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NERP TE Project 4.1 - Tracking coastal turbidity over time and demonstrating the effects of river discharge events on regional turbidity in the GBR, 2012-2014 (AIMS)

Created 11/01/2026

Updated 11/01/2026

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Turbidity is a measure of water clarity that quantifies the amount of small particles suspended in the water, and is a fundamental environmental parameter influencing coastal marine ecosystems. Turbidity reduces the light needed for photosynthesis by corals and seagrasses, and suspended particles also transport nutrients, pollutants and diseases. Previous research based on 3 years of turbidity data collected from 15 inshore reefs by the Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program has shown that it can take several months for water clarity to improve after river floods. This project will analyse a 12-year data set to demonstrate the explicit link between variations in discharge (sediments and nutrients) from the major rivers in each Natural Resource Management (NRM) region adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and seasonal and annual variations in water clarity in the inshore GBR.

This project will:

  1. Determine quantitative relationships between river discharges and seasonal and annual variation in inshore water clarity on the GBR adjacent to each NRM region. This is achieved by processing MODIS/Aqua remote sensing (since July 2002) to calculate euphotic depth (water clarity) for the whole GBR and analysing this against predicted and observed tides, observed waves, wind, rain, river flow data (BOM and DERM daily data) and tidal forcing (Slim model).
  2. Strengthen scientific basis for Reef Rescue and Reef Plan and the refinement of water quality targets.
  3. Provide data to assist validation and calibration of the Receiving Waters Model and a WQ Risk Analysis.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title NERP TE Project 4.1 - Tracking coastal turbidity over time and demonstrating the effects of river discharge events on regional turbidity in the GBR, 2012-2014 (AIMS)
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/9a79f757-2862-451b-9b98-38ae45079e3d
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
k.fabricius@aims.gov.au
Reference Period 01/07/2012 - 31/12/2014
Geospatial Coverage Australia
Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "NERP TE Project 4.1 - Tracking coastal turbidity over time and demonstrating the effects of river discharge events on regional turbidity in the GBR, 2012-2014 (AIMS)". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/nerp-te-project-4-1-tracking-coastal-turbidity-over-time-and-demonstrating-the-effects-of-river1