Great Barrier Reef bleaching 'worst ever seen'

An aerial survey is revealing the worst bleaching ever seen on northern parts of the Great Barrier Reef, as the scientist leading the survey live-tweets the devastation and pleads for the world to take action on climate change.

Last week Terry Hughes, a professor at James Cook University and convener of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, told Guardian Australia he planned to hire a charter plane and map the bleaching to see how bad it was.

They would start from Cairns and fly north, he said. “We’ll expand that initial aerial survey to crisscross the whole northern region and map it all out.”

Now, using both planes and helicopters, Hughes has found what he says is the worst bleaching in the region he has ever seen.

Read The Guardian story - “Great Barrier Reef: aerial survey reveals extent of coral bleaching.”