Oz Scientists Unearth Warming Evidence In Timor Sea's Tropical Corals

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"Scientists aboard Australia's national research vessel say corals found about 600 kilometres north of Darwin could already be showing signs of global warming. The Southern Surveyor has returned to Darwin after a voyage to the Timor Sea.

Australian National University scientist Bradley Updyke says if coral is drilled and examined at the core, water temperature could be tracked over long periods of time. "We've already analysed one of the cores from up there and we're already seeing a warming, just over the past 20 years," he said. "So we may be actually recovering evidence of global warming even in this warm tropical region."

The vessel's chief scientist Greg Brunskill says the ocean could be a source and a receiver of much of the world's greenhouse gasses. He says half of the greenhouse emissions produced by humans can be found in the atmosphere, while the other half may be found in the sea.

He says researchers on the voyage found several sites where methane is seeping out of the ocean floor, including an area that had up to a tonne of the gas bubbling through each day. "What we have to do is fit this in a larger scheme of things and determine how important, how big these areas of methane flux from the sea floor are," he said."

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1399604.htm