Parts of the Great Barrier Reef are showing signs of heat stress, raising the risk of another major coral bleaching event, scientists from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority have announced. Eastern Australia has experienced a long period of warmer than usual ocean currents, which has increased water temperatures across two-thirds of the reef 2 to 3 degrees Celsius above average for February, Reuters reported.

Scientists warned that if water temperatures do not drop in the next two weeks, the bleaching would likely become widespread. It would be Australia’s third major coral bleaching event in five years, with the others in 2016 and 2017.

“We are down to the wire,” Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, told The Guardian.

Read more at Yale Environment 360

Image: Bleached staghorn coral on the Great Barrier Reef in March 2017. BETTE WILLIS / ARC COE

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