Jennifer Marohasy

We’re often told that the sea temperature along the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is increasing and that soon the coral will be bleached and the reef be destroyed. But what’s the real story according to the data?

The USA’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a web page with recent data and maps, along with [...]

“Researchers in Australia say the growth of coral on the country’s iconic Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has fallen since 1990 to its lowest rate in 400 years,” variations of this message have been repeated around the world from South Korea to London with global warming, and the associated acidification of oceans, claimed to be the [...]

Scientists have reported a rapid recovery in some of the coral reefs damaged by the Indian Ocean tsunami four years ago.  Read more here.

The Greens reckon the Great Barrier Reef is a casualty of Labor’s lower-than-expected emissions reduction target, but for those who work among the corals, forecasts aren’t so bleak.  Read more here.

You know there’s an election around the corner in Queensland when politicians get emotional and angry about the Great Barrier Reef. The Labor Government has been in power in Queensland for the past 10 years and the previous Premier, Peter Beattie, told us if it hadn’t been for his policies we wouldn’t have a reef. But [...]

In response to a question concerning the likelihood of our oceans becoming acidic from global warming Ian Plimer, University of Adelaide, has replied:
THE oceans have remained alkaline during the Phanerozoic (last 540 million years) except for a very brief and poorly understood  time 55 million years ago.
Rainwater (pH 5.6) reacts with the most common minerals [...]

“Hundreds of new kinds of animal species, including 130 colourful corals, have been discovered.   The extraordinary creatures were found by researchers systematically exploring waters off two islands on the Great Barrier Reef and a reef off northwestern Australia.”   Read more from the UK Telegraph here.  

Hi Jennifer,
The shallows near Dobu Island off Papua and New Guinea have active underwater fumaroles pumping out virtually pure CO2. The sea grass is extraordinarily lush and healthy and there is very healthy coral reef a few metres away.

May 2008 in PNG at Dobu Island in the D’Entrecasteaux Group

May 2008 in PNG at Dobu Island [...]

Walter Starck has an excellent 4 page rebuttal of a greenhouse doom and gloom article by Charlie Vernon over at On Line Opinion. Vernon’s article entitled, ‘The plight of the Great Barrier Reef:‘ claims that by 2050 the Great Barrier Reef will be unrecognisable: “Bacterial slime, largely devoid of life, will be everywhere.”
Dr J.E.N. [...]

In July 2002 I was helping teach an underwater photography course for students at James Cook University. Day trips to the outer barrier were organised from Port Douglas. On the reef I mostly saw dead coral smothered with rafts of brown algae, and struggled to find any living invertebrates for the students to photograph. It [...]