Climate change triggers Great Barrier Reef bleaching
by Staff Writers
Townsville, Australia (SPX) Apr 08, 2020


Bleached reef at Kepples, QLD, Australia in March 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its third coral bleaching event in just five years. The 2020 bleaching is severe, and more widespread than earlier events.

"We surveyed 1,036 reefs from the air during the last two weeks in March, to measure the extent and severity of coral bleaching throughout the Barrier Reef region," said Professor Terry Hughes, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University.

"For the first time, severe bleaching has struck all three regions of the Great Barrier Reef - the northern, central and now large parts of the southern sectors," Prof Hughes said.