Footage shows severe coral bleaching in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef for the second year in a row...

[TheWorldNewsOrg]

Footage shows severe coral bleaching in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef for the second year in a row due to above-average sea temperatures. http://pic.twitter.com/XVyEaY9F3p

— ABC News (@ABC) March 11, 2017

via TheWorldNewsOrg

World News

[Guest Nicole]

'We are entering uncharted territory': Scientists alarmed after Great Barrier Reef is hit by a SECOND year of coral bleaching

• The Australian coral habitat has been put at risk by rising sea temperatures
• Recent catastrophe follows on from worst ever bleaching event last year
• Scientists said the disaster provides 'the starkest evidence' of climate change

Scientists in Australia have revealed unprecedented damage to the Great Barrier Reef, warning 'we are entering uncharted territory'.

Surveys have shown the coral reef is entering its second year of year bleaching for the first time.

Bleaching happens when algae that lives in the coral is expelled due to stress caused by extreme changes in temperatures, turning the coral white and putting it at risk of dying. 

The first aerial survey of 2017 has found shocking levels of bleaching in the central part of the reef, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said. 

Marine Park Authority director of reef recovery Dr David Wachenfeld said: 'Mass bleaching is occurring on the Great Barrier Reef for the second consecutive year.

'How this event unfolds will depend very much on local weather conditions over the next few weeks.'

He said not all bleached coral would die, and last year revealed bleaching and mortality could be highly variable across the vast marine park, a World Heritage Site which covers an area larger than Italy.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 mollusc species, and is the habitat of wildlife such as the dugong – sea cow – and the large green turtle. 

Conditions on the reef are part of a global coral bleaching event over the past two years, as a result of unusually warm ocean temperatures due to climate change and a strong El Nino weather phenomenon which pushes temperatures up further.

Dr Neal Cantin, from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), said the recurrence of widespread coral bleaching in back-to-back summers indicated there was not enough time since 2016's extreme heat event for the corals to fully recover.

'We are seeing a decrease in the stress tolerance of these corals,' he said. 'This is the first time the Great Barrier Reef has not had a few years between bleaching events to recover. 

Map showing the extent of coral bleaching along The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia

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