The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s most amazing marine wonders, and scientists have made an astonishing discovery — a 1,600-foot coral reef with a 1-mile wide base.
Yes, that’s taller than the Empire State building.
An NBC News report had these details to share about this discovery.
“The massive underwater structure — the first newfound reef in 120 years — dwarfs iconic skyscrapers such as New York City’s Empire State Building and the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The detached reef was first observed Oct. 20 by a team of Australian scientists aboard a research vessel from the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a nonprofit foundation that supports marine research. The 12-month expedition is designed to explore the oceans surrounding Australia and map the seafloor around the northern Great Barrier Reef.”
Exploration around the reef is important to help scientists determine the amount of damage to these fragile ecosystems.
What this new discovery shows us is how unexplored the oceans of this world really are. If a coral reef of that size can hide in almost plain sight, what other biodiversity have we not discovered yet?
It was all made possible through powerful new mapping equipment and data analysis, and all the data will be open to the public.
The next stage will be exploring the reef with robotic cameras to see what other hidden secrets it might reveal.
