With the seasonal rise in ocean temperatures, the state of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef may continue to deteriorate. The country’s most important marine research institute announced Wednesday that it fears significant coral bleaching will continue this year as well.
Some parts of the reef showed promising signs of improvement until another decline began in 2022. The Australian Institute of Marine Research states that although the condition of the reef has stabilized somewhat over this relatively mild summer, it is still at risk.
The institute’s director, David Wachenfeld, said coral reefs were at increased risk after global warming caused more frequent and intense bleaching periods.
According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, it is “possible” that a weather phenomenon of the type El Niño will develop in the region in the coming weeks,
This raises the temperature of the Pacific Ocean waters and threatens coral bleaching again. The European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation program reported that July was a third of a degree Celsius warmer than the previous record.
According to Carlo Bontempo, director of Copernicus, the current state was not caused solely by El Nino and global warming. According to the researcher, one of the reasons for the rise in temperatures, and strangely enough, is the cleaning of the air as a result of the new charging rules.
July this year was the warmest month on record on Earth
Another possible cause is the release of 150 million tons of water into the air by a volcanic eruption. In January 2022, the Hongga Tonga-Hong Haapai undersea volcano emitted more than 165 million tons of steam into the air. Research is ongoing regarding both theories. According to Michael Diamond, a scientist at Florida State University, the “number one suspect” is shipping. Ships used more polluting fuels.
Their combustion products reflected solar radiation, which cooled the climate and somewhat restrained global warming.
However, as a result of the international shipping regulations adopted in 2020, the proportion of “refrigerant particles” decreased by at least 80 percent, which suddenly means a major change in the system.
– said Tianle Yuan, a faculty member at the US Space Agency and the University of Maryland.
Globally, the average ocean temperature has regularly surpassed normal season temperature records since April. According to David Wachenfeld, one major disturbance could destroy the reef improvement so far.
At the beginning of the year, UNESCO experts removed the private natural formation from the list of endangered world heritage sites. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization first sounded the alarm in 2010 about the deteriorating state of coral reefs. Ocean heat waves caused coral bleaching in 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2022.
