CORALS OFF LORD HOWE ISLAND

April 4, 2019

The corals off Lord Howe Island – the world’s southernmost coral reef – has been hit by bleaching this summer, as Australian scientists have warned that rising sea temperatures from climate change were affecting even the most isolated ecosystems.

About:

Location: Lord Howe Island is an crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
Administration: The Lord Howe Island Group is part of the state of New South Wales.
Status: UNESCO records the Lord Howe Island Group as a World Heritage Site of global natural significance.
Corals: Along the west coast there is a sandy semi-enclosed sheltered coral reef lagoon. The corals off Lord Howe Island are the world’s southernmost coral reef.
Coral bleaching: The corals off Lord Howe Island — some 600 km offshore from Sydney — were affected by elevated temperatures this summer, despite escaping severe bleaching that damaged the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017.