Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers major coral bleaching
Sydney, Australia Reuters Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been hit by a major coral bleaching event, with the results consistent with patterns of heat stress that have built up over summer at the biologically diverse site, a government agency said on Friday. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), the agency tasked with monitoring […]
World on brink of fourth mass coral reef bleaching event, NOAA says
London, UK Reuters The world is on the verge of a fourth mass coral bleaching event which could see wide swathes of tropical reefs die, including parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. Marine biologists are on high alert following months of record-breaking ocean heat fuelled by […]
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef off UNESCO danger list, still under “serious threat”
Sydney, AustraliaReuters A UNESCO heritage committee on Tuesday stopped short of listing Australia’s Great Barrier Reef as a site that is “in danger” but warned the world’s biggest coral reef ecosystem remained under “serious threat” from pollution and the warming of oceans. A colony of mushroom leather coral grows on the Great Barrier Reef off […]
Scientists freeze Great Barrier Reef coral in world-first trial
Townsville, AustraliaReuters 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 […]
Great Barrier Reef should be put on “in danger” list, UN panel says
Sydney, Australia Reuters Australia’s Great Barrier Reef should be listed as a world heritage site that is “in danger”, a UN panel recommended on Tuesday, saying the world’s biggest coral reef ecosystem was significantly impacted by climate change and warming of oceans. Frequent bleaching events are threatening the reef, including four over the last seven […]
Parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef show highest coral cover in 36 years
Melbourne/Sydney, AustraliaReuters 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 program reported on Thursday. The recovery in the central and northern stretches of the UNESCO world heritage-listed reef contrasted with the southern region, […]
Australian scientists develop model to spot soft corals most at risk of bleaching
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australian scientists have come up with a model that will help researchers quickly identify soft corals most vulnerable to bleaching from marine heatwaves, helping prioritise resources to preserve reefs. Coral bleaching has struck many reefs around the world, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which was hit by four mass bleaching events in the […]
Great Barrier Reef hit by bleaching as UNESCO weighs “in danger” listing
Melbourne, Australia Reuters The Great Barrier Reef has been hit by bleaching due to heat stress, the Australian agency that manages the reef said on Friday, ahead of a visit by United Nations officials reviewing whether the reef should be listed as being “in danger”. Australia last year dodged an “in danger” listing for the reef, a […]
Little fluffy clouds may help save Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
Sydney, AustraliaReuters To slow the speed at which high temperatures and warm waters bleach the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, Australian scientists are spraying droplets of ocean water into the sky to form clouds to protect the environmental treasure. Researchers working on the so-called Cloud Brightening project said they use a turbine to spray […]
Explainer: Are World Heritage Site listings a blessing or a curse?
Thomson Reuters Foundation A beloved British city stripped of its hard-won World Heritage listing, an Australian treasure spared the blushes after it was left off an “in danger” list, and a Thai national park hoping to be third-time lucky despite its spotty human rights record. Why are World Heritage Site listings so sought after, and […]