The Great Barrier Reef's bleaching crisis

THE colours of Australia's Great Barrier Reef have started fading again.

- SUZAAN HALL

This process is called bleaching and it happens when climate change causes water temperatures to be much higher than normal.

The coral gets its bright colours and oxygen from algae and when the water is too warm, the coral starts rejecting the algae living on it. This is when coral bleaching occurs, turning the coral white, and it eventually dies.

If the bleaching happens over a large area, it's called mass bleaching - and scientists say the latest occurrence is definitely a case of mass bleaching.