event documented at Shell island (Shenton Bluff), Cygnet Bay, Kimberley region, northwestern Australia. Water level was recorded in both the intertidal and subtidal reef zone since this region has the world's largest tropical tides, with ~ 8m tidal range at the study site. Thus, intertidal corals regularly get exposed to air during low tide. Water level was monitored continuously from September 2015 to October 2016 at both sites using HOBO U20-001-02-Ti water level loggers (±0.05%) and RBR virtuoso water level loggers (±0.05%). Temporal resolution varied from 5 to 30 min.

Description: Coral bleaching surveys were conducted to assess how a coral reef in the Kimberley region, NW Australia, recovered from the 2016 mass bleaching event documented at this location. The surveys were conducted at Shell island (Shenton Bluff), Cygnet Bay, in both the intertidal and subtidal reef zone. To quantify coral recovery and mortality, reef-wide coral health surveys were conducted at Shell Island 6 months after peak bleaching from 18 to 21 October 2016 using the same methods that were used by Le Nohaïc et al. (2017, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14794-y) to assess coral health prior to and during peak bleaching (January 13–17 and April 6–9, 2016, respectively). Surveys were conducted along six randomly positioned, 15 m transects. High-resolution photos of a 50-cm x 50-cm quadrat were taken every 0.5–1 m along the transect line. Photo-quadrats were analyzed using the software (Trygonis and Sini, 2012; doi: 10.1016/j.jembe.2012.04.018). All species of hard corals encountered in the photo-quadrats were scored using the following four health categories as a categorical bleaching score (McClanahan et al., 2004; doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2003.08.024): unbleached/healthy (H), moderately bleached (M: 〈50% of the colony bleached or colony pale), severely bleached (S: 〉50% bleached), and dead (D).