Photo taken on June 2, 2021 shows the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. [Hu Jingchen/Xinhua]

CANBERRA -- Australian scientists have designed a real-time artificial intelligence (AI) monitoring system to save the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) from the harm of global warming.

The global monitoring system is to hopefully stall the damage to the coral reefs from bleaching mainly caused by climate change, with the GBR, the world's largest coral reef system, having been decimated by severe bleaching events since 2016, exacerbated by ongoing crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and coastal development, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Electronics.

Coral reefs, the world's most fragile marine ecosystems, are dying at an alarming rate worldwide, with 75 percent of reefs experiencing bleaching-level heat stress in the past two years, said researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) in collaboration with the RMIT University and the Queensland University of Technology.

A single centralized model will integrate all factors affecting coral reefs and provide environmental scientists with real-time predictions, UniSA data analyst and lead researcher Abdullahi Chowdhury said.

Chowdhury added the project is integrating remote sensing technologies with machine learning, AI and Geographic Information Systems to enable earlier intervention, providing a roadmap for harnessing these technologies to ensure the survival of coral reefs for generations to come.

Currently, there are separate models that analyze substantial data on reef health, including bleaching levels, disease incidence, juvenile coral density and reef fish abundance, but these data sets are not integrated, said Chowdhury.

Coral reefs, the "rainforests of the sea," make up just 1 percent of the world's ocean area, but they host 25 percent of all marine life. The World Heritage-listed GBR, one of Australia's most significant ecological and tourism assets, is the jewel in the crown of coral reefs worldwide.