title: Water quality monitoring: a combined approach to investigate gradients of change in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
abstract: 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 degrees 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.
authors.affiliation: University of Queensland, Qld. 4072, Australia. j.udy@uq.edu.au
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Udy
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gall
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Longstaff
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roelfsema
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Spooner
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Albert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000032:analysis; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003625:Data Collection; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D008027:Light; D011793:Queensland; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002734:Chlorophyll