Panel warns on Great Barrier Reef (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef could be dead within decades because of the effects of global warming, according to a leaked report.

The report, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warns that the reef's coral could be bleached because of warmer seas.
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The draft document warns that the Great Barrier Reef will become "functionally extinct" because of coral bleaching - which occurs when the animal organisms that make up the coral die, leaving behind a white limestone skeleton.
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Many reefs in East Asia declined significantly during the El Nino conditions in 1997/8; it can take a decade for coral to start recovering from severe bleaching.

But in the future, the Barrier Reef may not have the chance to recover, scientists warn, as temperatures continue to rise and the sea becomes more acidic. This raises the risk that the coral will die outright.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6312147.stm

[ixion]

1. I guess the GBR didn't get the memo

global warming is a 'myth'. :sarcasm: :eyes: