El Nino

[Chapin]

:doctor:
Anyone know if El Nino affects conditions on the Great Barrier Reef or the Coral Sea? Any news about the current trend? Thoughts on what may happen between now and July?

 

[Rick Murchison]

The short answer is "yes."
El Niño affects weather globally. As for specific effects, they are highly variable and difficult to pin down. The only really safe thing to say is that the weather in an El Niño year will be "different."
Rick

 

[Chapin]

Thoughts about where I might be able to obtain an objective assessment of current conditions or expectations for that particular part of the world?

 

[wschul]

Hi,

One of the 'El Nino effects' has been coral bleaching. You can find current and archive information on bleaching at the GBR on the site of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS):
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/search/search-coral-bleaching.html
A quite depressing read really ;-0

Wouter