Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffered its worst mass coral bleaching in recorded history this year.
More than two-thirds of the shallow water coral in a 435-mile long section of the northern reef died, researchers found. Other parts of the 1,400-mile long reef took less severe damage. Environmentalists blame climate change for the catastrophic bleaching.
The bleaching is a result of abnormal environmental conditions, like warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures, and causes the coral to lose photosynthetic algae that are crucial to the organisms' survival. Loss of algae makes the coral vulnerable to death and disease.
Environmentalists claim the burning of fossil fuels has contributed to this phenomenon. A study released earlier this year noted a 1.8 degree Fahrenheit increase to water temperatures off Queensland in March, when the bleaching started. Scientists who study the reef at James Cook University said earlier this year that if greenhouse gas levels keep rising, such events would become commonplace, occurring about every two years by the mid-2030s.
The northern section of the reef escaped relatively unharmed from bleaching events in 1998 and 2002. This time, more accessible parts of the Great Barrier Reef did not suffer as badly as the northern section. There is a possibility the reef could recover if water temperatures drop and the algae are able to recolonize.
But it’s a race against time. Scientists estimate it will take at least 10 to 15 years to regain what was lost from mass bleaching. And with that long recovery time, sections of the Great Barrier Reef could be wiped out sooner rather than later by mass bleaching.
