Australia's Great Barrier Reef Suffers Another Bleaching Event
One of nature's greatest gifts to humanity looks like it's coming close to dying. Australia's Great Barrier Reef was observed to have gone through another bleaching event, which only happens when the algae that are necessary for the survival of the corals are expelled due to high temperatures. Given that global warming is wreaking havoc on the environment, experts are raising concern all the while trying to collect the data needed to understand it.
The European Space Agency's Copernicus program took images through the Sentinel-2 satellite. Through it, the experts studied the current state of the Great Barrier Reef and found that it has suffered another bleaching event, which first happened last year. Considering that nature's treasure has suffered the event in successive years, the experts' concern for the environment is a natural and valid reaction.
According to a report by Daily Mail, the Great Barrier Reef can recover from the bleaching state for as long as the algae are able to return once the temperature goes back to normal. Regardless, the events warrant concern for one of the most beautiful things that nature decided to offer Earth.
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"In general, interpreting changes is ambiguous. You can't just jump to the conclusion brightening is bleaching because the brightness of any spot on a reef varies from image to image for many reasons due to both the water and bottom changes," said Dr. John Hedley, scientific leader of Sen2Coral, as reported by Phys.org.
In order to fully understand the mysteries of the Great Barrier Reef and to achieve data that can help experts propagate environmental causes that can benefit nature, the Sentinel-2 was programmed to allow for fast detection of events such as the recent bleaching. Satellite imagery allows the experts to see what's happening from a bird's eye view, complete with high resolution.
