Great Barrier Reef Has Largest Coral Die Off In Recorded History

Divers investigate coral die off on Great Barrier Reef.

Yet another 'warning shot' has been fired over the bow of humanity on Spaceship Earth. Recall in an earlier post, I had referenced the phenomenon of coral bleaching and inevitable die off, especially in the Caribbean - as we observed during a tour submarine cruise in 2014. See e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2016/10/yes-ocean-life-is-headed-to-extinction.html

I noted the effect arises  from higher ocean temperatures, due to enhanced global warming from the greenhouse effect.  Higher sea temperatures world wide have led to the worst bleaching events on record.

Dead, dying coral in part of Great Barrier reef.

A new study has now found that higher water temperatures have ravaged the Great Barrier Reef, causing the worst coral bleaching recorded by environmental and climate scientists.

In the worst-affected area, 67% of a 700km swath in the north of the reef lost its shallow-water corals over the past eight to nine months, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies based at James Cook University study found.

“Most of the losses in 2016 have occurred in the northern, most-pristine part of the Great Barrier Reef,” Prof Terry Hughes said. “This region escaped with minor damage in two earlier bleaching events in 1998 and 2002, but this time around it has been badly affected.  The southern two-thirds of the reef escaped with minor damage, Hughes said.. This part was protected from the rising sea temperatures because of cooler water from the Coral Sea.

Some scientists have said the expect that the northern region will take at least 10 to 15 years to regain the lost corals  but that is under "ideal conditions". Alas, there is absolutely no hint that such will materialize in that span, only get worse. The heating of the oceans will continue and also  their progressive acidification. Indeed, Aussie scientists and ocean environmentalists are already concerned over a fourth bleaching event that will interrupt whatever recovery fancied.

The dire assessment of the reef’s health comes as the Australian government is due to report to Unesco’s world heritage committee on its handling of the reef.

After the AU federal government submits the report Unesco will decide whether to again consider listing the Great Barrier Reef on its “list of world heritage in danger”.

The government will need to report on how it has funded and implemented its Reef 2050 long-term sustainability plan, as well as how the bleaching event has affected the reef.

Since it last considered including the Great Barrier Reef on its list, the reef has undergone the worst bleaching event in recorded history. According to government agencies, 22% of the reef was killed in one hit, as unusually warm waters bleached and killed the coral.

There is absolutely no sign any of this will change in the near future, or in the rest of the world including the Caribbean.  Worse, the environmentally hostile new administration has already made clear it intends to roll back a host of existing regulations to pave the way for reaching the 'death threshold' for humans registered to the amount of carbon deposition.

Bill McKibben has warned that once we push  past the critical 550 gT threshold we definitely surpass the 2C limit that Paris Climate Summit tried to prevent. Alas, the evidence is that has already been surpassed. That leaves a higher limit of 1,750 gT and beyond that we are looking at essentially a dead planet  - ravaged by the runaway greenhouse effect.

The irony of those who pushed the buttons for Trump to "make America great again"  is that they have very likely rendered the whole planet unlivable for all future generations.

One hopes they will now be happy that Trump has managed to save the Carrier jobs in Indiana, given the price to be paid by the planet and the rest of us! Especially as over 1,200  remaining Carrier jobs are still scheduled to be dispatched. Nice PR job, Donald Dump!