Great Barrier Reef’s worst bleaching leaves giant coral graveyard: ‘It looks as if it has been carpet bombed’

Scientists stunned by scale of destruction after summer of storm surges, cyclones and floods

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/may/01/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-crisis

 

We were on Heron in 2012–my buddy and wife’s first salt-water dive.  The lushness was amazing.  We’re on Bangka now, and the hard and soft corals and clouds of fish are spectacular.  It’s foolish to assume it will ever again be as beautiful as it was this afternoon, with mass bleaching in the forecast for this summer.  The seemingly-certain death of the GBR, even if it staggers to its feet another time or two, is devastating.