Scott and Seringapatam Reefs is a group of

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gro ...

-like reefs in the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea ( id, Laut Timor, pt, Mar de Timor, tet, Tasi Mane or ) is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, and to the south by Australia. The sea contains a number of reefs ...

more than northwest of

Cape Leveque Cape Leveque is at the northernmost tip of the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Cape Leveque is (via the Cape Leveque Road) north of Broome, and is remote with few facilities. Nevertheless, the Cape's sandy beach ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

, on the edge of the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

. There are three or four separate reef structures, depending on whether Scott Reef Central is counted separately. The group is just one of a number of reef formations off the northwest coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and belongs to

. Further to the northeast are Ashmore and Cartier Islands, and to the southwest are the Rowley Shoals.

Location and Description

Each of the reefs rises steeply from the

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most o ...

below. Much of the reef area dries at low tide, but besides Sandy Islet of Scott Reef South, there are only a few rocks and sandbanks above the high water mark. *Scott Reef South (also Horseshoe Reef or South Reef) is a large crescent-shaped formation that has a rare and unusual double reef crest. Its lagoon, has depths of over throughout the greater portion. The reef with its lagoon covers an area of . *Scott Reef Central, because of its proximity occasionally subsumed within Scott Reef South, lies off West Hook (the western extremity of the crescent of Scott Reef South), with Sandy Islet at ( north-south, up to wide, with an area of ). This reef falls dry to the extent of from the islet. There is a conspicuous tower on the islet and also a boulder with a height 2.4 m near its northern end. A detached reef, which dries , lies northeast of Sandy Islet. The passage between Scott Reef South and Scott Reef Central is only deep, much less than the passages between the other reefs ( between Scott Reef South and Scott Reef North). *Scott Reef North consists of a large, approximately circular-shaped, reef lying southwest of Seringapatam Reef. The reef is composed of a narrow reef-crest that is backed by broad reef flats – much of which becomes exposed at low tide – and a deep central lagoon that is connected to the open sea by two delta-like channels. The reef with its lagoon covers an area of . *Seringapatam Reef is located at , north of Scott Reef North. It is an egg-shaped reef, with a total area of approximately , which is about evenly divided between lagoon and reef flat. Its narrow reef rim encloses a relatively deep lagoon. Much of the reef becomes exposed at low tide. There are large boulders around its edges, with a few sandbanks, which rise about above the water, on the west side. Seringapatam Reef covers an area of (including the central lagoon). Captain Edwin Courtenay of was on a whaling voyage when he discovered the reef on 23 August 1839. He named the reef for his ship.

Browse Basin Liquefied Natural Gas Development

Browse LNG The Browse LNG was a liquefied natural gas plant project proposed for construction at James Price Point, north of Broome on the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia. It was considered by a joint venture including Woodside Petroleum, Shell, BP ...

was a majorBrowse LNG Development Fact Sheet
liquefied natural gas (LNG) project being developed by Woodside Petroleum, and included the Torosa gas field which lies underneath Scott Reef South and Scott Reef North.

Coral Bleaching

Scott Reef was extensively affected by

coral bleaching Coral bleaching is the process when corals become white due to various stressors, such as changes in temperature, light, or nutrients. Bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel the zooxanthellae ( dinoflagellates that are commonly referred to as ...

in 2016 (during a global coral bleaching event), which killed approximately 80% of corals. This followed a previous extensive coral bleaching in 1998 during which "up to 80 per cent of Scott Reef corals died" but from which the reef did recover in the subsequent 10–15 years. Heat stress (indicated by NOAA Coral Reef Watch's Degree Heating Weeks metric) was the highest ever recorded in 2016. Nevertheless, given continuing and measurable climate change and the "direct correlation between increased temperatures and coral bleaching", the consequent increasing frequency of coral bleaching warrants concern that Scott Reef may not recover and survive from the 2016 bleaching event.

References

External links

*
Sailing Directions, Vol. 175

Arrecifes e islas australianas en el Mar de Timor
(Spanish)

Location and Description

Browse Basin Liquefied Natural Gas Development

Coral Bleaching

References

External links

Further reading