By Brad Plummer
The scientists (click here) who study the Great Barrier Reef are shocked and horrified by what they're seeing right now.
Unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean — driven by global warming and a powerful El Niño — have fueled the worst coral bleaching event ever seen along the northern third of Australia's famous reef. Researchers who have recently ventured into this region say the once-vibrant ecosystem is now a ghastly tableau, filled with pale-white corals that are at risk of dying off:
Coral reefs are often called he rain forests of the ocean - they cover just 0.01 percent of the world's sea floor, but they're home to 25 percent of marine fish species. They're popular spots for divers and tourists, but they also sustain food for half a billion people and protect shorelines from storms. And they're just plain lovely...
Aerial surveys of more than 500 coral reefs (click here) from Cairns to Papua New Guinea reveal that the most pristine section of the Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing the worst, mass bleaching event in its history, with the overwhelming majority of reefs being ranked in the most severe bleaching category.
“This has been the saddest research trip of my life,” says Prof. Terry Hughes, convenor of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce. “Almost without exception, every reef we flew across showed consistently high levels of bleaching, from the reef slope right up onto the top of the reef. We flew for 4000km in the most pristine parts of the Great Barrier Reef and saw only four reefs that had no bleaching. The severity is much greater than in earlier bleaching events in 2002 or 1998.”...
