Great Barrier Reef Marine Park | Most Wonderful Nature

Share Top Five March 6, 2019

Made up of nearly 3,000 individual reefs, the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland extends for 2,600 kilometers and is the world’s largest structure made of living organisms. It’s even visible from space. A favorite on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, this delicate ecosystem is home to porpoises, green sea turtles, whales and dugongs. But the reef is threatened by climate change and coral bleaching that occurs when water temperatures rise.Base your visit from any of the towns on the east coast of Queensland between Gladstone and Thursday Island. Choose a tour operator approved by the Marine Park authority,More info:cnn

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#10 Great Barrier Reef Marine Park,More info:scalar.usc.edu

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is located on the northeastern coast of Australia spanning over 2300 Kilometers of coast, covering over 14 degrees latitude, and expanding from 60 Kilometers to 250 Kilometers from the coast line. The park covers 344,400 km2 in area with the average depth of 35 meters, and its deepest depth to be over 2000 meters, see the below map from MPAtlas for more geographical information. The Great Barrier Reef is known to be the largest living structure on the planet with thousands of different species it makes it one of the most complex natural ecosystems in the world. There are 14 coastal ecosystems that are important to the function of the Reef: coral reefs, lagoon floor, islands, open water, seagrasses, coastline, estuaries, freshwater wetlands, forested floodplain, heath and shrublands, grass and sedgelands, woodlands, forests and rainforests. These coastal ecosystems provide the interconnections that support the physical, biological and biogeochemical process that underpin the ecosystem health of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage.

#9 Coral bleachingLatest update from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority,More info:barrierreef

#8 File:Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.jpg,More info:wikimedia

#7 Australia images Great Barrier Reef Marine Park – Queensland HD wallpaper and background photos,More info:fanpop

#6 GREAT BARRIER REEF,More info:nature.new7wonders

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi). The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN labelled it one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland.

#5 Visitors rush to the Great Barrier Reef to catch it “before it’s gone”,More info:climatechangenews

In a reversal of the normal travel bucket list, tourists are rushing to see the Great Barrier Reef before it dies.

Half of the reef’s coral has disappeared in the past three decades due to a combination of warming ocean temperatures, coastal development, invasive starfish and agricultural runoff.

A survey published this week in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism found 69% of tourists had been driven by a sense of urgency to see Australia’s coral icon while there was still time.

This year, the reef has experienced its worst bleaching event on record. A huge underwater heatwave, which has killed off coral across the globe, has affected 93% of the reefs along the 2,300km wonder. In the northern and central sections, almost half the coral has been bleached so intensely and for so long that it will not recover.