Great Barrier Reef coral hit by more bleaching

More than 90 per cent of Great Barrier Reef coral surveyed this year was bleached in the fourth such mass event there in seven years, Australian scientists have said. Bleaching is caused by global warming, but this is the reef’s first bleaching event during a La Nina weather pattern, which is associated with cooler Pacific Ocean temperatures, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority said in its annual report on Tuesday. The study found 91 per cent of the areas surveyed were affected. Bleaching in 2016, 2017 and 2020 damaged two thirds of the coral off Australia’s eastern coast.