From the BBC comes news that Coral growth in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has had it's slowest growth in the past 400 years. Researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science studied 328 colonies of corals from 69 locations around Australia, and concluded that global warming and the increasing acidity of seawater are the culprits. To read the article, click here, or click here to read the official press release.

01/05/09 by visitEarth
Tags: Australia, Great Barrier Reef, coral, growth, reef, underwater, climate change, global warming

 

Here's a really well-shot video while scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The two animals hogging up all the screen time are a large turtle and an octopus, which are two underwater creatures I'd watch all the time. The camerawork and colors are really crisp, bright and true, and capture some of the reef, corals and schooling fish nicely as well.

12/20/08 by visitEarth
Tags: Great Barrier Reef, Australia, scuba, diving, turtle, octopus, reef, scuba diving, underwater

 

Here's a short video describing the immense Great Barrier Reef in Australia, including fantastic aerial views of the reef and some of the islands, and beautifully-shot underwater clips of the corals, reefs and animal life while scuba diving. Of course, there's the required (and true) warning about the impact that global warming and climate change is having on the reef, notably the bleaching of the corals due to rising water temperature. I've become rather cynical as almost all nature/animal videos now have a requisite dire warning - but if you can get past that, this is a remarkably gorgeous video...

12/05/08 by visitEarth
Tags: Great Barrier Reef, Australia, reef, coral, global warming, climate change, scuba, diving

 

Here's a great short documentary from National Geographic documenting a photographer's quest for the perfect photo of a whale shark in Australia. Complete with the opening of its mouth, contrast with some yellow fish and a scuba diver overhead, I'm sure you'll agree the time and effort was worth it!

05/14/08 by visitEarth
Tags: Australia, whale shark, whale, underwater, scuba, photo, photography, camera

 

Brilliant video, one of the best and most entertaining I've seen from the Great Barrier Reef. Gareth did a nice editing job to the techno music, and his original source footage was really well-shot, very smooth camerawork. The lionfish is spectacular, as are the shark and ray clips. Lots to learn from here!

03/19/08 by visitEarth
Tags: Great Barrier Reef, Australia, scuba, diving, shark, ray, lionfish