Over the past week, sea surface temperatures across the Marine Park have remained relatively stable.

However now that we are well into summer, there is heat build-up in the system, particularly in the Far Northern and Northern regions of the Marine Park.

The USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which monitors ocean temperatures globally, has updated the coral bleaching alert levels across parts of the Marine Park, meaning the risk of coral bleaching has increased with the Far Northern region at alert level 2 and the Northern region at alert level 1. The Central region remains at warning status and Reef health monitoring is ongoing across all regions.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts scattered rainfall across Marine Park catchments over the coming week, with temperatures expected to remain close to mon ...