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Severe Bleaching Hits the Great Barrier Reef for Second Year in a Row

posted by martyb on Wednesday April 12 2017, @03:18AM   
from the canary-in-the-ocean? dept.

takyon writes:

Goodbye, coral reefs:

For the second year in a row, Australian marine scientists have carried out the sad task of surveying the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to determine the impact of widespread bleaching caused by elevated sea water temperatures. And for the second year in a row, the findings are grim: Severe bleaching occurred on many of the individual reefs in the middle third of the 2300–kilometer-long system, according to the aerial survey results released today.

In 2016, severe bleaching hit the northern third of the reef. Now, surveys show a significant number of reefs in the central GBR have been hit 2 years in a row. Because it takes at least a decade for a full recovery by the fastest growing corals, there is "zero prospect of recovery" for reefs hit in successive years, says James Kerry, a marine biologist at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia.

[For folks in the USA, the length of the GBR is approximately the same as the distance from Chicago, Illinois to Houston, Texas. --Ed.]

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Original Submission

• 19,067.84 American Football Fields 19,067.84 American Football Fields (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @04:48AM (4 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @04:48AM (#492612)

  • According to Google, the distance from Chicago (Illinois) to Houston (Texas) is 1083.4 miles.
  • Given that each mile is 5280 feet, that is 5 720 352 feet.
  • Given that each yard is 3 feet, that is 1 906 784 yards.
  • Given that each American football field is essentially 100 yards in length, that is 19 067.84 football fields.

  Parent

• Re:19,067.84 American Football Fields Re:19,067.84 American Football Fields (Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Wednesday April 12 2017, @04:51AM (3 children)

  by Fluffeh (954) on Wednesday April 12 2017, @04:51AM (#492614) Journal

  Given that each American football field is essentially 100 yards in length

  Apparently it's 120 yards long? - Assume they include the goal sections?

  https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=length+of+american+football+field [google.com]

  Parent

  • Nobody cares about the goal sections. Nobody cares about the goal sections. (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @04:59AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @04:59AM (#492616)

    As soon as you pass the goal line, you've got a touchdown; it matters not how much extra turf is laid down.

    Besides, this website [convertunits.com] agrees with my calculation.

    Parent

    • Re:Nobody cares about the goal sections. Re:Nobody cares about the goal sections. (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @07:35AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @07:35AM (#492652)

      As soon as you pass the goal line, you've got a touchdown; it matters not how much extra turf is laid down.

      The length of the end zone matters in football. There are rules specifically addressing if a player goes beyond the 10 yard end zone (with or without the ball) or if the ball does. That being said a football field is generally measured as 100 yds even though it is 120 yds including the end zones.

      Parent

      • I sit corrected. (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @03:25PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @03:25PM (#492808)

        Thanks for pointing that out.

        Parent