coral

Hard coral cover has increased by 33% in the central part of the reef and by 36% in the northern part of the reef, which are at their highest levels in 36 years. The southern area of the reef decreased in cover since 2021 due to starfish that feed on coral.

New images of the Great Barrier Reef show that rising water temperatures have severely damaged the world’s largest reef system, which stretches for over 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia. [1]
How bad is it? Hmm. It depends on who you ask.
One scientist who visited the reef said that “if it was a person, it would be on life support.”

Rahmstorf et al 2015 Figure 5 shows a coral d15N series from offshore Nova Scotia (see left panel below). The corresponding plot from the source is shown on the right.  Original captions for both follow.  There’s enough information in the figures and captions to figure out Rahmstorf’s next trick. See if you can figure it out before looking at my explanation below the fold.