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April 17, 2024 – 04:59
(Keystone-ATS) The Great Barrier Reef, northeast of Australia, is experiencing the worst bleaching episode ever observed, the authority that manages it announced on Wednesday. “The cumulative impact experienced by the barrier this summer has been higher than in previous summers,” she added.
Announced in March, this new episode of massive bleaching, due to the rise in water temperature due to climate change, is the fifth in eight years.
The Great Barrier Reef, which stretches 2,300 km along the Queensland coast, is often considered the largest living structure in the world. It is home to extremely rich biodiversity, with more than 600 species of coral and 1,625 species of fish.
Heat records
Aerial observations showed that around 730 of the more than 1,000 reefs observed had bleached, the authority said.
This phenomenon of dieback, which results in discoloration, is caused by an increase in water temperature which leads to the expulsion of symbiotic algae giving the coral its bright color. If high temperatures persist, the coral turns white and dies.
In several regions of the marine park, “the corals were exposed to record levels of heat”, underlines the authority, which notes that the austral summer of 2023-2024 was the second hottest ever observed in the region.
“The Great Barrier Reef is an incredible ecosystem and while it has shown its resilience time and time again, this summer has been particularly challenging,” Roger Beeden, the park authority’s chief scientist, said this morning.
The phenomenon is not confined to Australia: on Monday, the American Oceanic and Atmospheric Observation Agency (NOAA) announced that the planet was experiencing its second largest episode of coral bleaching in ten years.
“Coral bleaching is becoming more and more frequent and serious,” noted Derek Manzello, coordinator of the NOAA Coral Reef Observatory, pointing to record ocean temperatures.
