coral reefs

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New Seaweed Species Is Smothering Reefs

'Tumbleweed' algae is covering remote Hawaii reefs

(Newser) - Researchers say a recently discovered species of seaweed is killing large patches of coral on once-pristine reefs and is rapidly spreading across one of the most remote and protected ocean environments on earth. A study from the University of Hawaii and others says the seaweed is spreading more rapidly than...

Bleaching Hits Great Barrier Reef Like Never Before

With warmer temperatures, deadly problem is 'more widespread than ever'

(Newser) - An aerial survey of the Great Barrier Reef shows coral bleaching is sweeping across the area off the east of Australia for the third time in five years. Bleaching has struck all three regions of the world’s largest coral reef system and is more widespread than ever, scientists from...

Study on Our Coral Reefs: &#39;Honestly, Most Sites Are Out&#39;
Coral Reefs in the Red Sea?
That May Be All That's Left
in case you missed it
Feb 22, 2020 7:00 AM CST

Coral Reefs in the Red Sea? That May Be All That's Left

Things aren't looking good by 2100, according to new simulations

(Newser) - "Honestly, most sites are out." That's the grim pronouncement from a University of Hawaii at Manoa researcher who looked at the likely status of the planet's coral reefs by 2100 based on projected climate conditions. Renee Setter and her team discovered that small areas of Baja...

'First-in-the-World Law' Could Affect Your Hawaiian Vacation

Proposed ban on certain sunscreens aims to protect state's coral reefs

(Newser) - Hawaii looks poised to become a world leader in the fight to protect coral reefs with a move that could leave sunscreen brands feeling the heat. A bill banning non-prescription sunscreens containing two chemicals believed to cause coral bleaching easily passed Hawaii's legislature Tuesday—there were just four votes...

'Mass Mortality' Hits Great Barrier Reef, Shocks Scientists

'Unprecedented bleaching event' killed off half the coral there over 2 years

(Newser) - An "unprecedented" bleaching event struck the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, with perilously high temperatures affecting the 1,400-mile-long stretch of coral. The Atlantic notes we already knew that this occurred , but that the toll is just now being fully understood: It describes a new study published in the...

Coral-Filled Tanks Are Gorgeous, Have a Dark Side

If certain zoanthid corals are present, that is

(Newser) - Home aquariums used to pretty much be for fish only. That changed with the advent of LED lights, which allow hobbyists to replicate a tropical sun indoors—without boiling the water in the tank. And so a new industry boomed: A subset of aquarium hobbyists—often called "reefers"—...

This Could Be the Only Way to Save the Great Barrier Reef

Cloud brightening could cool the ocean just enough: researchers

(Newser) - You'd think the search for a solution to bleaching coral in the Great Barrier Reef would have scientists looking down into the ocean, rather than up at the sky. But clouds could be key to combating warming ocean temperatures blamed for the bleaching, say Australian researchers. They believe that...

Experts 'Despondent' Over Great Barrier Reef

Only a third remains undamaged after back-to-back bleaching episodes

(Newser) - This time there's no El Niño to blame for the Great Barrier Reef "cooking and dying," as CNN puts it. Thanks to two years of back-to-back "bleaching" (algae loss) that researcher James Kerry tells the BBC is "unprecedented," two-thirds of the world's...

First Photos of Reef at Amazon's Mouth Stun

But environmentalists worry oil drilling could soon put 600-mile-long reef at risk

(Newser) - Last year, scientists made an amazing discovery under the mud and muck at the mouth of the Amazon River: a long-rumored 600-mile-long coral reef. Now the first images of the natural phenomenon are emerging, captured from a sub sent 720 feet down into the murky waters off a Greenpeace boat,...

Huge Reef Discovered Hiding Behind Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef just got greater

(Newser) - So, do we have to call it the Even Greater Barrier Reef now? In a study published last month in Coral Reefs , researchers announced the discovery of a massive 2,353-square-mile reef just north of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Scientists used LIDAR data from the Australian Navy to create...

The Amazon's Muddy Waters Have Been Hiding a Massive Reef

Researchers were 'flabbergasted'

(Newser) - You don't hear a lot of good news about coral reefs these days, so the the discovery of more than 3,600 square miles of undiscovered reef at the mouth of the Amazon River is a pretty big deal. The Atlantic reports researchers in the 1970s caught a few...

Paul Allen Fixing Coral Reef His Yacht Likely Wrecked

Microsoft co-founder not accepting blame yet, but restoration starts in Caymans

(Newser) - Paul Allen isn't accepting all of the blame yet for annihilating a huge section of coral reef in the Cayman Islands, but his company is now trying to help put the reef back together, Page Six reports. Tatoosh, the Microsoft co-founder's 300-foot mega-yacht, is said to have dragged...

We Could Be Seeing Biggest-Ever Coral Death

We may lose 5% of world's corals in latest bleaching event: scientists

(Newser) - A coral bleaching event is hitting the globe for just the third time on record, scientists say, and could lead to the biggest coral die-off in history, reports the Guardian . We could lose about 5% of the planet's corals (or 4,500 square miles) this year, while 38% may...

Miami Divers in Rush to Save Rare Corals

The deadline is Saturday, when excavation begins on the city's shipping channel

(Newser) - A group of scientists has until Saturday to save as many corals as time and weather permit along the bottom of a Miami shipping channel, before it is scheduled to be dredged and deepened by eight feet. With the Panama Canal in the process of being widened, the excavation project...

Oceans Careening Toward Mass Extinction

Thanks to a whole raft of issues 'unprecedented in Earth's known history'

(Newser) - Our oceans are in bad shape—so bad in fact, that a mass extinction may already be under way, thanks to a deadly intersection of global warming, declining oxygen, and acidification, plus overfishing and pollution, the Guardian and Reuters report. A new study from the International Program on the State...

UN to Australia: You Have Year to Protect Barrier Reef

Will be listed as 'in danger' if government doesn't curb development, pollution

(Newser) - Australia's Great Barrier Reef may lose its world heritage status if the country doesn't clean up its act. UNESCO has postponed a decision to put the 133,000-square-mile coral reef system on its " World Heritage in Danger " list, giving the Australian and Queensland governments a year...

China's Growth Destroyed 80% of Its Coral Reefs

Alarming degradation found, 'window of opportunity' to save them closing

(Newser) - Thirty years of dynamic growth in China has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, but the environmental damage has been brutal. The latest evidence: More than 80% of its coral reefs are gone, thanks to development, overfishing, and pollution, reports AFP . A new report calls the damage "a...

Google Maps Goes Scuba Diving

'Street View' heads underwater with panoramic images

(Newser) - Want to go underwater at the Great Barrier Reef, but not into scuba diving? Thanks to Google Maps, now you can—virtually. Google added its first underwater panoramas to Google Maps yesterday, meaning "Street View"—at least in certain places—shows turtles and manta rays instead of, you...

Caribbean Coral Reefs Are Mostly Dead
Caribbean Coral Reefs
Are Mostly Dead
report says
Sep 7, 2012 4:53 PM CDT

Caribbean Coral Reefs Are Mostly Dead

Less than 10% of the reefs have live coral, says report

(Newser) - The coral reefs of the Caribbean are mostly wiped out, according to a new report from a major conservation group. Scientists have found that the reefs have about 8% of live coral coverage, down from about 50% to 60% in the 1970s, reports National Geographic . Some main culprits cited by...

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