Oh Good: Great Barrier Reef’s Unreal Coral Bleaching Reaches Sydney Harbour

Researchers have announced the massive coral bleaching goin’ on in the Great Barrier Reef has spread as far south as Sydney Harbour for the first time, thanks to – you guessed it – way hotter than usual temperatures in the harbour’s water. 

Fairfax reports marine biologists from the University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University measured the harbour’s surface temperature at 26 degrees across summer, which is up nearly three degrees from usual.
As it so happens, coral is pretty bloody sensitive to that kind of thing; similar heat spikes off Queensland have basically sent one of our greatest natural treasures into shock, with scientists fearing a ten-year recovery period as a best case scenario. 

If not, the bleaching will leave coral susceptible to algae. Once that happens, the vibrant colours – hell, the vibrant ecosystems – the coral displays can be reduced to blankets of boring, shitty, algal green. And that ain’t great for tourism, either. 

Samantha Goyen of UTS said the whole situation in Sydney is “pretty shocking”, and nearly half of all coral beds examined in the harbour showed some sign of coral bleaching. There are only two kinds of coral in the harbour, but Goyen stresses the waters there serve as a “warning sign” for reefs elsewhere. 

The stupid-hot El Nino pattern that recently quit hovering around the Pacific has shouldered a lot of the blame for this one, but scientists continue to assign guilt to climate change in general. That bastard. 

Source: The Age. 
Photo: Sydney Science / Twitter. 

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