A giant pumice stone floating in the Pacific could help heal Australia's Great Barrier Reef

[Remarkableriots]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-giant-pumice-stone-floating-in-the-pacific-could-help-heal-australias-great-barrier-reef/ar-AAGj2cb

Quote

A pumice "raft" the size of Manhattan is drifting towards Australia, bringing along with it new marine life that could help with the recovery of the Great Barrier Reef's corals, half of which have been killed in recent years as a result of climate change.

 

That pumice is expected to drift with the current down to the Australian coast over the next 7-10 months, they said, where scientist believe could have a positive affect on the microorganisms there.

That's because the floating stones can act as a home for marine organisms to nest.

When the pumice makes its way to the Great Barrier Reef, the sea life attached will travel too, potentially bringing diverse new colonies of barnacles, corals and more.

In 2012, research by Queensland University of Technology Associate Professor Scott Bryan and others following a similar underwater volcanic event found that pumice rafts are one way that the ocean can redistribute diverse sea life.

This month's eruption could have similar positive effects, Bryan said.

Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday, Bryan said, "[The raft] is a natural mechanism for species to colonize, restock and grow in a new environment," adding that it's just "one way that nature can help promote regeneration." Bryan also said the natural phenomenon is occurring every five years.

He told ABC that when the pumice raft arrives to the Australian coastline over the next seven to 12 months, it will be "covered in a whole range of organisms of algae and barnacles and corals and crabs and snails and worms."

"This is a way for healthy, young corals to be rapidly introduced to the Great Barrier Reef," he said.

In 2016 and 2017, marine heat waves caused by climate change resulted in mass bleaching, which killed about half of the corals on the Great Barrier Reef, along with many others around the world.

 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

Temporary reprieve

[SuperSpreader]

Counter point: it won't

[Anathema-]

Sounds like a DreamWorks movie.

[DarkStar189]

Can i climb on to the pumice and pretend I'm surfing? Asking for a friend... 

[PaladinSolo]

I mean this is cool and all but climate change is just going to destroy all of it again.

[TheGreatGamble]

I wonder if Trump will try to nuke this too