As the lead managers of the Great Barrier Reef, the Reef Authority keeps an eye on the Reef year-round — with efforts stepped up over summer, a typically high-risk period from extreme weather.
Over summer the Reef Authority releases weekly updates on how the Reef is faring with a focus on sea surface temperatures, rainfall and floods, cyclones, crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, and coral disease.
These updates are based on forecasts, water temperature heat mapping, in-water surveys, citizen science and aerial surveys.