NEWS BRIEFING: Highest ocean temperatures for 400 years put the Great Barrier Reef in danger

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-08-08 01:00

Australia; NSW; VIC; QLD; WA

Drilling a coral skeletal core in the Coral Sea Credit: Tane Sinclair-Taylor

Recent temperatures in the Coral Sea surrounding the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) are the warmest in 400 years putting the reef in danger, according to Australian research. The researchers found that sea surface temperatures in the January to March period of 2024, 2017 and 2020 were the warmest on record for four centuries. They also confirmed that human influence is driving this warming. The researchers say their evidence indicates that the GBR is in danger. A full recording of the briefing is available via the link below.

Media release

From: Australian Science Media Centre

BRIEFING ALERT: Highest ocean temperatures for 400 years put the Great Barrier Reef in danger

EMBARGOED NEWS BRIEFING: Briefing concluded - A full recording of the briefing can be found via the link below.

Recent temperatures in the Coral Sea surrounding the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) are the warmest in 400 years putting the reef in danger, according to Australian research. The researchers found that sea surface temperatures in the January to March period of 2024, 2017 and 2020 were the warmest on record for four centuries.

The study used the chemistry of the corals in the Coral Sea to reconstruct ocean temperatures between 1618 and 1995 and combined it with instrument measurements taken from 1900–2024. Using this data they ranked four centuries of summer sea surface temperatures with greater precision than was previously possible.

They found that sea temperatures were relatively cool and stable for hundreds of years, but recent sea surface heat is unprecedented compared to the past 400 years. They also confirmed that human influence is driving this warming. The researchers say their evidence indicates that the GBR is in danger.

Join this embargoed briefing to hear from key authors of the research.

Speakers:

Dr Benjamin Henley, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne
Professor Helen McGregor, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences (SEALS) at The University of Wollongong
Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, School of the Environment at the University of Queensland

Multimedia

Bleached coral, Great Barrier Reef, 2024

Drilling a coral skeletal core on the Great Barrier Reef

Drilling a coral skeletal core in the Coral Sea

Drone image of an atoll in the Coral Sea

Drilling a coral skeletal core in the Coral Sea

Removing a skeletal core from a coral colony in the Coral Sea

Drilling a coral skeletal core in the Coral Sea

Dying coral

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research Springer Nature, Web page Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).

Research Australian Science Media Centre, Web page Register and join the briefing here

Journal/
conference: Nature

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Melbourne, University of Wollongong, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CLEx), The University of Queensland, Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, University of Western Australia

Funder: B.J.H. and H.V.M. acknowledge support from an Australian Research Council (ARC) SRIEAS grant, Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SR200100005), and ARC Discovery Project DP200100206. A.D.K. acknowledges support from an ARC DECRA (DE180100638) and the Australian government’s National Environmental Science Program. B.J.H. and A.D.K. acknowledge an affiliation with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CE170100023). H.V.M. acknowledges support from an ARC Future Fellowship (FT140100286). A.K.A. acknowledges support from an Australian government research training program scholarship and an AINSE postgraduate research award. Funding was provided to B.K.L. by the Vetlesen Foundation through a gift to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Grants to B.K.L. enabled the generation of coral oxygen isotope and Sr/Ca data from Fiji that were used in our reconstruction (US National Science Foundation OCE-0318296 and ATM-9901649 and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NA96GP0406).

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.