Water quality monitoring: a combined approach to investigate gradients of change in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

For the managers of a region as large as the Great Barrier Reef, it is a challenge to develop a cost effective monitoring program, with appropriate temporal and spatial resolution to detect changes in water quality. The current study compares water quality data (phytoplankton abundance and water cla...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2005-01, Vol.51 (1), p.224-238
Main Authors: Udy, J., Gall, M., Longstaff, Ben, Moore, Kate, Roelfsema, Chris, Spooner, D.R., Albert, Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Animals
Anthozoa
Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll - analysis
Conservation of Natural Resources
Data Collection
Ecosystem
Environmental Monitoring - economics
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Light
Light attenuation
Marine
Queensland
Remote sensing
Seawater - chemistry
Turbidity
Underway sampling
Water clarity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:For the managers of a region as large as the Great Barrier Reef, it is a challenge to develop a cost effective monitoring program, with appropriate temporal and spatial resolution to detect changes in water quality. The current study compares water quality data (phytoplankton abundance and water clarity) from remote sensing with field sampling (continuous underway profiles of water quality and fixed site sampling) at different spatial scales in the Great Barrier Reef north of Mackay (20° S). Five transects (20–30 km long) were conducted from clean oceanic water to the turbid waters adjacent to the mainland. The different data sources demonstrated high correlations when compared on a similar spatial scale (18 fixed sites). However, each data source also contributed unique information that could not be obtained by the other techniques. A combination of remote sensing, underway sampling and fixed stations will deliver the best spatial and temporal monitoring of water quality in the Great Barrier Reef.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2004.10.048