Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

 
RSS Subscribe to email

Better water quality monitoring information for the Great Barrier Reef

12/03/2014

The Great Barrier Reef will benefit from a new online tool that gathers information on water quality in the Marine Park, making this information publicly available for the first time.

eReefs Project Board Chair, Dr John Schubert AO, said the release of the Marine Water Quality Dashboard today represented a significant step forward in the publication of a range of water quality indicators in near real-time, with broad-ranging applications.

“The eReefs project will deliver a suite of marine monitoring and modelling tools for the benefit of reef managers, scientific researchers and the broader public, made available through the Bureau of Meteorology’s website,” Dr Schubert said.

“In the same way that people access real-time weather information on the Bureau’s website, the Marine Water Quality Dashboard will make information on the Great Barrier Reef publicly available.

“Government agencies, policy makers, environmental managers, researchers, industry groups and local communities stand to benefit from this vital information - and all have a role in caring for Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef.”

The World Heritage Listed Great Barrier Reef remains one of the world's greatest natural wonders - a vast area of more than 340,000 square kilometres - but it is also a fragile ecosystem, identified as being at risk from a range of threats.

“Timely and accurate access to sea surface temperatures and other water quality information is essential for researchers and reef managers to better manage the impacts of coral bleaching events or sediment plumes as a result of flooding on the reef.

"The eReefs Project will provide vital tools, like the Marine Water Quality Dashboard, for decision-makers across the entire spectrum - from the paddock to the Reef," Dr Schubert said.

eReefs brings together corporate Australia through the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and its partner BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance; Australia's leading operational and research agencies in the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science; the Australian and Queensland Governments as well as the Science and Industry Endowment Fund and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Go to the eReefs project for more information.