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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 61(6)

Dispersal of suspended sediments and nutrients in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon during river-discharge events: conclusions from satellite remote sensing and concurrent flood-plume sampling

Jon Brodie A D , Thomas Schroeder B , Ken Rohde C , John Faithful A , Bronwyn Masters C , Arnold Dekker B , Vittorio Brando B and Mirjam Maughan A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia.

B CSIRO Land and Water, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

C Department of Environment and Resource Management, Mackay, Qld 4740, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: jon.brodie@jcu.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 61(6) 651-664 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08030
Submitted: 12 February 2008  Accepted: 3 December 2009   Published: 25 June 2010

Abstract

Intense wet-season rainfall in January 2005 caused rivers in the Mackay–Whitsunday region of Queensland, Australia, to produce large discharges to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon. The regional land use is dominated by sugarcane cultivation, beef grazing and urban uses. The high nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) fluxes from these land uses via river runoff produced a massive phytoplankton bloom in the GBR lagoon, which, after 9 days, had spread 150 km offshore. The plume and algal bloom surrounded inner-shelf reefs of the GBR such as Brampton Island Reef and its spread was tracked with a variety of satellite sensors including MODIS, SeaWiFS and Landsat over the 9-day period. The ability to be able to access imagery from a large number of satellite sensors allowed almost daily estimates of the extent of plume to be made, despite periods of cloud. Analysis of water samples from the plume revealed elevated (2–50 times higher) concentrations of Chlorophyll a (and hence phytoplankton biomass), up to 50 times higher than in non-flood conditions, nutrients (2–100 times higher) and herbicide residues (10–100 times higher) compared with GBR lagoon waters in non-discharge conditions. The concentration data from the samples and estimated exposure periods from the satellite images allowed estimates of the exposure of GBR marine ecosystems (coral reefs, the pelagic community, seagrass beds and mangrove forests) to the terrestrial contaminants to be made.

Additional keywords: flood plumes, Great Barrier Reef, nutrients, phytoplankton bloom, remote sensing, suspended sediments.


Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Australian Government’s Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility, implemented in northern Queensland by the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Ltd. Funding for this study was provided by the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship project. We also acknowledge the MODIS and SeaWiFS mission scientists and associated NASA personnel for the production of the data used in this research effort. Support for the water quality sampling and analysis was received from the Mackay Whitsunday Natural Resource Management group (now called Reef Catchments). Support was also received from the CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship Program and the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust.


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