{"id":867264,"date":"2026-08-25T00:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T00:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867264\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T00:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T00:22:17","slug":"groote-eylandt-rangers-drive-reef-mapping-research-after-technology-failed-to-predict-coral-bleaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867264\/","title":{"rendered":"Groote Eylandt rangers drive reef mapping research after technology failed to predict coral bleaching"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reef research off the coast of the Northern Territory’s Groote Eylandt has revealed the latest technology may not always be able to accurately predict coral bleaching events.<\/p>\n

Anindilyakwa Land and Sea Rangers first noticed coral losing its colour in 2024 and voiced their concerns to researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).<\/p>\n

The underwater system was then mapped for the first time in history, creating a baseline for ongoing monitoring of the reef’s health, and the collaboration ultimately confirmed the Indigenous rangers’ suspicions of coral bleaching.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The project was driven by local Indigenous rangers, who worked with UTS researchers to document the reefs. (Supplied: Hadley England)<\/p>\n

UTS researcher Emma Camp said the 2024 instance was the result of high-temperature waters but, unlike other bleaching events, predictive technologies failed to pick it up.<\/p>\n

“We have global models that help us predict when reefs are going to bleach, but those models didn’t predict we would have had bleaching in Groote Eylandt at that time,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Only by having connections on the ground were we able to see why that was happening.”<\/p>\n

Dr Camp said the project revealed a need for ongoing reef mapping, as well as further research into the current technology to uncover why this event was not predicted.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Emma Camp says connections on the ground helped when the modelling failed to predict the 2024 coral bleaching event. (Supplied: Hadley England)<\/p>\n

Crocs, stingers and cyclones<\/p>\n

The project was conducted with the Anindilyakwa rangers, making it the first in-depth recording of Groote Eylandt’s coastal reef system.<\/p>\n

Anindilyakwa Land Council’s Kirsten Eden said unique challenges navigating NT waters were part of the reason such research had not been done before.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rangers and researches had to stay sharp as they navigated crocodile-inhabited waters. (Supplied: Hadley England)<\/p>\n

“The Northern Territory is filled with crocodiles, stingers [and] the weather can become quite unfavourable at times,” she said.<\/p>\n

“You’ve really got to have your wits about you.<\/p>\n

“It becomes quite an in-depth operation with drones in the air, spotters standing up on the roof of the boats and making sure we can get as close to those reefs as possible.”<\/p>\n

Dr Camp echoed her sentiment on severe weather, explaining the reef had also suffered cyclone damage in addition to the bleaching.<\/p>\n

Tropical Cyclone Megan reached category three intensity off the coast of Groote Eylandt<\/a> in 2024, with strong winds causing significant damage to local vegetation and the wharf.<\/p>\n

Dr Camp said cyclones often moved across the ocean with such force they could break up a reef’s architecture.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Research teams had to keep their wits about them in order to safely survey the reefs. (Supplied: Hadley England)<\/p>\n

“That’s actually part of the job of the reef, the reef stops those big waves from crashing into shore and causing coastal erosion,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But there’s a cost and consequence to that \u2026 cyclones can have significant impacts on reefs, and you can see the impact quite immediately.”Researching coral species\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the project, a variety of unrecognised coral species were catalogued \u2014 research is now underway, with the aim of either identifying the samples or having them acknowledged as new discoveries.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

In mapped Groote Eylandt’s reef system, researchers discovered uncategorised coral species. (Supplied: Hadley England)<\/p>\n

“I’m almost certain there’s a few that haven’t been found before,” Ms Eden said.<\/p>\n

“It just opens up this whole other realm of knowledge, not just for us but for other ranger groups who are in the same boat as us, without that knowledge of what’s actually in our sea country.<\/p>\n

“It also offers great opportunity for traditional owners to name these species of corals and have their traditional language as part of these corals forever.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reef research off the coast of the Northern Territory’s Groote Eylandt has revealed the latest technology may not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,401547,176568,436292,436294,75,1044,270918,94494,436295,436293,128],"class_list":["post-867264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bleached-coral","tag-bleaching","tag-coral-groote-eylandt","tag-coral-research","tag-environment","tag-great-barrier-reef","tag-groote-eylandt","tag-gulf-of-carpentaria","tag-indigenous-ranger","tag-new-coral-species","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}