SYDNEY—Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could deteriorate if warming ocean temperatures spark another mass coral bleaching event later this year, the country’s top marine science body said Wednesday.
Sections of the reef had been showing promising signs of recovery until a bleaching event in 2022 turned swathes of the vibrant coral a sickly, pale white.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science said that, although the reef’s condition had stabilized during a “relatively mild” summer in 2023, it remained in a precarious position.
Institute research director David Wachenfeld said the reef was at “increased risk with climate change driving more frequent and severe bleaching events”.
Australia’s weather bureau has said it is “likely” an El Nino weather pattern will develop over the country in the coming weeks, bringing warmer ocean temperatures to the Pacific — and the renewed risk of coral bleaching.
Globally, the average ocean temperature has been topping seasonal heat records on a regular basis since April.
Wachenfeld said the reef was “only one large-scale disturbance away from a rapid reversal of recent recovery.”
Australia was given a brief reprieve earlier this year when a team of United Nations experts left the fading wonder off a list of heritage sites considered “in danger.”