New Australian government report finds coral decline across the reef due to ‘climate change-induced heat stress’.
Save articles to read later and create your own reading list.
The Great Barrier Reef has suffered its most widespread coral bleaching on record, according to a new Australian government report, as ocean temperatures soared in 2024.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) said on Wednesday that it surveyed the health of the reefs between August 2024 and May 2025 and found the “most spatially extensive” bleaching since records began in 1986, which was “predominantly driven by climate change-induced heat stress”.
Scientists also found that coral cover declined by almost one-third, down to just 26.9 percent, in the southernmost third of the reef, as the southern reefs experienced their highest recorded levels of heat stress.
