The colossal reef discovered off the Australian coast is taller than the Empire State Building

Scientists have discovered a new detached reef at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef – and it is a whopping 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall, taller than the Empire State Building, Sydney Tower and Petronas Towers in Malaysia.

It is the first such discovery in the region in 120 years, made by a team at the Schmidt Ocean Institute using underwater mapping technology, and then captured on camera by the underwater robot SuBastian. The researchers are currently on a 12-month mission to map Australia’s underwater landscape.

The gigantic reef, separated from the Great Barrier Reef but still anchored to the ocean floor, joins many other high reefs in the region, including Raine Island, an important habitat and breeding area for green sea turtles.

The research ship Falkor. (Schmidt Ocean Institute)

“This unexpected discovery states that we continue to find unknown structures and new species in our ocean,” says Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of the Schmidt Ocean Institute. “The state of our knowledge of what’s in the ocean has long been so limited.”

“Thanks to new technologies that work like our eyes, ears and hands in the deep ocean, we have the ability to explore like never before. New ocean landscapes are opening up to us, revealing ecosystems and different life forms. who share the planet with us. “

Researchers say the reef is about 1.5 kilometers (nearly a mile) wide at its base and that it rises up to 40 meters (131 feet) from the water’s surface. Initial photography suggests that the natural phenomenon is home to an abundance of sponges, net-like gorgonians and soft corals.

Many reef fish have already been spotted around it, from small hatchet fish to gray reef sharks. It appears to be a massive cornucopia of life that has so far escaped detection, and the reef is likely to take years to fully study.

There’s also a four-hour video available if you want to fully witness SuBastian’s journeys around the new reef.

(Schmidt Ocean Institute)

The grandeur of the discovery also comes with a tinge of sadness: we know that these majestic coral reefs, so essential to marine ecosystems, are increasingly threatened by climate change. Sea temperature spikes are not good for corals and the new reef will also be sensitive to them.

The Schmidt Ocean Institute’s mission continues, having already discovered up to 30 unknown species during its travels, including previously unidentified black corals and sponges, and having spotted the longest marine creature recorded on the camera: a 45-meter siphonophore ( 148 feet). Nothing can end up matching this coral reef discovery.

“Finding a new half-kilometer-high coral reef in the area off Cape York of the famous Great Barrier Reef shows how mysterious the world is just off our coast,” says oceanographer Jyotika Virmani, executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute.

“This powerful combination of cartographic data and underwater imagery will be used to understand this new reef and its role within the incredible Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.”