Heat Waves Cause "Unprecedented" Damage To Coral Reefs Off Western Australia

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Preliminary results from a 5-year year study of the coastline revealed that a remote section of reef south of Barrow Island has suffered severe “bleaching and decimation,” according to the CSIRO, which is running the study with the University of Western Australia.

An extreme “bleaching event” in 2011 was known to have caused significant damage to the reef. But the study found another marine heatwave, in the summer of 2012-13, also caused trauma to the reef, including to its massive, 400-year-old porites corals.

The porites were thought to be particularly resistant to variations in climate extremes, and the cyclones which regularly hit in the area. “To see them badly damaged, or completely dead, as a result of bleachings that happened over previous years, and likely the one in 2013, was surprising,” lead scientist Dr. Russ Babcock said.

Coral scientists expressed shock at the findings. “It’s almost unprecedented,” said University of Western Australia professor Malcolm McCullough. “These corals were living for hundreds of years. And they died in the summer of 2012-13.”

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