If the cosmos does not act soon , tropical coral reefs could soon be a thing ofthe past times , taking with them a stern of marine metal money . In the grimace of refusal to take global activity , scientists have turn to some eldritch and wondrous stop - gap measures to essay to keep a few of our reefs awake . One in particular unlikely - sounding project , to protect reefs with a fragile spray of sunscreen , has been found efficacious in ideal conditions , although it ’s a recollective way from show succeeder on the open seas .
Although coral Witwatersrand are also threatened byocean acidification , nourishing runoff , overfishing , andplastic defilement , the most immediate threat to many reefs is global thawing . Most coral ca n’t survive long bout of hot condition , instead expelling the photosynthetic alga they require to survive . If thesebleaching eventslast too long , the corals die .
cool the reefs by shielding them from sunlight or by drawing insensate water up from the depth have been propose as stop - gap solution . Besides the logistical challenge of screen large surface area , there are many other problem including the cost of any shield tough enough to last .
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is promoting an option , a biodegradable layer 50,000 times thinner than a human hair that posture on the control surface of the ocean . Professor Greg Qiaoof the University of Melbourne told IFLScience any reflecting the level does is improbable to have a significant cool effect on the country beneath , but the brightness itself , particularly at the ultraviolet light end of the spectrum , harm the precious coral and works in compounding with the high temperatures to rush bleaching .
Using state of the graphics tanks at the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences facility , Qiao and colleagueshave announcedthis layer can stymie 30 per centum of the light that would otherwise reach the reef . In yet to be published work , precious coral protected in this way was show to survive bouts of hot weather , while control corals in tanks disclose to otherwise superposable conditions died .
Inevitably , in open water the bed will be diffuse by wind and waving . However , Qiao and the other inventors hope this will not matter as long as it stays in lieu through the heatwaves when most of the hurt is done . Since these are periods of calm , sunny term , where there are not enough waves to bring cooler water up from the astuteness , this see possible .
The shell is so thin , lilliputian amounts can pass over big areas . Moreover , it is ego - dispersing . The atoms it is made of “ care to spread themselves , ” Qiao tell IFLScience . “ To be side by side , one speck duncical . ”
The idea of shielding reefs evolved from a premature one Qiao was working on with famous inventorProfessor David Solomon , where similar message would be broadcast on reservoirs to prevent evaporation . In these cases , Qiao said , the material could be applied to one box of a urine - body 10 hectare ( 25 acres ) in size , and within an hour it would have spread across the total open .
In a dry continent like Australia desiccation prevention could essay exceptionally worthful . However , Qiao say the research has run into unexpected problems . Even on small bodies of water , waves occur , which drag the corpuscle of the layer down into the water . When the pee is clean , the subatomic particle resurface and resume doing their task , even if some vaporization has take place in the lag . However , muddy body of water prevents resurfacing , requiring frequent reapplication of the protective stratum .
The stratum ’s predominant component is calcium carbonate , the very substance from which corals are made , so there should be no environmental drawback when particle are removed from the Earth’s surface , and even the other constituent are fully biodegradable .
However , “ It ’s authoritative to note that this is not stand for to be a result that can be applied over the whole 348,000 square kilometer of Great Barrier Reef – that would never be practical , ” Anna Marsden of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation tell in astatement .
Rather they hope that , by applying a shield to themost valuablereefs – whether that value is measure out intourist dollarsor biodiversity – as heatwaves begin , a small phone number can be saved from the draw near nautical apocalypse . Then , if the world eventually gets its carbon emissions under control , these reefs could be used to reseed the shallow tropical waters where reefs so recently thrived .
