River Run-Off Threatens Great Barrier Reef

Satellite images of Australia's Great Barrier Reef show that sediment from river run-off is threatening the reef at a greater rate than previously realised, Australia's peak scientific body said on Wednesday. The images, taken this month by NASA and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites, show sediment creating a hazy cloud over the reef, blocking sunlight and hindering photosynthesis, the process that keeps coral alive. "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," said Arnold Dekker, from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Scientists say global warming is already a major threat to the Great Barrier Reef, which stretches 2,300 km (1,400 miles) down the northeast coast, with rising sea temperatures expected to cause more frequent coral bleaching. Global warming is also expected to result in more frequent storms, such as cyclones that lash Australia's tropical north and flood rivers flowing into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Full story at