Wind patterns key cause of bleaching on Australia's Great Barrier Reef: study

 Australian researchers have identified wind patterns as a key cause of devastating coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.

In a new study, researchers from Monash University in Melbourne found that wind patterns are a key cause of the spike in ocean temperatures resulting in recent mass bleaching on the reef, the university said in a media release on Monday.

Coral bleaching occurs when sea temperatures rise too high and coral under heat stress expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissue, turning the coral completely white. 

Corals that have been bleached are not always dead but are more likely to starve and can take up to 10 years to recover.