A study of samples taken from inside the bodies of centuries-old coral has revealed the threat climate change now poses to the Great Barrier Reef.
Researchers in Australia say temperatures in and around the vast coral reef over the past decade are the highest recorded in 400 years.
Extreme heat has already caused five mass bleaching events in the past nine years alone.
Writing in the journal Nature, the scientists behind the study say increased temperatures, driven by climate change, now pose an “existential threat” to this natural wonder of the world.
“The science tells us that the Great Barrier Reef is in danger – and we should be guided by the science,” Prof Helen McGregor, from the University of Wollongong, told BBC News.
The new evidence comes from within the coral itself.
Over many years, marine scientists have collected cores – samples drilled out of the skeletons of coral – which provide chemical clues about how the environment around the reef has changed as the coral developed.
Coral – which are animals, not plants – can live for centuries, laying down chemical indicators about their natural environment.
Researchers in Australia re-examined the data from thousands of these cores and cross-referenced them with historical sea temperature records from the UK’s Hadley Centre.
The research showed temperatures around the Great Barrier Reef in the previous decade were the warmest of the past 400 years.
“The recent events in the Great Barrier Reef are extraordinary,” said lead researcher Dr Benjamin Henley, who carried out the study whilst working at Wollongong University.
“Unfortunately, this is terrible news for the reef.”<!–
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