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Aerial surveys findings | 17 April | 2024 coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef
Ocean temperatures started building in late December, through January and again in late February throughout all three regions of the Great Barrier Reef, causing the highest levels of thermal stress on record.
Reports of coral bleaching in the southern region of the Great Barrier Reef prompted the first set of aerial surveys from 23–24 February 2024. Reef-wide aerial surveys were conducted in March following further reports of bleaching and based on spatial patterns of heat stress. These included both the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and reefs throughout the Torres Straits.
In March 2024, the fifth mass bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef was confirmed.
The aerial surveys indicate this event is one of the more extensive on the Reef. Almost half the reefs (46 per cent) in the Great Barrier Reef experienced record levels of heat stress. Nearly 60 per cent of reefs in the Great Barrier Reef were exposed to levels of heat stress that causes coral bleaching and increases the risk of mortality from bleaching. However, as with previous bleaching events, the full impact of the event will not be known for some time. Bleaching is variable, and in-water surveys are continuing.
Aerial survey results show 73 per cent of surveyed reefs in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park have prevalent bleaching (more than 10 per cent of coral cover bleached) and 6 per cent in the Torres Strait. For the first time, extreme bleaching (more than 90 per cent of coral cover on a reef bleached) was observed in all three regions of the Great Barrier Reef. Very high bleaching (61-90 per cent coral cover bleached) and extreme bleaching (more than 90 per cent coral cover bleached) was observed on 39 per cent of reefs across the entire Marine Park, but concentrated in the southern and central regions. There was little to no bleaching observed on 94 per cent of survey reefs in the Torres Strait.
The most intense and prolonged heat stress occurred at inshore reefs in the southern region, with sea surface temperatures peaking at 2.5°C above average and 15 degree heating weeks (DHW)* at surveyed reefs. This is the highest levels to-date on the Great Barrier Reef.
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Juli 2024, pga av data samlet inn i juni.
Reef Health update | July 2024
This Reef Health update is based on data collected during June, 2024.
Winter continues to bring relief for the Great Barrier Reef with cooler ocean temperatures, though they are still above average for this time of year.
As this past summer’s mass coral bleaching event was so widespread and variable, it will take time to determine the full impact on coral communities. Coral recovery and mortality will continue to play out over many months.
Some of the impacts this coral bleaching event has had on the long-term trend in coral cover will be known in the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s
Long-term Monitoring Program’s (LTMP) report on coral reef condition when it is released later this year.
The full impacts on the long-term trend on coral cover will not be known until the 2025 LTMP report.