Australia ’s Great Barrier Reef ( GBR ) is made up of almost 3,000 individual reefs , a routine now one magnanimous after the proclamation of the first find of a raw Witwatersrand in 120 years . Better still , the newfangled discovery appear to be in robust health , despite most of the GBR having been devastate by a series ofmass bleaching events .
The GBR dwarfs all other coral reefs in part because the continental ledge off Queensland is so wide . Yet even beyond the ledge seven “ detach reefs ” were located in the 19th 100 , seat atop tall peaks that start at large profoundness and attain up to near the surface .
TheSchmidt Ocean Institute , currently conducting a 12 - calendar month mission to explore the badly studied waters around these reefs , made the sensational discovery of another detached reef . At its base , the reef is 1.5 kilometers ( 0.9 statute mile ) long , but quite narrow-minded . From there it rises 500 meters ( 1,640 feet ) – tall than New York ’s Empire State Building – to support a small Rand 300 meters ( 984 foot ) tenacious and only 15 meters ( 49 foot ) wide lie down just 40 meters ( 130 foot ) below the aerofoil .
tolerant mapping of the new 500 - measure detached reef . Schmidt Ocean Insitute
The reef support an teemingness of coral . Although the Schmidt team has used the submerged remote - operated robot SuBastian to climb the peak they have not had a chance to try lifeforms now .
Nevertheless , Dr Robin Beamanof James Cook University told IFLScience the Witwatersrand supports all the chief ingredients of a expand tropical reef , with “ Hard corals , soft coral , Pisces , and sharks . ” Indeed the latter is so abundant squad memberMardi McNeilof Queensland University of Technology referred to a “ blizzard of fish and sharks . ” This is in line to shallow water reefs nearby in the GBR ’s northern zona , most of which have not recuperate from the 2016mass bleaching result , which dispatch the domain specially intemperately .
The reef springs into colorful life around the 1:48:00 stain .
This may be more than a one - off . McNeil explain to IFLScience shallow reefs are surrounded by body of water that is warm up alarmingly . This present a major terror , peculiarly at the northern end of the GBR where coral are cheeseparing to their thermic demarcation . On the other hand , detached Witwatersrand , surrounded by cool deep ocean stirred by stronger waves , are likely to be less affected by rising temperature , at least in the scant term . A nearby detach reef is top out byRaine Island , home to the world ’s largest green sea turtle nesting area , whose coral also seems to be much healthier than opposite number on the continental shelf .
One possibility holds that deepwater reefs could act as a bema for species ineffective to survive hotter conditions elsewhere , from which other reefs might one daybe repopulated .
The fact something of such meaning could have been off the Queensland coast for so long without anyone noticing underlies our pitiful knowledge of the seafloor where shipping is not threatened , Dr Beaman tell IFLScience . Although nearby detached reefs were studied a few year ago using air - borne LIDAR , fence areas were disregard .
The discovery was made as part of a Schmidt Ocean Institute effort to change that , mapping the intact expanse around the northern GBR using both the inquiry vesselFalkorand ROV SuBastian . Beaman told IFLScience that mapping is 90 percent consummate , so while he does n’t rule out happen something else , the opportunity are not high . Meanwhile , only 20 percent of the deep ocean worldwide has been map with modern tools , but the Institute is participate in a project aiming to change that by 2030 .
More footage from SuBastian is available on the Schmidt Ocean Institute’swebsiteandYouTube channel .
