Water Quality, River Discharge and Remote Sensing Data Base (RRMMP, JCU)

The exposure of Great Barrier Reef coral reef and seagrass ecosystems to contaminants is estimated from the synthesis of: river discharge, water quality data sampled in inshore sites during flood conditions and the use of remote sensing technology to estimate flood plume extents and duration. 

River discharge: 
Daily mean, maximum and minimum river discharge (Megaliters/day) from 36 rivers, plus their quality control code (as in the DERM web page ¿Department of the Environment and Resource Management, Qld Government, http://watermonitoring.derm.qld.gov.au/host.htm) dated from 1915 (Barron River at Kuranda) up to current date. Rivers current in the data base are: Barron River at Kuranda, Calliope River at Castlehope, Mossman River at Mossman, Waterpark Creek at Byfield, Fitzroy River at The Gap, Kolan River at Springfield, Sandy Creek at Homebush, North Johnstone River at Tung Oil, Endeavour River at Flaggy, Daintree River at Bairds, O'Connell River at Caping Siding, Haughton River at Powerline, Murray River at Upper Murray, Mulgrave River at Peets Bridge, Tully River at Euramo, Baffle Creek at Mimdale, Black River at Bruce Highway, Carmila Creek At Carmila, Ross River at Ross River Dam Headwater, South Johnstone River at Upstream Central Mill, Burdekin River at Clare, Pioneer River at Mirani Weir Tailwater, Russell River at Bucklands, Mary River at Home Park, Barron River at Myola, Herbert River at Ingham, Don River at Reeves, Burrum River at Lenthalls Dam Release, Annan River at Beesbike, Proserpine River at Proserpine, Boyne River at Milton, Burnett River at Figtree Creek, Rocky Dam Ck, O'Connell River at Stafford's Crossing, Normanby River at Kalpower Crossing, and Pioneer River at Dumbleton Weir T/W.

Water Quality: 
Near-shore water quality data has been measured from direct water mainly sampled at the surface, since 1991 as part of the Water Quality Monitoring Plan for the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Sometimes stratified samples using Niskin bottle has been also carried out.  Water samples are analyzed for: TSS (mg/l), chl-a (µg/l), phaeo-a (µg/l), cdom (440), Si (µM), DIP (µM), DOP (µM), TDP (µM), PP (µM), TP (µM), NO2 (µM), NO3 (µM), NOX (µM), NH4 (µM), DIN (µM), DON (µM), TDN (µM), PN (µM), TN (µM), POC (µM), DOC (µM), and the pesticides Ametryn, Atrazine, Bromacil, Desethyl-A, Desisoprop, Diuron, Fluometuro, Hexazinone, Imidaclopr, Metolachlo, Prometryn, Simazine, Tebuthiuro, and Terbutryn. Water temperature, salinity, light and dissolved oxygen are also determined using a Sea-Bird profiler. Each sample is identified in the water quality table by its name, latitude, longitude, sampling time and date. All sample analyses are carried out by the ACTFR laboratory, except for pesticides, which are processed at University of Queensland. The Sea-Bird profiles are treated before inclusion into the data base, and outliers are masked.
Remote sensing: 
The data base has an inventory of ~3000 MODIS imagery, including Aqua and Terra sensors. Because the main focus of our team research is to understand the influence of river plumes on the Great Barrier Reef, a more comprehensive temporal coverage covers the period form January to April from 2003 to 2011 (mainly MODIS Aqua imagery). The processed images were done up to level-2 and the main products extracted are CDOM as adg_443, nLw_667, bbq_555_qaa (both used as a proxy for turbidity) and chlorophyll as chl_gsm. True color images are also available for most of the images that have been processed.

Tags: Coastal Processes, Coral Reefs, Hydrosphere, Nutrients, Oceans, Runoff, Surface Water, Water Quality, marine
Organization: James Cook University (JCU)