All posts tagged: Coral

Aerial video shows mass coral bleaching on Great Barrier Reef amid global heat stress event – video | Environment

Aerial video shows mass coral bleaching on Great Barrier Reef amid global heat stress event – video | Environment

Published by skeptic

Scientists have recorded widespread bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef as global heating creates a fourth planet-wide bleaching event. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, 54% of ocean waters containing coral reefs have been experiencing heat stress high enough to cause bleaching ► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube Source link

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers most severe coral bleaching ever recorded

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers most severe coral bleaching ever recorded

Published by skeptic

The Great Barrier Reef — a colorful and iconic natural wonder off the coast of Australia that spans an area of 133,000 square miles (344,400 square kilometres) — is suffering potentially unprecedented bleaching due to climate change. Bleaching occurs when coral become stressed due to high temperatures or lack of nutrients and expel the algae that live symbiotically within it. This causes it to turn a pale, bone-white color and eventually kills the coral. According to a report last week by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, more than half of the 1,000 reefs analyzed (out of more than 2,900 in total) had either high, very high or extremely high levels of bleaching. Only a quarter were relatively unaffected. Perhaps most ominously, the bleaching in many regions stretched as far down as 18 meters (roughly 60 feet). Overall it is the fifth mass bleaching event to impact the reef in eight years. “I feel devastated,” Dr Selina Ward, a marine biologist and former academic director of the University of Queensland’s Heron Island Research Station, …

Coral reefs are experiencing mass bleaching amid record ocean heat, scientists warn

Coral reefs are experiencing mass bleaching amid record ocean heat, scientists warn

Published by Sam

The world is currently experiencing its second major coral bleaching event in 10 years, with reef systems from Australia to Florida teetering on the brink of disaster following months of record-breaking ocean heat, a US agency announced Monday. Issued on: 15/04/2024 – 17:45Modified: 15/04/2024 – 19:25 3 min The consequences of coral bleaching are far-reaching, affecting not only the health of oceans but also the livelihoods of people, food security, and local economies. Severe or prolonged heat stress leads to corals dying off, but there is hope for recovery if temperatures drop and other stressors such as overfishing and pollution are reduced. “As the world’s oceans continue to warm, coral bleaching is becoming more frequent and severe,” said Derek Manzello of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “When these events are sufficiently severe or prolonged, they can cause coral mortality, which hurts the people who depend on the coral reefs for their livelihoods.” Read more‘Real estate’ for corals: Swiss organisation builds artificial reefs with art, tech NOAA’s heat-stress monitoring is based on satellite …

Global heating pushes coral reefs towards worst planet-wide mass bleaching on record | Climate crisis

Global heating pushes coral reefs towards worst planet-wide mass bleaching on record | Climate crisis

Published by skeptic

Global heating has pushed the world’s coral reefs to a fourth planet-wide mass bleaching event that is on track to be the most extensive on record, US government scientists have confirmed. Some 54% of ocean waters containing coral reefs have experienced heat stress high enough to cause bleaching, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch said. A global bleaching event is declared when at least 12% of corals in each of the main ocean basins – Pacific, Atlantic and Indian – experience bleaching-level heat stress within a 12-month period. The declaration also requires confirmed reports of bleaching. Coral Reef Watch also confirmed the world’s largest coral reef system – Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – had been through its most widespread heat stress event on record in 2024. The first global bleaching event happened in 1998 with 20% of the ocean’s reef corals exposed to a level of heat stress high enough to cause bleaching. The second event, in 2010, saw 35% reaching that threshold, and the third from 2014 to 2017 peaked at …

How mass bleaching has pushed the Great Barrier Reef to the brink

How mass bleaching has pushed the Great Barrier Reef to the brink

Published by skeptic

Corals can turn white when they expel their symbiotic algae James Woodford One Tree Island isn’t an easy place to get to. Part of the Great Barrier Reef, there is often just one short window each day when the tides are high enough for a small boat to cross the rampart of treacherous coral that surrounds the island. Only then can you reach the remote research station it houses. I was travelling with Selina Ward from the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Like me, she was making the arduous trip to the… Source link

