![\"\"](\"http:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/image012a-300x137.jpg\")
Why did some parts of the Great Barrier Reef resist the mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017? This is one of the most important questions to be addressed at the Great Barrier Reef Restoration Symposium.<\/p>\nWhy did some parts of the Great Barrier Reef resist the mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017? This is one of the most important questions to be addressed at the Great Barrier Reef Restoration Symposium.<\/p>\n
Craig Steinberg and his team at AIMS have been working on a NESP TWQ Hub Project to gather and study a vast amount of data from across the Great Barrier Reef<\/strong><\/a> with the aim of determining the oceanographic and atmospheric drivers behind the variability of bleaching on the Reef.<\/p>\n Using data from all available oceanographic observations \u2013 such as the IMOS network, AIMS temperature loggers, tide gauges and more, including citizen science groups \u2013 the team has been working to identify which reefs experienced less bleaching effects than their immediate neighbours. Craig and his team will be presenting these findings at the Symposium during a special session on hydrodynamics and mixing, designed to help engineers find \u201cways-in\u201d to potential small-scale interventions that could help reduce bleaching severity in future. This special session will conclude with a moderated panel discussion led by Dr Ian Poiner.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we have seen cyclones occurring outside the reef area \u2013 for example in the Coral Sea \u2013 the winds from those cyclones contribute to the cooling and essentially saved the southern Great Barrier Reef from bleaching during the last event.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously we can\u2019t rely on cyclones to occur at the right time and place but another key mechanism is strong tidal currents de-stratifying the water column.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve identified a number of scales that this occurs at, ranging from whole reefs to individual areas on the scale of a few hundred square metres.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we are planning to do is provide a hazard map of where there isn\u2019t enough current action \u2013 this will be important because those areas may be more likely to bleach. It\u2019s not random.\u201d<\/p>\n The project is also building and expanding on previous work undertaken by the Tropical Water Quality Hub, specifically on linkages between water quality and the thermal tolerance of corals.<\/p>\n Craig will speak on Tuesday 17th<\/sup> July at 13.45pm in the Urchins Ballroom.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n #RestoretheReef2018<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why did some parts of the Great Barrier Reef resist the mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017? This is one of the most important questions to be addressed at … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5223,"parent":5182,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5199","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5199\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThey have found a direct link between the presence of natural destratification \u2013 the mixing of cooler water from deeper below the surface \u2013 and bleaching resistance.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/image011.jpg\")
\u201cWe have a number of regions on the Great Barrier Reef like the fringing reefs at the Torres Strait, the Swain and Pompey Reefs that have persistently cooler water,\u201d Craig said.<\/p>\nBack to the July 2018 e-Newsletter contents<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"