Great Barrier Reef: cooler weather reduces threat of mass bleaching outbreak this summer

Aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef near the Whitsunday Islands. There is cautious optimism the reef could escape bleaching this summer. Photograph: Jumbo Aerial Photography/AP

The risk of widespread coral bleaching across the Great Barrier Reef has subsided after cloud and rain over the past 10 days caused “substantial cooling” of heat-stressed corals, according to the government’s reef management authority.

Scientists and conservationists have feared it could suffer its sixth major mass bleaching outbreak this summer with record high temperatures over the reef in December.