Australia's Great Barrier Reef Management Authority has launched an aerial survey of the ecosystem, which extends 2,300km off the continent's north-east coast, after helicopter surveys confirmed extensive coral bleaching across the southern section of the largest reef system of the world.
An ecosystem that is already under serious threat due to global warming and water pollution.
Helicopters observed "extensive and fairly uniform" bleaching across all regions of the reef, spanning a distance of more than 1,100 km, the authority reports.
And environmentalists fear a seventh mass bleaching is unfolding, after those that occurred between 1998 and 2022.
Whitening occurs when water remains unusually warm for several weeks and is reversible if the phenomenon is not widespread and the water temperature drops lowers, but scientists report that it can make corals more susceptible to disease and affect their ability to reproduce.
"We were able to observe bleached corals even at depth," reports Australian Institute of Marine Science scientist Neal Cantin, who participated in the helicopter surveys.
“Aerial surveys are an ideal tool to assess the spatial extent of bleaching, but it is necessary to go underwater to understand the severity of the bleaching and to what depth it extends.
According to WWF Australia oceans spokesperson Richard Leck, the Great Barrier Reef coral reef is "on the brink" of a potential seventh mass bleaching event. "The heat stress caused by this underwater heat wave, which continues to accumulate across the southern region of the ocean, is a cause for concern and raises fears of another widespread bleaching event. ", he added.
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