Water quality monitoring: a combined approach to investigate gradients of change in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Udy J, Gall M, Longstaff B, Moore K, Roelfsema C, Spooner DR, Albert S. 2005. Water quality monitoring: a combined approach to investigate gradients of change in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 51:224-238
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 deg South. 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 sampling and fixed stations will deliver the best spatial and temporal monit
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Udy, J.; Gall, M.; Longstaff, Ben; Moore, Kate; Roelfsema, Chris; Spooner, D.; Albert, Simon
- Units
- KAHO
- Keywords
- Chlorophyll, light attenuation, Remote Sensing, Turbidity, underway sampling, Water Clarity