Great Barrier Reef
About Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 mi2). The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, separated from the coast by a channel 160 kilometres (100 mi) wide in places and over 61 metres (200 ft) deep. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN labelled it one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World in 1997. Australian World Heritage places included it in its list in 2007. The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland in 2006.
On the show — 10 mentions total
When he was 89, he broke the record for the deepest anyone's dived on the Great Barrier Reef. He went down a thousand feet on the Great Barrier Reef in a submersible with a person who knew how to drive a submersible.
from 114: No Such Thing As A Tantrump, 2016-05-19 at 00:15:20 · read transcript
Other times Great Barrier Reef came up
He's a marine biologist and he's been nicknamed the godfather of coral. He's 71 years old now, but he has done so much in the world of looking at coral, exploring it, studying it, categorising it. In 1972, he was made the first full-time researcher on the Great Barrier Reef and he's spent more hours diving down there than anybody else in the world. Study more of it than any other human alive.
No Such Thing As A Queen Orca, 2017-01-06 · listen
That's how we know. Sorry, I didn't mean that about who cares it's coral. I care a lot about the Great Barrier Reef, sorry, I get it. Scientists spent 200 years trying to find the cannon that he ditched overboard and they knew that he'd been around there because they left charts and maps saying where they'd been. No one could actually find the exact canon until 1969 when they went there with a magnetometer looking for the iron of the cannons.
No Such Thing As Footprints On The Sea, 2018-12-14 · listen
Nonetheless, it was incredibly hardy because it was designed to carry coal around and it was built to last. It did all these voyages. It hit the Great Barrier Reef once. He just bumped into the Great Barrier Reef and it tore a hole in the side of the ship and they had to dump six cannon overboard immediately. It wouldn't sink. Probably damaged the coral as well.
247: No Such Thing As Footprints On The Sea, 2018-12-14 · listen
He's 71 years old now, but he has done so much in the world of looking at coral, exploring it, studying it, categorizing it. In 1972, he was made the first full time researcher on the Great Barrier Reef, and he spent more hours diving down there than anybody else in the world, studied more of it than any other human alive. He's just, he was interviewed in the FT last weekend and he's an extraordinary guy.
146: No Such Thing As A Queen Orca, 2017-01-07 · listen
More places from this episode
114: No Such Thing As A Tantrump put 2 places on the map.
- Science Museum of London · United Kingdom
Coordinates: -18.2871, 147.6992