reef

Satellite images show that Vietnam has created new land on all 21 rocks and so-called low-tide elevations—reefs that were previously submerged at high tide—that it occupies in the Spratlys.

The carbon and calcium released eventually flow into the oceans, where they form the raw materials for shells and limestone reefs.

However, scattered throughout the dark depths were shallow areas: sandbars, reefs, islands just under the waves.

QUT researchers have revealed key biological processes that enable corals to attach to reef surfaces, a discovery with strong potential to improve coral restoration worldwide.

In a recently released report, a team of international climate scientists warns that saving many tropical coral reefs from destruction caused by rising ocean temperatures will now require extraordinary effort.