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A view of the surface of a 500-meter-high coral reef discovered by Australian scientists off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in this still image from a video provided on social media on October 25, 2020. Mandatory Credit SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE / via REUTERS reuters_tickers
This content was published on October 29, 2020 – 7:45 am
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian scientists have found a detached reef on the Great Barrier Reef that exceeds the height of the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the first such discovery in over 100 years, said this week. .
The “blade” reef is nearly 500 meters high and 1.5 kilometers wide, said the institute founded by former Google chief Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy. It is located 40 meters below the ocean surface and about six kilometers from the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
A team of scientists from James Cook University, led by Dr Robin Beaman, was mapping the northern sea floor of the Great Barrier Reef aboard the Falkor Institute research vessel when they discovered the reef on October 20.
“We are surprised and elated by what we have found,” said Beaman.
He said it was the first detached reef of that size to be discovered in over 120 years and that it thrived with a “fish blizzard” in a healthy ecosystem.
The discovery comes after a study earlier this month found that the Great Barrier Reef had lost more than half of its coral in the past three decades.
Using the underwater robot known as SuBastian, the scientists filmed their exploration of the new coral reef, collecting marine samples along the way, which will be archived and placed in the Queensland Museum and Museum of Tropical Queensland.
“Not only 3D mapping the reef in detail, but also seeing this discovery visually with SuBastian is amazing,” added Beaman.
Although the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef suffered from bleaching in 2016, Beaman said this detached reef showed no evidence of damage.
Bleaching occurs when the water is too hot, forcing the coral to expel living algae and causing it to calcify and turn white.
The Great Barrier Reef stretches 2,300 km (1,429 miles) along the northeastern coast of Australia over an area half the size of Texas. It was a World Heritage Site in 1981 by UNESCO as the largest and most spectacular coral reef ecosystem on the planet.
(Reporting by James Redmayne in Sydney; Additional reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
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