Horizontal mixing of Great Barrier Reef waters: Offshore diffusivity determined from radium isotope distribution

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. It is recognised and appreciated worldwide as a unique environment and for this reason has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Reef is economically-important to Queensland and Australia, supporting substantial tourism and fishing industries. Management of the Great Barrier Reef to ensure conservation of its natural qualities in perpetuity is achieved through the establishment of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The maintenance of water quality to protect the reef and the industries which depend on it is becoming an increasingly important management issue requiring better knowledge and possibly new standards of treatment and discharge.

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The Limits of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park: Defining Bays and Redefining Regulatory Control

Federal Law Review ◽

10.22145/flr.37.1.3 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 71-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Donald R Rothwell ◽

Brad Jessup

Keyword(s):

Great Barrier Reef ◽

Regulatory Control ◽

Barrier Reef ◽

Marine Park

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Circulation and water mass characteristics of the southern Great Barrier Reef

Marine and Freshwater Research ◽

10.1071/mf9940001 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

JH Middleton ◽

P Coutis ◽

DA Griffin ◽

A Macks ◽

A McTaggart ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Great Barrier Reef ◽

Heat Loss ◽

Barrier Reef ◽

Low Oxygen ◽

Geostrophic Balance ◽

Shelf Slope ◽

High Nutrient ◽

Slope Currents ◽

North And South ◽

Upper Slope

Data acquired during a winter (May) cruise of the RV Franklin to the southern Great Barrier Reef indicate that the dynamics of the shelf/slope region are governed by the tides, the poleward-flowing East Australian Current (EAC), and the complex topography. Over the Marion Plateau in water deeper than - 100 m, the EAC appears to drive a slow clockwise circulation. Tides appear to be primarily responsible for shelf/slope currents in the upper layers, with evidence of nutrient uplift from the upper slope to the outer shelf proper in the Capricorn Channel. Elsewhere, the bottom Ekrnan flux of the strongly poleward-flowing EAC enhances the sloping isotherms associated with the longshore geostrophic balance, pumping nutrient-rich waters from depth to the upper continental slope. Generally, shelf waters are cooler than oceanic waters as a consequence of surface heat loss by radiation. A combination of heat loss and evaporation from waters flowing in the shallows of the Great Sandy Strait appears to result in denser 'winter mangrove waters' exporting low-oxygen, high-nutrient waters onto the shelf both north and south of Fraser Island; these subsequently mix with shelf waters and finally flow offshore at - 100 m depth, just above the salinity-maximum layer, causing anomalous nutrient values in the region of Fraser Island.

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