The Great Barrier Reef is under serious threat from bleaching. Protecting this great tourism icon has become a matter of grave concern amongst Australian authorities. Now, after pondering over various measures Queensland marine scientists are turning to garden sprinklers. As a matter of fact scientists and Quicksilver cruises are already examining the possibility of using sprinklers.
Coral reef bleaching is the whitening of different invertebrate taxa. Different anthropogenic and natural alterations in the environment of reef cause reef to bleach. The alterations may be the sea temperature, solar irradiance, sedimentation, xenobiotics, subaerial exposure, inorganic nutrients, freshwater dilution, and epizootics. Since last 20 years throughout the world, coral bleaching has increased in both frequency and extent. Global climate change is also playing a major role in the increase and could cause the destruction of major reef tracts and the extinction of many coral species.
Quicksilver spokesman Philip Laycock said,
The solar-powered sprinklers are less unsightly than shade cloth that has already been trialled and would be mounted onto floats above reefs to see if they can reduce light penetration. Once we get a bit of wave action on the surface we reflect a lot more sunshine, but a very calm ocean will let about 90 percent of sunshine through.
Similar experiments which were conducted earlier using sprinklers, in the Red Sea had shown positive results and had reduced light penetration by 40 percent.
Source: Yahoo