{"id":290752,"date":"2023-12-10T17:59:53","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T16:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=290752"},"modified":"2023-12-10T17:59:56","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T16:59:56","slug":"skeptics-visit-the-poster-child-of-severely-bleached-reefs-and-its-just-fine-18-months-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=290752","title":{"rendered":"Skeptics visit the poster-child of severely bleached reefs, and it\u2019s just fine 18 months later\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Jo Nova<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

18 months ago the coral on John Brewer Reef was dead according to The Guardian<\/em>, but Jennifer Marohasy, Peter Ridd and Rowan Dean took the risk of going back to the same dead reef to make a short documentary on it and found the same coral, 80 kilometers offshore and it, and the whole area around it, is flourishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park authority, the area was surveyed in April 2022 and the damage was classed as \u201csevere\u201d. According to them, 60-90% of the reef was bleached. It was so bad that when the Sydney Morning Herald<\/em> wrote about \u201c500 kilometers of severe bleaching\u201d<\/a> it was John Brewer Reef that they picked for the feature photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like\u00a0The Guardian:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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The Guardian<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Scientists, apparently, were dreading the damage to come (of the reef that recovered):<\/p>\n\n\n

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If the John Brewer reef was sick, most of the Great Barrier Reef was bound to be sick too, said Graham Readfearn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is one of the healthiest reefs off Townsville and one of the best reefs on the whole Great Barrier Reef. So for these corals to be stressed and damaged \u2026 well, it\u2019s likely it\u2019s the same at other reefs down here.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The John Brewer Reef was so symbolic of the man-made apocalypse\u00a0one British artist was planning to install a 100 ton \u201ccoral\u201d greenhouse<\/a>\u00a0out there, because corals need artistic playhouses.<\/p>\n\n\n

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But here in the real world, the formerly bleached coral now is a normal \u201ccafe latte\u201d brown color, showing it has recovered from the bleaching. The growing tips are always white, apparently, so it\u2019s all good. Jennifer wrote all the details up on her blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coral threw out the zooxanthellae last year, but this year it has new ones\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n

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The John Brewer reef, right now, is full of colorful fish and very alive corals.<\/p>\n\n\n

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As Jennifer Marohasy says, it was a risk to return to the \u201cThe centre of the sixth mass coral bleaching\u201d. The 15 minute video of the trip to John Brewer Reef is below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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