Thread: Scientists Record Biggest Ever Coral Die-off on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

SYDNEY —
Warm seas around Australia's Great Barrier Reef have killed two-thirds of a 700-km (435 miles) stretch of coral in the past nine months, the worst die-off ever recorded on the World Heritage site, scientists who surveyed the reef said on Tuesday.

Their finding of the die-off in the reef's north is a major blow for tourism at reef which, according to a 2013 Deloitte Access Economics report, attracts about A$5.2 billion ($3.9 billion) in spending each year.

"The coral is essentially cooked," professor Andrew Baird, a researcher at James Cook University who was part of the reef surveys, told Reuters by telephone from Townsville in Australia's tropical north.

He said the die-off was "almost certainly" the largest ever recorded anywhere because of the size of the Barrier Reef, which at 348,000 sq km (134,400 sq miles) is the biggest coral reef in the world.

Bleaching occurs when the water is too warm, forcing coral to expel living algae and causing it to calcify and turn white.

Mildly bleached coral can recover if the temperature drops and the survey found this occurred in southern parts of the reef, where coral mortality was much lower.

While bleaching occurs naturally, scientists are concerned that rising sea temperatures caused by global warming magnifies the damage, leaving sensitive underwater ecosystems unable torecover.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee stopped short of placing the Great Barrier Reef on an "in danger" list last May but asked the Australian government for an update on its progress in safeguarding the reef.

Australia will lodge that update on Friday, said a spokesman for Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg. In June, during an election campaign, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull promised A$1 billion in spending to protect the reef.

Climate scientists argue that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat radiating from earth, creating global warming. Australia is one of the largest carbon emitters per capita because of its reliance on coal-fired power plants for electricity.

"Climate change is killing the Great Barrier Reef," said environmentalist Charlie Wood, director of 350.org, an anti-fossil fuels movement.

"The continued mining and burning of coal, oil and gas is irreparably damaging the climate. If we want our kids to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef for generations to come, we must act now to keep fossil fuels in the ground," Wood said in an emailed statement.

Scientists Record Biggest Ever Coral Die-off on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

I've got an idea, we melt the ice at the poles, then the ocean levels would rise and give the reef more room and therefore help cool the coral down.

Or we could burn more Co2 and then more clouds would form - seeded by the soot particles and thus shield the coral from the sun .

The increase of the pacific ocean surface temperature is less than 1°C Coral reefs live close to the surface and therefore some effect may be due to increased surface temp due to global warming. If this small change is the sole reason for the die off of coral then it will be completely dead by the time the ocean temp changes by another 1°C, which seems to be around the minimum predicted increase.
It is quite possible that much of the die off besides that amount caused by the plague of the crown-of-thorns starfish is due to chemical fertiliser run off from north qld farms. Increased levels of phosphorous from fertiliser run off detected in coral is known to weaken and sometimes kill coral. There needs to be much more regulation on fertilisers especially on cane farms. Cane farms have been an environmental disaster for Australia.

There have been at least 4 die offs in the last 30 years and guess what? Yesss they recovered fast every time! A miracle! What isn't a miracle is how the greens took this normal state of affairs and created a crisis event of world magnitude out of it over and over. What is becoming apparent to people tho is that its a normal pattern of events. And another normal pattern of events is green climate hysteria.

Originally Posted by pulvarien

There have been at least 4 die offs in the last 30 years and guess what? Yesss they recovered fast every time! A miracle! What isn't a miracle is how the greens took this normal state of affairs and created a crisis event of world magnitude out of it over and over. What is becoming apparent to people tho is that its a normal pattern of events. And another normal pattern of events is green climate hysteria.

And the fucking muppet is along with his bizarre theories, none of which pay ANY attention to the scientific evidence offered.



Scientists have confirmed the largest die-off of corals ever recorded on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

The worst affected area, a 700 km swath of reefs in the northern region of the Great Barrier Reef has lost an average of 67% of its shallow-water corals in the past 8-9 months. Further south, over the vast central and southern regions of the Great Barrier Reef, the scientists were relieved to find a much lower death toll.

