Source: Mehr News Agency, Tehran

An Environmental Protection Organization official has said that the sea water in the Persian Gulf has increased by 2 degrees from 2003 to 2010. The measurements are based on satellite readings taken over the period.

View of Persian Gulf from space in 2007 (Source: NASA)

In an interview with the Mehr News Agency, Davoud Mirshekari said that climate is a global challenge and does not only affect Iran.

Mirshekari, the deputy chairman of Environmental Protection Organization department for marine life, said that coral reefs are extremely sensitive to rises in seawater temperature.

All aquatic organisms have certain temperature ranges for living, but corals are particularly sensitive, said Mirshekari.

However, he said studies have begun to revive the corals in the islands of Kharq, Kharkou, Farou, Banifarou.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations body, has warned that rising sea temperatures and rising acidity from the dissolution of carbon dioxide into the oceans could make coral reefs extinct by as soon as 2050.

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