The Great Barrier Reef suffers its worst bleaching event on record
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
No bleaching event of this magnitude had ever affected Australia's Great Barrier Reef before. Scientists say: "Climate change is to blame."
The Great Barrier Reef suffers its worst bleaching event on record
No bleaching event of this magnitude had ever affected Australia's Great Barrier Reef before. Scientists say: "Climate change is to blame."
The rise in average global temperature, driven by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, does not only affect the air. Heatwaves are multiplying in seas across the world as well. This has numerous consequences: warmer waters mean, for example, more "fuel" available for the generation of extreme weather events such as storms and hurricanes. But coral reefs around the world are also paying the price, starting with the most famous of them all, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef has suffered its most widespread coral bleaching on record, according to a government report released Wednesday that warns the natural wonder is in dire health. u.afp.com/SMgz
"The reef subjected to unprecedented thermal stress"
What represents a true treasure in terms of marine biodiversity conservation – stretching across 2,300 kilometres – has experienced, over the past year, the most severe bleaching event ever recorded. And it was caused by precisely the extreme water temperatures: "The reef has been subjected to unprecedented thermal stress," explained scientists behind a report published in recent days by the Australian government.
According to researchers, a situation of this kind had never been recorded since the reef has been regularly monitored, which is approximately 40 years. The Australian Institute of Marine Science reached these conclusions after analysing 124 sites over the period from August 2024 to May of this year.
It is the sixth bleaching event in nine years
In particular, the areas at the northern and southern extremities of the reef are those that have suffered the worst consequences: mortality has never been so high. Compounding the damage alongside marine heatwaves were several tropical cyclones that struck the area, as well as the presence of crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci), an invasive species that feeds on corals.
The Great Barrier Reef has suffered its worst coral bleaching on record. The 2024 event was the 5th mass bleaching since 2016 — part of an ongoing global crisis. As we sail past 1.5C is there really any way back for the cradles of marine life…
"Nevertheless, the primary cause of the bleaching is the climate crisis, and on this point there is absolutely no doubt," stressed Mike Emslie, research director at the Institute. A problem that is becoming ever more frequent: this was the sixth event in just nine years. And over the past two years, bleaching events have affected 80 per cent of coral reefs worldwide.