POULSBO — By the end of this century, scientists speculate that global warming will begin to devastate coral reefs around the world, which rely on precise, present-day temperatures to live. The phenomenon will likely lead to the extinction of some of the Earth’s most wondrous undersea organisms.

But one of North Kitsap’s native sons is working to ensure coral reefs are around long after the 21st century draws to a close, thanks to a new discovery.

Dr. Peter Harris, who grew up in Lemolo, has worked and lived in Australia for the past 20 years, devoting his life to a variety of projects studying sea floor geology, on the forefront of the field.

In the past year, Harris and his colleagues made an astonishing find, one that will rewrite science textbooks for years to come — the discovery of the deepest coral reefs known in existence.

“It’s an exciting new era in marine science,” Harris said.

When more shallow reefs at depths near the surface begin to succumb to rising temperatures caused by global warming, deep reefs, down around 30 meters (99 feet) can be saved due to the time it takes to heat the water further down from the sun’s rays.

“Submerged reefs have an advantage over their more shallow counterparts due to thicker water depths,” Harris said. “The submerged reefs could be little life boats and if they are, we have to protect them.”

Harris is the group leader for the marine and coastal environment portion of the Aussie’s governmental agency Geoscience Australia. He and his team of scientists have utilized new sonar technology which can map the ocean floor much more effectively.

The days of mapping one spot on the seabed for approximately every one mile covered are over, thanks to multi-beam sonar technology. Using the new resource, Harris and his team are able to map the sea floor in not one spot but typically 100 spots, simultaneously.

“It was impossible for accurate maps to be produced until the invention of this device,” Harris said.

Harris’ team was mapping the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the northern shore of the Australian continent around the bend westward from the world’s largest coral collection, the Great Barrier Reef. Sitting atop what the group believed to be a large, lifeless reef, the sonar device began to map a large formation — one about the size of Bainbridge Island. Curious, the scientists sent a camera down and, at about 30 meters, the murky water gave way to a metropolis of sea life — corals, shells and multitudes of sea creatures.

“(The formation) was missed by the fact it’s not near the sea surface,” Harris said, noting the reef could not even be seen by satellites from space.

With the discovery, there is much work to be done to explain the phenomenon of how a reef formed at such a depth.

The first theories of its development are that during the last ice age, around 20,000 years ago, the reef formed when it was much closer to the surface — perhaps even above sea level.

The reef has also presented another unique characteristic — corals that do not grow toward the surface, nearer to their collective giver of life, the sun. Ultimately, the team’s discovery is somewhat overwhelming to the science community.

“What we’re finding is that we don’t know much about the sea floor,” Harris said.

The task now, he added, is to preserve the deep reefs from commercial activity and continue to study the many anomalies of the newly-discovered corals.

ROOTS OF A DREAM

Harris’ journey to the unique deep reef discovery is one of hard work and a love for the sea. Growing up on Liberty Bay spawned an affinity for the water, one that he said has never faltered.

“I’ve always lived on the sea,” he said. “It inspired me to study the sea because I grew up with it.”

His passion began in the sixth grade, when Poulsbo’s Marine Science Center was established. Graduating from North Kitsap High School in 1976, Harris went across the Sound to the University of Washington, where he studied geological oceanography.

Harris went overseas to gain his PhD at the University of Wales at the Swansea campus. There he studied sedimentation of a large tide estuary on England’s Bristol Channel.

His move to Australia, however, was done by luck of the draw between he and his wife, whom he met at the university.

“We tossed a coin to see which country we’d live in,” Harris said. “I thought I’d be there for three years but it has now been almost 20.”

For his first eight years down under, Harris studied the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest living organism. Working for the government, he also explored Antarctica, working off of Tasmania and exploring sedimentation of the continental shelf to gain insight into the history and development of the Antarctic region.

For the past four years, his research has focused back on Australia’s mainland, until the recent discovery of deep reefs. Harris said he hopes to continue using the multi-beam sonar to seek new finds under the water’s surface.

With near-surface reefs fighting an almost impossible long-term battle against global warming, Harris could not stress the importance of preservation of the deep reefs enough.

“We’re going to raise the temperature one to two degrees by the end of this century — corals die within the couple of degree changes, he said. “(Near-surface coral reefs) are pretty well doomed.”

Even if the world’s governments hit the targets of the multinational Kyoto Agreement to help halt global warming — standards the Bush Administration pulled the United States out of in 2001 — Harris said he believes that deep reefs will be the only corals left in a few hundred years, acting as lifeboats. Preservation could not be a higher priority, he said.

“You don’t want to start hitting your life boats with fishing tackle,” he commented.