Water temperatures in and around Australia's Great Barrier Reef have risen to their warmest in 400 years over the past decade, placing the world's largest reef under threat, according to research published on Thursday. The reef, the world's largest living ecosystem, stretches for some 1,500 miles (2,400 km) off the coast of the northern state of Queensland. A group of scientists at universities across Australia drilled cores into the coral and, much like counting the rings on a tree, analysed the samples to measure summer ocean temperatures going back to 1618. FILE PHOTO: Coral reefs bleach in the Great Barrier Reef as scientists conduct in-water monitoring during marine heat in Martin Reef, March 15, 2024. Australian Institute of Marine Science/Veronique Mocellin/ Handout via RE...
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Australian scientists find coral bleaching in Great Barrier Reef’s far north
Australian researchers have found coral bleaching around six islands in the far northern parts of the Great Barrier Reef, after a government agency said last week a major bleaching event was unfolding across the world's most extensive reef ecosystem. Scientists at the James Cook University said on Friday they found only a few relatively healthy areas, mostly in deeper waters, after surveying sites at the Turtle Group National Park, about 10 km (6.2 miles) offshore the state of Queensland. "It was quite devastating to see just how much bleaching there was, particularly in the shallows ... (but) they were all still at the stage of bleaching where they could still recover as long as the water temperatures decline in time," lead researcher Maya Srinivasan told Reuters. Bleaching ...
Read MoreScientists freeze Great Barrier Reef coral in world-first trial
Scientists working on Australia's Great Barrier Reef have successfully trialled a new method for freezing and storing coral larvae they say could eventually help rewild reefs threatened by climate change. Scientists are scrambling to protect coral reefs as rising ocean temperatures destabilise delicate ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef has suffered four bleaching events in the last seven years including the first ever bleach during a La Nina phenomenon, which typically brings cooler temperatures. FILE PHOTO: Reef fish swim above recovering coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Cryogenically frozen coral can be stored and later reintroduced to the wild but the current process requires sophisticated equi...
Read MoreParts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef show highest coral cover in 36 years
Two-thirds of Australia's Great Barrier Reef showed the largest amount of coral cover in 36 years, but the reef remains vulnerable to increasingly frequent mass bleaching, an official long-term monitoring programme reported on Thursday. The recovery in the central and northern stretches of the UNESCO world heritage-listed reef contrasted with the southern region, where there was a loss of coral cover due to crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS) said in its annual report. Assorted reef fish swim above a staghorn coral colony as it grows on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson "What we're seeing is that the Great Barrier Reef is still a resilient system. It still maintains ...
Read MoreOcean warming threatens more frequent bleaching of Great Barrier Reef, report says
Waters off Australia face more frequent and severe marine heatwaves that threaten the Great Barrier Reef, a report said on Monday, as a United Nations team began a visit to evaluate whether the World Heritage site should be listed as "in danger". The reef is at risk of another mass bleaching, following three in the past six years, as sea surface temperatures off the northeast coast of Australia have soared to as much as 2-4 degrees Celsius above average, Australian environmental group Climate Council said in the report. FILE PHOTO: A school of fish swim above a staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) coral colony as it grows on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson The government's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority last F...
Read MoreAustralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday promised a further A$1 billion ($703 million) to protect the Great Barrier Reef to support thousands of tourism jobs, just months out from a federal election. The reef, one of Australia's best-known natural attractions but under threat from global warming, has been a lightning rod for criticism of the ruling conservative coalition's support for fossil fuels. Morrison, already under pressure over his handling of the country's worst COVID-19 outbreak fuelled by the Omicron variant, said the investment will help protect about 64,000 jobs in Queensland that depend on the reef. The northeastern state will be a major battleground when Morrison goes to the polls by May, seeking a fourth consecutive term for his party. His conservati...
Read MoreAustralia’s Great Barrier Reef will survive if warming kept to 1.5 degrees
A study released on Friday by an Australian university looking at multiple catastrophes hitting the Great Barrier Reef has found for the first time that only 2% of its area has escaped bleaching since 1998, then the world's hottest year on record. If global warming is kept to 1.5 degrees, the maximum rise in average global temperature that was the focus of the COP26 United Nations climate conference, the mix of corals on the Barrier Reef will change but it could still thrive, said the study's lead author Professor Terry Hughes, of the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. "If we can hold global warming to 1.5 degrees global average warming then I think we'll still have a vibrant Great Barrier Reef," he said. Bleaching is a stress response ...
Read MoreUNESCO keeps Great Barrier Reef off “in danger” list after Australian lobbying
The Great Barrier Reef will not be added to a list of World Heritage Sites that are "in danger" after a UN panel on Friday agreed to defer a vote until 2022 amid intensive lobbying by Australia. A United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) committee last month recommended the Great Barrier Reef be classified as "in danger", drawing an angry response from Australia. Desperate to avoid a politically embarrassing classification for a tourist attraction that draws about 5 million people each year and supports nearly 70,000 jobs - Australia's Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley travelled to more than a dozen countries in recent weeks to secure support. Speaking ahead of the decision, Ley assured the 21-country panel that Canberra was committed to...
Read MoreUN irks Australia by recommending that Great Barrier Reef be listed ‘in danger’
The Great Barrier Reef should be added to a list of World Heritage Sites that are “in danger”, a United Nations panel said on Tuesday, drawing an angry response from Australia, which called the recommendation politically motivated. Australia has lobbied furiously for years to stay off the endangered list as it could lead to the world’s biggest coral reef ecosystem losing the U.N. heritage status, taking some of the shine off its attraction for tourists. Making its recommendation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) committee said action was needed to counter the effects of climate change as the prospects of the reef retaining that cherished status had deteriorated. Great Barrier Reef as seen from sky. Photo: Ko Hon Chiu Vincent At Aust...
Read MoreIt’s an exciting news amidst all the recent concerns about depleting coral population on the Great Barrier Reef, one of the wonders of our earth. Researchers have recently found a large, detached coral reef, measuring more than 500 meters (1,640 feet) in height, in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia.This is the eighth known detached coral reef in the area, and the first to be discovered in the past 120 years.While little is known about these reefs, scientists have observed that they host an array of marine life.This particular reef doesn’t appear to have been affected by the recent bleaching events at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, according to the lead researcher. A view of the surface of a 500-metre-tall coral reef discovered by Australian scientists, off Austral...
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