Coral bleaching last summer was severe and widespread. And for the first time, severe bleaching has struck all three regions of the Great Barrier Reef.
Tourists are experiencing ‘Reef grief’.
Matt Curnock
Severe coral bleaching may have been the crucial factor in bringing home the reality of climate change for many people.
Staghorn and tabular corals suffered mass die-offs, robbing many individual reefs of their characteristic shapes.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies/ Mia Hoogenboom
The 2016 bleaching event resulted in 30% mortality on the Great Barrier Reef, with many corals dying of the heat before they bleached and the loss of branching corals creating less complex reef structure.
Corals near Lizard Island on the northern Great Barrier Reef experienced some of the worst bleaching in 2016.
XL Catlin Seaview Survey/AAP Photo
The 2016 bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef was the worst on record. Now a new analysis points the finger squarely at human-induced warming, and warns that the entire reef’s future is at stake.
The extent of future coral bleaching is likely to vary from place to place.
AAP Image/Bette Willis
Regional variations in sea temperature can make all the difference between a coral reef suffering major bleaching or surviving as a refuge for corals, new research shows.
Diana Kleine using a CoralWatch chart to measure coral health.
Chris Roelfsema/CoralWatch
The Great Barrier Reef is in crisis, as a second wave of coral bleaching hits. But the system of bodies and laws that protect it are getting more complicated – and less productive.
The Great Barrier Reef is bleaching again, in its first back-to-back mass bleaching event.
AAP/WWF Australia
The Great Barrier Reef is bleaching again. Without greater action on climate change and water quality, its World Heritage status could be listed as “in danger”.
A typical reef scene within the Chagos Archipelago.
The British overseas territory faces an environmental crisis.
Scientists assess coral deaths in the worst-affected part of the Reef in November 2016.
Andreas Dietzel, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
Two-thirds of the corals in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef have died on in the reef’s worst-ever bleaching event, according to the latest underwater surveys.
Bleached corals are still alive, but they are starving, and often die in the following weeks.
Greg Torda
Member of the Climate Council this week returned to one of the areas of the Great Barrier Reef that was worst affected by this year’s coral bleaching. What they found was far from encouraging.
Malcolm Turnbull and his colleagues have pointed $1 billion of the government’s existing green energy funding towards the Great Barrier Reef.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The Coalition has ramped up the race to fund the Great Barrier Reef’s protection. All three major parties have promised hundreds of millions of dollars, but where from, and what will they be spent on?
Summer stayed into autumn in many parts of Australia.
Bondi image from www.shutterstock.com
An estimated one-third of corals have now died in the parts of the Great Barrier Reef hit hardest by bleaching, meaning recovery could take years or even decades.
Perception is everything when it comes to Great Barrier Reef tourism.
Reef image from www.shutterstock.com
All mention of Australia has been removed from an international report on climate change on the grounds that it would damage tourism. Here’s the evidence.
The Great Barrier Reef’s health has declined in recent years.
Reef image from www.shutterstock.com