Coral Bleaching Visualizations: Australia

For my winter quarter research topic I chose to study the effects of ocean acidification on coral bleaching off the coast of Australia near the Great Barrier Reef and how the effects changed the Australian biodiversity and tourism industry. Princess Charlotte Bay is off of Queensland, Australia, which is in the northeast part of the country. The Bay is near the Great Barrier Reef and the area experiences many of the problems that arise from climate change. Rising carbon emissions and temperatures lead to ocean acidification which leads to coral bleaching in the Princess Charlotte Bay. Coral bleaching and the effects of anthropogenic causes of climate change just keep getting worse over time. The second graph below shows the difference between coral bleaching in 1998 and 2002, and it is evident that just four years makes a difference. I like this visualization because it shows side by side the comparisons of the two years and it is easy to read how much coral is bleached and in what area. Overall, the colors are easy to identify and the images are visually pleasing. In the first visualization, there are two side-by-side pie charts. In Australia, there were two major coral bleaching events due to extreme temperatures in 1998 and 2002. Although this graph is simple to read, it is unclear whether the 60% of bleached coral in 2002 is 60% of the coral that was unbleached in 1998 or if the total amount of bleached coral off the coast of Australia just increased by 10% from 1998 to 2002. I personally like the graph by the peer-reviewed journal more because it displays more information and it gives more specifics about the region that is being referred to by the visualization.

Major coral bleaching events

Princess Charlotte Bay: Coral Bleaching (page 77 of the article)