Giant coral reef taller than the Empire State Building discovered in Australia

Giant coral reef taller than the Empire State Building discovered in Australia

Published by skeptic

Newly discovered 500 meter tall detached reef adds to the seven other tall detached reefs in the northern Great Barrier Reef. (CREDIT: Schmidt Ocean Institute) A “massive” new reef has been found in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. It’s about 500 meters tall (about 1,600 feet), which is taller than some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. Scientists found this big reef for the first time in over 120 years. They were on a boat called the Falkor, doing research in the ocean near North Queensland according to ocean research organization Schmidt Ocean Institute. They found the reef while they were mapping the bottom of the ocean in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef. At 500 meters high, it is taller than the Empire State Building (381 meters to the top floor), the Sydney Tower (305 meters) and the Petronas Twin Towers (451.9 meters.) Using an underwater robot named SuBastian, the team explored the reef, and live streamed footage of the exploration. Experts say that the base of the “blade-like” reef measures 1.5 …

Coral Reefs Coaxed Back to Life by Playing Happy Reef Sounds on Underwater Speakers

Coral Reefs Coaxed Back to Life by Playing Happy Reef Sounds on Underwater Speakers

Published by skeptic

Researchers have found that playing the sounds of happy corals through underwater speakers could allow degrading coral reefs to regain lost vitality. A team of scientists played recordings of healthy corals to a struggling reef off the coast of the US Virgin Islands, The Guardian reports, finding that coral larvae were up to seven times more likely to settle there afterward. “We’re hoping this may be something we can combine with other efforts to put the good stuff back on the reef,” Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts researcher Nadège Aoki, lead author of a paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, told the British newspaper. “You could leave a speaker out for a certain amount of time and it could be attracting not just coral larvae but fish back to the reef.” According to a 2021 study, the world’s coral reef cover had approximately halved since the 1950s, with the diversity of species on reefs dropping by more than 60 percent — the result of a lethal mix of the effects of climate …

Coral AI Dual Edge Accelerator for AI and machine learning projects

Coral AI Dual Edge Accelerator for AI and machine learning projects

Published by skeptic

The Coral AI Dual Edge Accelerator is a game-changing device that packs an impressive punch in a tiny package. This single PCI M.2 chip features not one, but two tensor processing units (TPUs), delivering unparalleled machine learning (ML) horsepower for local AI applications. With its affordable upfront cost and low power consumption, the Dual Edge Accelerator practically pays for itself over time. What sets the Coral AI Dual Edge Accelerator apart from its USB and solo PCIe counterparts is its ability to generate double the ML performance while still relying on the same M.2 slot. This tiny powerhouse can effortlessly outperform a $2,000 CPU, making it a favorite among the home assistant crowd for applications like Frigate NVR surveillance. With the Dual Edge Accelerator, a single $25 Coral TPU can blitz through TensorFlow Lite models, analyzing images for people and objects in real-time at an impressive 800 frames per second. Dual Bus PCIe Requirements While the potential of the Coral AI Dual Edge Accelerator is immense, navigating the complexities of dual bus PCIe requirements and …

Steel Frame Brings Completely Dead Coral Reef Back to Life

Steel Frame Brings Completely Dead Coral Reef Back to Life

Published by skeptic

Hope is found at the bottom of the ocean. Reefer Madness A dead coral reef, destroyed years ago by fishermen, has been brought back to life after scientists installed specially-made steel frames into the sea floor and coaxed transplanted coral to grow and flourish on these metallic skeletons. The scientists were able to restore the coral reef in just four years, which points to the wonderful possibility that coral reefs, facing death and destruction from climate change and manmade trouble, can be restored even after catastrophic damage. The team of scientists from Indonesia and the United Kingdom detailed the findings of their project, located off the coast of Indonesia in the South Sulawesi province, in a new paper published in the journal Current Biology. The study was performed at the Mars Coral Reef Restoration Program, a large scale effort to restore reefs destroyed by fishermen who used explosives to kill and capture fish from 30 to 40 years ago. The researchers took “reef stars,” which are locally-fabricated hexagonal structures made of steel and coated with sand, …

Healthy reef soundscapes can help degraded coral reefs grow

Healthy reef soundscapes can help degraded coral reefs grow

Published by skeptic

Healthy reefs are known as  vibrant homes for colorful corals and fish.. As with any bustling ecosystem, they have their own sounds and can be quite noisy. The purrs, croaks, and grunts of fish and crustaceans that live there and the sounds of healthy coral growing can echo through the water. Larval animals may use some of this sound to help them determine where to put down roots or when it’s time to grow. Broadcasting these healthy coral reef sounds may encourage coral larvae to recolonize degraded or damaged coral reefs. The findings are detailed in a study published March 13 in the journal Royal Society Open Science. One shot to settle down As adults, corals are immobile. Their larval stage is their only chance to move around and find that perfect habitat. They swim or drift with the currents to  find the right conditions to settle down and then anchor themselves to the seabed. Earlier studies have shown that chemical and light cues can help influence that decision, but this new work looked at …