~ 10 Mind Blowing Facts About the Great Barrier Reef ~
Clown Fish
Since I was planning a trip to Far North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, I decided to do some research and here’s some amazing Great Barrier Reef facts that I discovered.
The Great Barrier Reef is something that more people have seen on TV than up close and personal, which is why the dive experience on the reef is so exceptional. While millions of people may have a good idea of how it looks, they will never experience the wonders and sheer immensity of it for themselves.
Diving on the reef is more than pleasurable it is a joy, the diversity of the [marine life] is truly incredible and the corals and sponges are simply stunning. Perhaps it is just as well it’s not available to everyone as if it was its beauty may not be as appreciated or as long lasting.
- The Reef is actually a vast composite reef which is made up of around 2,900 individual, unique reef formations. These separate reefs can range in size from anywhere between an impressive 1 hectare to a staggering 100,000 hectares in size.
- The entire Great Barrier Reef covers an area of over 34,000,000 hectares (344,044 square Km), which is more total land area than the entire country of Italy. It edges around a massive 2,300 km of stunning Gold Coast coastline from Southern Queensland up to the Torres Strait.
Learn more at: www.bookyourdive.com
Great Barrier Reef Goes Online With Google Help
Soon armchair travelers will be able to “scuba dive” the Great Barrier Reef from the comfort of a home computer thanks to a pioneering research survey that will map out the world’s largest coral reef system for an online audience.
By photographing and mapping out the landscape with a pair of unmanned submarine cameras, the project will allow “virtual divers” to experience rarely seen coral reefs, underwater grasslands, and craggy drop-offs teeming with marine life.
The survey will use the high-tech underwater cameras up to a depth of 100 meters, or about 328 feet, to carry out the most comprehensive study of the reef to date – and the public is encouraged to follow each step of the process on Google sites.
Chief scientist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland will head the Catlin Seaview Survey, which starts in September.
During the launch of the survey at the World Ocean Summit in Singapore Thursday, Hoegh-Guldberg stressed that the visual nature of the project would also help bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and public awareness.
Here’s a sneak preview of what you can expect from Catlin Seaview Survey
There are some images available online from a six-day pilot mission where scientists said they found a new species of pygmy seahorse and four types of coral that had never been seen in the region.
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