The highest sea temperature in the last 400 years is threatening the Great Barrier Reef

Sydney (ANTARA) – Sea temperatures in and around Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have reached their highest level in more than 400 years and pose a serious threat to the iconic coral reef, researchers say.

In a new study, a team of Australian scientists reconstructed sea surface temperature data from 1618 to 1995 by analyzing samples of coral skeletons in and around the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). and then combining the data with observations recorded from 1900 to 2024.

The researchers found that in 2024, 2020 and 2017, the Coral Sea, which lies off the north-east coast of Australia and contains several coral reefs including the GBR, recorded the temperature highest in 400 years, with 2024 being the warmest year on record.

Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that occurs when the sea temperature rises too high, and the coral experiences heat stress so that the algae that live in the coral tissue come out. , and then the coral turns white.

Researchers warn that warming temperatures and massive coral bleaching events threaten to destroy the ecology, biodiversity and beauty of the GBR, the world’s largest coral reef and World Heritage Site UNESCO.

“Unless there is swift, coordinated and ambitious global action to combat climate change, we are likely to see the destruction of one of the most spectacular natural wonders on Earth,” said Benjamin Henley, lead researcher on the study from the University of Melbourne, released in mid.

Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that occurs when the sea temperature rises too high, and the coral receives heat stress so that the algae that live in the coral tissue come to out, and then the coral turns white.

According to the government-funded Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), bleached coral does not die, but it can if the condition is prolonged or extreme.

AIMS was one of three government agencies to confirm in April that most of the GBR will experience coral bleaching in the summer of 2023/2024, marking the fifth coral bleaching phenomenon since 2016.

This new research found that the recent coral bleaching phenomenon coincided with five of the six hottest years in the 400-year span examined in the study.