Our coral reefs are feeling the heat – and new research from a team that includes Griffith University researchers has found that corals are making ‘cloud umbrellas’ to stay cool.
Associate Professor Albert Gabric, Dr Roger Cropp and Dr Dien van Tran from the Griffith School of Environment and Science were part of the team that included researchers from Southern Cross University and the University of Southern Queensland whose findings were published in the journal AMBIO.
The team’s analysis of a 15-year time series of satellite-derived data on atmospheric aerosols over the reef revealed that corals are seemingly protecting themselves from ‘stresses’ – such as high water temperatures and high irradiance and the bleaching events related to them – by producing and releasing aerosols into the atmosphere to create an ‘umbrella of cloud cover’ to help cool them down.
Associate Professor Gabric has worked in marine aerosols for 25 years and said while the
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