Changing Growth Rates

Changing growth rates on corals on the Great Barrier Reef due to weather extremes getting worse.

Dr. Janice Lough a senior research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science has taken core samples from stony corals dating back as far as 1639 and they show that extreme weather is on the up. Lough's findings suggest that coral reefs will be subject to an accelerating pattern of extreme wet and extreme dry periods.

The coral cores have annual rings similar to tree rings and can be counted to calculate the colonies age. (See sample) This gives a record of the ocean environment throughout the corals life, dating back several centuries, before weather and climate were monitored with rain gauges and thermometers.


Records show that the frequency of extreme weather has changed over the centuries and at the moment is at it's peak.

The records taken from the Great Barrier Reef corals support predictions that tropical rainfall variability will increase in a warming world. AIMS researchers are currently analyzing coral cores from other tropical coral reefs of Australia to further study long-term rainfall and climate patterns.
Journal Ref: Janice Lough
For more information http://www.aims.gov.au