An environmental group is looking into a refreshing way to repair the Great Barrier Reef ( GBR ) in Australia – they want to use electrical energy to accelerate coral growth .
CalledReef Ecologic , the grouping is comport a tryout to see if the proficiency works , reportedNew Scientist . It imply using steel frames and passing electrical energy through them to excite maturation .
This idea has been around for quite a while , with project in the Caribbean , Indian Ocean , and South - East Asia using electric stimulation in this way . This a la mode cause will practice the same method acting in an endeavor to boost the health of the GBR .
“ A low-toned - voltage direct stream is run through the steel,”BBC Futureexplained back in 2015 . “ This electricity interacts with the minerals in the seawater and have solid limestone to mature on the complex body part . It draws on the principles of electrolysis , where the galvanic flow do a chemical chemical reaction to take place which would n’t have otherwise . ”
Reef Ecologic ’s test is now afoot at a plane section of the GBR 100 kilometers ( 60 Admiralty mile ) Frederick North of Cairns . This neighborhood was “ seriously strike by the 2016 and 2017 mass coral bleaching case , ” New Scientist noted . It would take a decennium for the red coral to grow back naturally , but these " biorocks " ( as they ’re called ) could speed up the mental process .
A study in 2016 found that93 percentof the Great Barrier Reef had been affected by decolourise as a issue of a mass coral bleaching event . Due to climate change , events like these could occur at least every five years .
Coral bleaching istypically causedby warm water temperatures and , as the name evoke , it turns the coral white as algae in their tissue are expelled . This does n’t toss off the coral , but it makes them much more vulnerable . The US miss half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in 2005 due to a big bleaching event .
The currents involve in biorock applied science arenot harmfulto humans or any marine organisms . But while the technique has been proven to be successful , running low - voltage cables from the shore to reefs is not always easy – although solar and tidal energy has made this more feasible .
However , there’slittle research availableon how effectual it is . preindication so far are supporting , though , and with climate change not going anywhere , there ’s surely no harm in trying various techniques for saving the environs .
( H / T : New Scientist )
