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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Whales, dolphins and seals living in U.S. waters face major threats from warming ocean temperatures, rising sea levels and decreasing sea ice volumes associated with climate change, according to a first-of-its-kind assessment. Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration examined more than 100 stocks of American marine mammal species and found more than 70% of those stocks are vulnerable to threats, such as loss of habitat and food, due to the consequences of warming waters. The impacts also include loss of dissolved oxygen and changes to ocean chemistry. FILE PHOTO: A harbor seal surfaces in Casco Bay on July 30, 2020, off Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) The scientists found large whales such as humpbacks and North Atlantic right whales were ...
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