[Coral-List] Great Barrier Reef bleaching update

Douglas Fenner douglasfennertassi at gmail.com
Wed Mar 2 14:36:25 EST 2016


A couple of stories in the press on the same subject:

Great Barrier Reef faces serious coral bleaching risk

http://news.yahoo.com/great-barrier-reef-faces-serious-081400215.html


Evidence of coral bleaching on barrier reef as sea warms

http://news.yahoo.com/evidence-coral-bleaching-barrier-reef-sea-warms-072215469.html

Also,
Epic El Nino yields massive data trove.

http://www.nature.com/news/epic-el-ni%C3%B1o-yields-massive-data-trove-1.19472?spJobID=880255771&spUserID=MjA1NTA3MjA0OQS2&WT.ec_id=NATURE-20160303&spReportId=ODgwMjU1NzcxS0&spMailingID=50825784

Cheers,  Doug


On Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 2:34 PM, Hughes, Terry <terry.hughes at jcu.edu.au>
wrote:

> Dear Coral-List
>
> Yesterday, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority issued a level 1
> bleaching alert, in response to many reports of "widespread and mild" coral
> bleaching. Typically about 5% of corals are paling or white on many
> individual reefs along the GBR, although more extensive bleaching is
> occurring at Lizard Island.
>
> The latest Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecasts predict very
> warm water temperatures through the month of March, which is likely to push
> up the current level of bleaching. However, since we have now reached the
> summer maximum, we remain hopeful that there is not enough time now before
> the summer wanes for the GBR to undergo a mass bleaching as it did in 1998
> or 2002. It will depend on the local weather over the next couple of weeks.
>
> In Western Australia, bleaching is expected to occur in April, and it
> could be severe.
>
> We have established a National Coral Bleaching Taskforce to co-ordinate
> research effort among Australia's marine science community in the event of
> a mass bleaching event in Australia. The taskforce draws together 10
> research institutions across Australia to co-ordinate the efforts of over
> 300 scientists. The associated research institutions are, ARC Centre of
> Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Australian Institute of Marine
> Science, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, James Cook University,
> NOAA, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, University of Western
> Australia, CSIRO and WA Department of Parks and Wildlife.
>
> You can read more about the Taskforce here:
> http://www.coralcoe.org.au/news/national-coral-bleaching-taskforce-keeping-a-close-watch-on-the-reef
>
> Best wishes, Terry
> Professor Terry Hughes FAA
> ARC Laureate Fellow
> Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
> James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811
> Australia
>
> Link to Terry Hughes Google Scholar profile<
> http://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=MhJ2LfsAAAAJ>
>
> Email: terry.hughes at jcu.edu.au<mailto:terry.hughes at jcu.edu.au>
> Phone: 61 (0)7 4781 4000
> Website: http://www.coralcoe.org.au/postdocs/terry-hughes
>
>
> ABC TV Future Forum: Can coral reefs survive the 21st century (60 minutes)
>
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-01/can-coral-reefs-survive-the-21st-century/4121444
>
> ABC TV (Catalyst): Future response of the Great Barrier Reef to climate
> change (8 minutes)
> http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3576802.htm
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>



-- 
Douglas Fenner
Consultant, corals, coral reefs, coral identification
"have regulator, will travel"
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

phone 1 684 622-7084

Join the International Society for Reef Studies.  Membership includes a
subscription to the journal Coral Reefs, and there are discounts for pdf
subscriptions and developing countries.  Check it out!  www.fit.edu/isrs/

"Belief in climate change is optional, participation is not."- Jim Beever.
  "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts."-
Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Sea level is now rising at the fastest rate in 3,000 years.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/sea-levels-are-rising-their-fastest-rate-2000-years?utm_campaign=email-news-latest&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=292592
http://mashable.com/2016/02/22/manmade-sea-level-rise-flooding/#fscPLGedCiqz

January 2016 was the hottest January since records began in 1880.  The
arctic was hottest by far.  This is the 9th straight monthly record heat.
 (hiatus where art thou?)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/january-2016-hottest-since-records-began-us-agency-212230867.html

Miami is flooding: "The Siege of Miami, as temperatures rise, so will sea
levels."  Sea level rising an inch a year there.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/21/the-siege-of-miami

website:  http://independent.academia.edu/DouglasFenner

blog: http://ocean.si.edu/blog/reefs-american-samoa-story-hope


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