“Most of the losses in 2016 have occurred in the northern, most-pristine part of the Great Barrier Reef. This region escaped with minor damage in two earlier bleaching events in 1998 and 2002, but this time around it has been badly affected,” says Professor Terry Hughes, Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies based at James Cook University, who undertook extensive aerial surveys at the height of the bleaching.

https://teakdoor.com/world-news/17110...coral-die.html (Scientists Record Biggest Ever Coral Die-off on Australia's Great Barrier Reef)

Pissed backpackers pissing off quuensland

Australia to Spend Billions to Save Great Barrier Reef


FILE - Australian Senator Pauline Hanson listens to marine scientist Alison Jones (left) as she displays a piece of coral on the Great Barrier Reef off Great Keppel Island, Queensland, Australia, Nov. 25, 2016. Australian scientists say warming oceans year 2016 have caused the biggest die-off of corals ever recorded on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.


SYDNEY —
Australia will spend $1.3 billion ($965.3 million U.S.) in the next five years to improve the water quality and well-being of the Great Barrier Reef to keep the World Heritage Site from being placed on the United Nation’s “in danger” list.

But activists say the money, in addition to the $1 billion fund announced earlier, is insufficient and want the government to take more concrete action to protect the reef.

A negative rating for the Great Barrier Reef, located off the country’s northeast coast, would be embarrassing for the Australian government and damage its lucrative tourism industry.


Reef nears 'in danger' label

In the first progress report to the UN’s scientific arm, UNESCO, after it stopped short earlier this year of listing the reef as “in danger,” Australia said it would spend $1.3 billion improving the world’s largest living ecosystem.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had pledged a $1 billion fund for the Great Barrier Reef in June. Much of the accelerated spending will address water quality and ecosystem health, Australia said in the UNESCO report, including programs to minimize spillage of chemicals from farming and tightening oversight of connected waterways.

“This report will hopefully see Australia stay off the UNESCO in danger watch list,” said Josh Frydenberg, Australia’s minister for the environment and energy.

Environmental groups, which believe the reef needs more investment than the government has committed to, criticized the progress report, coming just days after confirmation of significant damage.

“It is unacceptable that this government is now congratulating itself over its handling of the reef’s health during that same period without promising any meaningful improvement,” said Shani Tager, reef campaigner, Greenpeace Australia.


Biggest die-off

Earlier this week, Australian scientists said two-thirds of a 700 km (435 miles) stretch of coral within the Great Barrier Reef has been killed in the past nine months, the worst die-off ever recorded on the World Heritage site.

Their finding of the die-off in the reef’s north is a major blow for tourism at the reef which, according to a 2013 Deloitte Access Economics report, attracts about $5.2 billion ($3.9 billion U.S.) in spending each year.

Climate scientists argue that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat radiating from earth, creating global warming and damaging coral. Australia is one of the largest carbon emitters per capita because of its reliance on coal-fired power plants for electricity.

Australia to Spend Billions to Save Great Barrier Reef

^Maybe chip fat and lipstick is killing the coral?

She's got a face for radio, that woman.

Knew her pic would cause some moans.

Well she's got a face like a depressed bulldog licking piss off a stinging nettle.

years of vinegar fumes at the fish and chip shop in toowomba

It will recover within 2 years and the silence will be deafening. And then 5 6 7 years from now another die off will occur and omg!!!!!!!!! CRISIS CLIMATE CRISIS yet again.

Originally Posted by misskit

"The coral is essentially cooked," professor Andrew Baird, a researcher at James Cook University...

Her makeup helps her blend in with the burnt coral.

Originally Posted by misskit

Australia is one of the largest carbon emitters per capita because of its reliance on coal-fired power plants for electricity.

I do get a bit tired of this "Australians are the big polluters". We are a very large country with a small population that "skews" the statistics. We could say we have one of the worlds lowest outputs per square kilometre, or we could say that if the carbon absorption rate of the continent is taken into account we actually have a negative output.
It takes the spotlight away from the countries that are the real cause of the problem being USA, China, and Europe. Australia contributes 1% of GWG. That is not to say even though our contribution is small that we shouldn't reduce our GWG output. As the mosquito said when he pissed in the ocean,"every little bit helps".