Scientists Discover Coral Reef Taller Than The Empire State Building in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
“Biorock Reef Indonesia” by USFWS Headquarters is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Recently discovered, an enormous 1600 foot tall coral reef was found in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The Empire State Building is only 1,250 feet which makes the newly found coral reef dominate it in comparison. Scientist have made a detailed 3d map of the reef, it is very spiky and massive. To discover what the reef looks like, an underwater robot named SuBastian was used. The robot discovered the reef is detached, making it the first coral reef found to be detached in more than 120 years. The underwater robot also was used to livestream it’s discovery. The Great Barrier Reef is very important to Australia’s oceanic ecosystem. It hosts numerous species of animals, corals, continental islands, and more.
Coral reefs are beneficial because they protect coastlines from storms and erosion, provide jobs, food, income, protection, offer opportunities for recreation, and are a source of food and medicines. They are very important to ecosystems and communities. It is important to protect them, they are diminishing. Scientist have created many different technological advances to help preserve and restore reefs. This includes something called Biorock. Biorock can also go by different names like Seacrete and Seament. Biorock is designed to speed up the process of coral growth. It works by divers placing injured coral onto cement like structures, making the coral have a 50% greater chance of survival. The cement like structures pass small electric through electrodes in the water. This allows the coral to heal quickly and grow. The future holds many more options and possibilities to save, grow, and protect coral. New technology is being discovered and is growing everyday.
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http://www.biorock.org/content/how-it-works
