Claim: Immediate action to reduce global warming needed to protect Great Barrier Reef

For “scientists”, they’re sure not very smart.

“Immediate action” to cool the Coral Sea, or at least part of it? What? How?

Read “Great Barrier Reef Scare: Exaggerated threats says head of GBR Authority.”

The media release and abstract is below. The paper is here.

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Climate science: Bleaching causes grief to the Great Barrier Reef

Immediate action to reduce global warming is needed to protect coral reefs from severe bleaching events, according to research published in this week’s Nature. A detailed analysis of the Great Barrier Reef over the past two decades shows that extreme heat is the key driver of mass bleaching. As temperatures continue to rise, further bleaching events are likely, which may push the reef system beyond recovery.

Rising sea surface temperatures due to global warming have triggered major bleaching events in tropical coral reefs, and this damage can be potentially fatal to these delicate ecosystems. The most severe event in 2016, driven by record temperatures in the 2015–2016 El Niño event, bleached over 90% of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef.

To understand more about the effects of climate change on reefs, Terry Hughes and colleagues assessed three major bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef in 1998, 2002 and 2016. By analysing individual reefs, the authors determine why some corals are more prone to bleaching than others. They find that the distinctive geographical footprint of bleaching is primarily driven by patterns of sea temperatures; in general, unbleached reefs were located towards the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, where waters are generally cooler. Local management of reef fisheries and water quality offered little to no protection against extreme heat, but the authors note that these efforts may help these ecosystems to recover from bleaching events. However, it is unlikely that the Great Barrier Reef will ever fully recover from the severe bleaching that occurred in 2016, and the security of coral reefs requires urgent and rapid global action to curb future warming, the authors conclude.

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12 thoughts on “Claim: Immediate action to reduce global warming needed to protect Great Barrier Reef”

  1. According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), a record low cyclone season defies “basic physics”, and can not be attributed to Man Made Doomsday Global Warming.
    http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/cyclone-blanche-is-latest-to-cross-land-in-second-consecutive-quiet-season-in-australian-history/news-story/220bd07cbd24d1db32cfd2175d3ec2ac
    The cyclones bring cooler waters which help stop bleaching.
    https://blogs.csiro.au/ecos/coral-reefs-need-cooler-water/
    How carbon (sic) can simultaneously deny Doomsday Global Warming “basic physics” whilst causing Doomsday Global Warming coral bleaching and adhering to “basic physics” is not explained.
    Apparently there are “several theories”.
    Here is one: Zombies of the Stratosphere

  2. more overheated claims that they contradict in the following paragraphs, the BS never ends

  3. How did the great barrier reef fare during the Ice Age or even during the Little Ice Age of the 1600’s? It did not do very well in comparison to the warmer years.
    Scientists found ” The results show that 20,000 years ago, during the last ice age, corals were living on the edge. Ocean temperatures around Cairns and Mackay were 4-5 degrees cooler than today, and these temperatures are right at the lower limit of what corals can tolerate.”

    But the same scientists then said that we must take drastic action to curb global warming. No matter that your research just proved the opposite – the religion of global warming must be followed.

  4. I guess it’s a slow year for the reef destroying Crown of Thorns starfish which hasn’t featured on the “the reef is falling the reef is falling” chicken little billboard for a while, but look for it coming to a panic station near you soon.

  5. ‘bleached over 90% of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef’

    I’ve told you a million times not to exaggerate.

    Meanwhile, GBR tourist industry cringes. There goes another 100,000 visitors.

  6. As an avid scuba diver, I have seen first hand both devastation and recovery of several reefs. While they are susceptible to short term stress, they are incredibly resilient. If these same yahoos that did this paper go back to the same location this year and next they too will witness the profound recovery. I liken this to forest fires. Yes, it is devastating in the short run, but wait a few years and see what happens.

    Hot/cold stress is not permanent, invasive species and continuous polluted run-off is.

  7. Terry Hughes is not only a warmist fanatic and a science fraud, he is politically stupid. This trifecta applies also to many of his colleagues. That’s one horse race I don’t want to win – nor should the tax payers of Australia who have been duped for far too long!

  8. Terry Hughes is not only a warmist fanatic and a science fraud, he is politically stupid. This trifecta applies also to many of his colleagues. That’s one horse race I don’t want to win – nor should the tax payers of Australia who have been duped for far too long!

  9. The article confirms that there was a major El Nino which drove the sea and air temperatures higher. No different than the El Ninos that have occured in the past.

    If the reefs were able to recover from these other El Ninos, they will, again, recover. As reefs are studied in more detail, others will find that they are very resilient and able to cope with these bleaching events.

    Considering that sea temperatures must vary considerably from season to season, this scare becomes a nothing-burger, just like Trumps taxes.

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