Little of Australia's Great Barrier Reef has now been left unscathed by coral bleaching.
A recent aerial survey by scientists at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies has found the phenomenon leaving vast stretches of corals bone-white for the second year in a row.
A global bleaching event in 2016 saw an average of 67 percent of corals lost in the north of the reef, and scientists hoped 2017 would offer the delicate ecosystem a reprieve. The survey showed the opposite.
In 2017, scientists found the middle reef worst hit, leaving only its southern reaches untouched. This means two thirds of the reef's corals have now been impacted by coral bleaching in a zone stretching for 1,500 km (900 miles). Read more...
More about Coral Bleaching, Reef, Coral, Great Barrier Reef, and Australiavia Zero Tech Blog