Water quality and river plume monitoring in the Great Barrier Reef: an overview of methods based on ocean colour satellite data

Devlin, Michelle J., Petus, Caroline, Da Silva, Eduardo, Tracey, Dieter, Wolff, Nicholas H., Waterhouse, Jane, and Brodie, Jon (2015) Water quality and river plume monitoring in the Great Barrier Reef: an overview of methods based on ocean colour satellite data. Remote Sensing, 7 (10). pp. 12909-12941.

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Abstract

A strong driver of water quality change in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the pulsed or intermittent nature of terrestrial inputs into the GBR lagoon, including delivery of increased loads of sediments, nutrients, and toxicants via flood river plumes (hereafter river plumes) during the wet season. Cumulative pressures from extreme weather with a high frequency of large scale flooding in recent years has been linked to the large scale reported decline in the health of inshore seagrass systems and coral reefs in the central areas of the GBR, with concerns for the recovery potential of these impacted ecosystems. Management authorities currently rely on remotely-sensed (RS) and in situ data for water quality monitoring to guide their assessment of water quality conditions in the GBR. The use of remotely-sensed satellite products provides a quantitative and accessible tool for scientists and managers. These products, coupled with in situ data, and more recently modelled data, are valuable for quantifying the influence of river plumes on seagrass and coral reef habitat in the GBR. This article reviews recent remote sensing techniques developed to monitor river plumes and water quality in the GBR. We also discuss emerging research that integrates hydrodynamic models with remote sensing and in situ data, enabling us to explore impacts of different catchment management strategies on GBR water quality.

Item ID: 40724
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2072-4292
Keywords: remote sensing; Great Barrier Reef; ocean colour; water quality; marine monitoring program
Additional Information:

© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Funders: Australian Government
Date Deposited: 07 Oct 2015 00:24
FoR Codes: 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050206 Environmental Monitoring @ 100%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960507 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments @ 100%
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