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Giant Reef Taller than the Empire State Building Discovered by Scientists in Australia



The Schmidt Ocean Institute, on October 26, 2020, has announced that scientists has recently discovered a gigantic detached coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef. According to them, it is the first to be discovered in over one hundred and twenty (120) years.

The massive coral reef measures more than 500m high, even taller than the Empire State Building, the Sydney Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers, and its base is 1.5km-wide. The reef was discovered by Australian scientists aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel.

A team of scientists led by Dr. Robin Beaman from James Cook University was conducting underwater mapping of the northern Great Barrier Reef seafloor when they first found the reef on October 20, 2020.

Then, on October 25, 2020, the team conducted a dive via Schmidt Ocean Institute’s underwater robot to explore the said reef. And it was live-streamed, with the high-resolution footage.

“Today we are exploring this 500 m tall ‘detached’ reef, one of seven other detached reefs offshore of Cape York Peninsula, which lie upon a ~500 m deep ledge extending out from below the Great Barrier Reef shelf. The dive will cross the broader base, then climb the steep flanks of the reef to the summit at about 50 m depth – an underwater mountain climb to find out what is living on this newly discovered reef.”

– Schmidt Ocean YouTube Channel, October 25, 2020

The dive can be viewed on the website and YouTube channel of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, but for you to be able to view it right away, here’s the footage:

“This unexpected discovery affirms that we continue to find unknown structures and new species in our Ocean. The state of our knowledge about what’s in the Ocean has long been so limited. Thanks to new technologies that work as our eyes, ears and hands in the deep ocean, we have the capacity to explore like never before. “

– Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Ocean Institute

According to the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the newly discovered detached reef adds to the seven other tall detached reefs in the area, mapped since 1800s.

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Source: Schmidt Ocean Institute, Science Alert, Schmidt Ocean Institute YouTube Channel

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