The Great Barrier Reef, already under threat from global warming, is also
being affected by pollutants and pesticides from the land carried into the sea
by flooded rivers, satellite images show.
Pictures taken this month by Nasa and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration satellites indicate that coral is being affected by the run-off
at a greater rate than previously thought.
According to Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO), they show sediment creating a hazy cloud in the water over
the reef, blocking out sunlight and preventing photosynthesis, the process which
keeps coral alive.
Arnold Dekker of the CSIRO said: "The run-off from torrential rainfall goes into
the Great Barrier Reef lagoon and straight into the ocean at speeds which were
not thought to occur before we saw the images."
The reef, which stretches for 1,400 miles down the ...