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The Role Of Coral Bleaching In The Great Barrier Reef

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The Role Of Coral Bleaching In The Great Barrier Reef
During an El Nino, sea surface temperate (SST) rises, and right now we are in a very strong El Nino. This El Nino is playing a role in making this coral bleaching event so long and its effects will show in Australia. A new study was conducted and its results were not good: Coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef may be worse than what was originally expected. In this study, scientists looked at 27 years of NOAA satellite data for SST. In previous years, corals have become more resilient and tolerant to coral bleaching if they experienced short times of somewhat hotter temperatures. But now water temperatures are rising to a temperature that that would destroy the tolerance the corals have built up and would cause harsh bleaching.
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