The Great Barrier Reef -- the largest living structure on Earth-- is dying as a result of El Nino and climate change. Contrary to popular belief, the Great Barrier Reef is not entirely dead. The good news is, relatively speaking, that the rest of the 1,400-mile-long coral reef is alive — severely threatened, yes, but not yet dead. Reef Magic operates two vessels – one which takes visitors on a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef and another vessel reserved for their Reef Education and Research Program, for school groups. There is a need for a global-scale clean-up and commitment from individuals to governments because the feature is a global feature, not just a national feature of Australia. Other sources reported that 93% of the corals had bleached this could worsen if there will be no reduction in greenhouse gases that cause the rising temperatures. For years, there have been debates on whether the GBR is dead, dying, or alive. But rising temperatures sent him back to the air in 2017, when the reef bleached again. In fact, each of the 3000 individual reefs, along the entire 2000km length of the Great Barrier Reef, is a 50-100m high plateau of dead coral rubble that has built up over millennia. The Great Barrier Reef -- the largest living structure on Earth-- is dying as a result of El Nino and climate change. Half of the Great Barrier Reef Is Dead See where coral in the world's largest coral reef system has been bleached to death. Eye on the Reef is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GRMPA). Is The Great Barrier Reef Dead? According to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, the human influence has caused a 50% decline in the overall coral bed from 1985 to 2012. But it is in trouble. The Great Barrier Reef—which, at 1,400 miles long, is the longest and largest coral reef in the world—was blanketed by dangerously hot water in the summer of 2016. “The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in 2016 after a long illness,” Outside Magazine declared this week in a viral obituary. Vox’s Joss Fong explains how coral reefs work, why they’re valuable, what’s happening when corals bleach, how the reefs could still recover, and what people would need to do to help that happen. The reef contains an abundance of marine life and comprises of over 3000 individual reef systems and coral cays and literally hundreds of picturesque tropical islands with some of the worlds most beautiful sun-soaked, golden beaches. After 25 million years, it was pronounced dead in 2016. The Reef supports one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, and it is home to thousands of marine animals that depend on it for survival. From the two debating points, the main threats to GBR are global warming, atmospheric carbon dioxide, and oceanic acidification, therefore, global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adoption of environmentally friendly practices is what the GBR needs. Coral bleaching is the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. RIP Great Barrier Reef In response to this, environmental writer Rowan Jacobsen has written an article as if the rainbow palette of corals and shimmering, dancing life it … "The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in 2016 after a long illness. It was in many ways what Professor Ainsworth expected. They thrive in warm water, but only up to a point: Just two or three degrees Fahrenheit of excess warming can kill the tiny creatures. I am in the belief that arguing over whether the Great Barrier Reef is dead or dying is petty and more efforts should be attributed to preserve the reef and conserve the living corals rather than arguing the state of living of world’s biggest organism. “The Great Barrier Reef is the size of Italy, so to contemplate replacing corals that have been lost is unrealistic,” he said. Credit: Tourism and Events Queensland Their advice was clear: the Reef isn’t dead. “The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in 2016 after a long illness,” Outside Magazine declared this week in a viral obituary. The reef covers 300,000 square kilometers and has more than 3,000 reefs. Contrary to popular belief, the Great Barrier Reef is not entirely dead. The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report spells out the challenges. Image Credits: AP. The 2,300 kilometer (1,400 mile) long wonder of the natural world—home to 2,900 individual reefs, 1,500 species of fish, and 900 islands—has had obituaries written for it multiple times over the last few years. The reef has experienced coral bleaching events before, starting back in 1998 (the Outside piece wrongly cited 1981 as the first such event). Climate & Environment. Coral bleaching is the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. “Isn’t it time we started telling them something more than that?”. The corals started to show signs of stress in January, she said, around the same time that Australia’s bush-fire crisis reached its apex. In October of 2016, Outside magazine published a cheeky, hyperbolic piece in which it declared the Great Barrier Reef dead. To declare the Great Barrier Reef dead at this point could detract from efforts to protect it. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi). It was the warmest month on record for water temperatures near the reef, with readings in some places peaking at more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the time of year. The Great Barrier Reef is not entirely dead — it is large enough to support swaths of healthy coral. “It’s frustrating to still see reports of bleaching as a surprise,” she said. Equally, divers, biologists, and locals report that marine life within the GBR is flourishing with turtles, tropical fish, sharks, and underwater creatures among others. A 2016 survey of more than 900 reefs found that only 7 percent were not displaying signs of coral bleaching. According to one recent study, 2019 was the hottest year on record for the world’s oceans. But in many areas of the reef, for miles and miles, corals that were once colorful are now white, brittle and broken, or gray and covered with unsightly bacteria. The Great Barrier Reef is dying, and we may have just run out of time to save it. Tracy Ainsworth, a marine biologist at the University of New South Wales, was working with a team on Heron Island, in the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef that bleached this year for the first time. Corals around islands on the Great Barrier Reef in 2018. mapping the bleaching and death of corals, which have been growing increasingly hotter. Corals are tiny polyps that gather algae that convert sunlight into food, forming colorful colonies that build a limestone structure — a reef — on which to live. It’s Getting More Widespread. The Great Barrier Reef is not entirely dead — it is large enough to support swaths of healthy coral. The world’s oceans, which absorb 93 percent of the heat trapped by the greenhouse gases that humans send into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, are warming up 40 percent faster on average than scientists estimated six years ago. The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report spells out the challenges. The Australian Government also recorded that 22% of corals on the GBR had died because of severe bleaching, the majority of which happened within 373 miles stretch. New aerial data from Professor Hughes and other scientists released on Monday shows example after example of overheating and damage along the reef, a 1,500-mile natural wonder. The Great Barrier Reef stretches 1,430 miles along the Queensland coastline and is one of the seven wonders of the natural world, as well as a Unesco … THE Great Barrier Reef has been declared dead at 25 million years old by an environmentalist writer. She noted that scientists had warned 20 years ago that coral reefs would be at risk if humans did not address climate change, adding that many people who lived near them believed the science back then and are now demanding to know why more isn’t being done. The Great Barrier Reef is now in its second, consecutive year of severe coral bleaching, a result of record ocean temperatures. Great Barrier Reef Is Bleaching Again. Even in hard-hit areas, large patches of the Great Barrier Reef survived, and guides will most likely take tourists there, avoiding the dead zones. “We’re surprised by the pace of this acceleration in bleaching,” he said. All these events are entirely natural and are part of life on the reef. “This is a transition from high diversity and lots of species, to lower diversity, with fewer tougher species,” Professor Hughes said. The Great Barrier Reef is dying, and we may have just run out of time to save it. 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