"instrumenting the Great Barrier Reef"
Understanding the changes being brought about by climate change and human impact on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a top priority for Australia and the state of Queensland in particular. Data acquisition is essential in order to understand the response of the reef to these environmental changes and to build and test numerical models.Data are collected by going in the field on a research vessel but also using remote sensing, oceanographic buoys, weather sation or data loggers. Some of these measurements are global in scale (eg remote sensing), other are punctual (measurements at one reef). The integration of these different data is in itself a challenge. With the advances made in electronics and communications, it is now possible to deploy a sensor network which will take specific measurements automatically and send them back to the researchers.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) operates and maintains a series of remote data stations situated on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Queensland and in Western Australia. These stretch across 3,000km of World heritage marine park. AIMS recently upgraded its new Automatic Weather Station at Davies Reef, a coral reef approximately 70 km offshore from Townsville in North Queensland. Coral reefs all over the world are deteriorating, and in addition to remote sensing and monitoring, there is a need for installing in-situ monitoring, to provide long-term datasets and real-time monitoring. AIMS and James Cook University (JCU) are deploying a trial sensor-network at Davis Reef. The sensors will measure water temperature, solar radiation, salinity, pollution levels, etc in order to understand complex marine biological processes and predict future coral bleaching events. The major challenges for a sensor network in a remote area are power and communications: how do you get reliable power and communications so far out to sea, without the need for expensive maintenance trips?
The goal of this pilot project is to assess the feasibility of deploying a sensor network in the GBR and to integrate streaming data to existing databases.
Stuart Kinninmonth deploying sensors at AIMS (Photo courtesy of AIMS)
