"Sulphur pollution can cause respiratory problems for humans and cause acid rain, but it also has a shading effect and can make clouds brighter, providing more shade to areas underneath. Dr Robert Ryan, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Melbourne who led the research, said the removal of sulphur from the fuels which he believes is necessary had paradoxically caused a lot of extra sunlight getting on to the reef."
"Two years earlier, the UN's International Maritime Organization introduced regulations to cut the amount of sulphur allowed in fuels from 3.5% to 0.5% In the early months of 2022, the Great Barrier Reef suffered it's sixth mass bleaching event and the first to occur in a usually cooler La Nina year. Ryan and colleagues analysed actual ship data from the region between 18 and 28 February 2022, when heat was building up on the reef. About 5,000 ships were in the area."
"They then looked at the weather conditions to see how the sulphur in the air would have moved. Because the prevailing winds in the region would have blown the sulphur over the reef, Ryan said the study found between 5% and 10% more of the sun's energy was hitting the reef's waters, compared with what would have happened without the new regulations."
Removal of sulphur from ship fuels reduced atmospheric aerosol shading and cloud brightening, allowing more solar radiation to reach the Great Barrier Reef. Reduced sulphur emissions from thousands of ships in the region during February 2022 increased sunlight and heat input to reef waters, contributing to mass coral bleaching. Shipping fuel rules lowered allowable sulphur from 3.5% to 0.5%, and about 5,000 ships were active near the reef when heat built up. Prevailing winds carried remaining sulphur over the reef; modeled scenarios indicate between 5% and 10% more solar energy reached reef waters, producing up to 10% greater heat stress on corals during the 2022 bleaching.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]