IT IS TIME TO CELEBRATE YET AGAIN!!
The raw coral cover number for the GBR, as a whole, dropped from its record high value of 2024. However, once the considerable uncertainty margin is taken into account, one can argue that the 2024 result is neither different from the record high, or the long term average. For all of the last five years the raw cover cover GBR has been higher than in any of the previous 35 year. The result is an aggregate of the 11 sectors of the reef (note AIMS no longer publishes an aggregate for the entire reef).
The file below is a more detailed provisional analysis of the 2024 data.
https://apps.aims.gov.au/reef-monitoring/reefs
In this file I explain why I think the coral cover data is useful for resolving large changes in coral cover. There is some controversy on this matter
A comment on the uncertainty of the coral cover statistics is found here.
The AIMS data can be found https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/monitoring-and-discovery/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/reef-reports-hub
Great Barrier Reef Science Commentary 