Parts of Great Barrier Reef record highest coral deaths due to heat, storms
Al Jazeera
Up to 72 percent of coral found dead on 12 of 19 surveyed reefs in the north of the world’s largest living structure.
Recent mass bleaching, two cyclones and flooding have left parts of the Great Barrier Reef with “significant coral mortality”, according to new data from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).
The in-water surveys of 19 reefs between Lizard Island and Cardwell from August and October found up to 72 percent coral mortality on 12 reefs, the research showed on Tuesday.
In one northern section of the reef, across the Cooktown-Lizard Island sector, more than a third of hard coral cover was lost, the “largest annual decline” in 39 years of government monitoring, the AIMS said.
The scientists said the development was a result of the Austral summer, Tropical Cyclones Jasper and Kirrily, as well as a freshwater inundation between December 2023 and March 2024.
The agency’s scientists are currently collecting data on reefs in the southern region of the Great Barrier Reef.
