Part of Great Barrier Reef now ‘a white desert’

[cheeks69]

SYDNEY - When marine scientist Ray Berkelmans went diving at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef earlier this year, what he discovered shocked him -- a graveyard of coral stretching as far as he could see.

“It’s a white desert out there,” Berkelmans said after returning from a dive to survey bleaching -- signs of a mass death of corals caused by a sudden rise in ocean temperatures -- around the Keppel Islands.

Australia has just experienced its warmest year on record and abnormally high sea temperatures during summer have caused massive coral bleaching in the Keppels. Sea temperatures touched 84 degrees Fahrenheit, the upper limit for coral.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11821539/

 

[KimPossible]

I read about this. The sea temperature around the Keppel Islands touched 84 degrees!

Algae expelled
Bleaching is due to higher than average water temperatures, triggered mainly by global warming, scientists say. Higher temperatures force corals to expel algae living in coral polyps which provide food and color, leaving white calcium skeletons. Coral dies in about a month if the waters do not cool.

Berkelmans said the Keppels had previously bounced back from bleaching once the waters had cooled. But if temperatures remained abnormally high then that would be much more difficult

I wonder how long is too long?