The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia, as seen from orbit.
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EARTH FROM SPACE: The Great Barrier Reef, Australia
3 Jul 2009
This Envisat satellite image features one of the natural wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea off the east coast of Queensland, Australia.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 3,000 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres.
The Reef is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. The Great Barrier Reef supports a wide diversity of life, and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN has labelled it one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The Queensland National Trust has named it a state icon of Queensland.
A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as overfishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures to the reef and its ecosystem include water quality from runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish.
Australian researchers have discovered that Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) sensor can detect coral bleaching down to 10 metres depth. This means Envisat could potentially map coral bleaching on a global scale.
MERIS acquired this image on 18 May 18, 2008, working in full resolution mode to show detail down to 300 metres.
Adapted from information issued by ESA / Wikipedia.
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