Sun shield

Protecting corals from sunlight with biodegradable surface films.

#The Project

This 'reef sun shield' represents an innovative solution to combat coral bleaching at a local scale.

What if there was a way to stop damaging levels of heat and light penetrating water and adversely affecting the Reef? Scientists are testing biodegradable surface films, just one molecule thick (that's 50,000 times thinner than one human hair), to do just this!

This technology involves applying a very thin, biodegradable film to the surface of a water body.

The project set out to investigate whether a novel technology being used to minimise evaporation in dams could be also used to protect coral reefs from bleaching.

30%

less light reaching the reef, reducing bleaching in most species

#Encouraging early test results

Scientists tested the impact of the surface film on different coral species at the Australian Institute of Marine Science's National Sea Simulator (SeaSim).