Coral Bleaching Ravages Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Warm waters continue to bleach coral along Australia's Great Barrier Reef in what scientists are calling the first-ever back-to-back bleaching event for the world’s largest coral reef. Last year two-thirds of the coral along the northern part of the reef died during an unusually warm El Niño year. Surprising many researchers, the bleaching continued in 2017, despite El Niño having ended.

Scientists with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Queensland made the dire assessment after a 5,000-mile aircraft survey of the reef.

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson discusses the unprecedented coral bleaching along the 1,400-mile reef with Randi Rotjan (@RandiRotjan), a marine biologist at Boston University.

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