The scary thing is that even in the Great Barrier Reef, one of the most protected reefs in the world, researchers are seeing more diseases every time they look.

The Great Barrier Reef is an icon, and we want to know what we can do to save it. We would not be able to do this kind of broad-reaching work without NASA. With this satellite data delivery service we're able observe and understand what's happening in the ocean in ways we've never been able to before.

This first one is a turtle. He is 6 years old. He thinks you are scary. ... So we have to make sure we don't scare him.

Captain James Cook's ship, The Endeavour, hit a coral outcrop in the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. Cook and his crew camped in what is now called Cooktown for nearly two months while making repairs. Then they sailed south, where Cook claimed the east coast of Australia as British territory.

We don't know the rates of (reef) growth.

But not one that's scary.