Description
The Great Barrier Reef extends 2,300 kilometres along the Queensland coast and contains over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands — the world’s largest coral reef system and one of the most biodiverse marine environments on Earth. This aerial photograph was made from a Cessna 172 at 500 metres altitude above a particularly healthy coral garden section near Lizard Island in Far North Queensland, in ideal sea conditions — flat calm water with zero cloud cover — that allowed maximum visibility through the water column. The coral bommies are visible as dark forms through 4–5 metres of crystal-clear tropical water, their surrounding sandy substrate appearing white, while the transition to deeper water beyond the reef edge produces the gradient from turquoise through aquamarine to deep cobalt blue. The image provides a perspective on reef scale and structure that is impossible to perceive from the water surface or underwater.
