Marine Monitoring Program Annual Report Inshore Water Quality Monitoring 2020-21

Abstract

The water quality component of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Monitoring Program reports on the annual and long-term condition in inshore water quality of the Great Barrier Reef with reference to data over more than 15 years. The program design includes the collection of samples along transects in the Cape York, Wet Tropics, Burdekin and Mackay-Whitsunday regions year-round, with higher frequency sampling during the wet season to better characterise this period of episodic river discharge. Satellite imagery and modelling are linked with in situ monitoring data to estimate the exposure of inshore areas to end-of-catchment loads from rivers for all Great Barrier Reef catchment regions.