Circulation in Ningaloo Reef lagoon - instrument locations

As part of the project Predicting the Coastal Marine Environment, the impacts of natural and human-induced factors on the status, evolution and physical degradation of coral reef ecosystems are assessed using observational studies and predictive models. The effects of physical processes such as waves, tides, turbulent flows and circulation around coral reefs, acting in concert with non-conservative chemical processes and active behaviours of marine larvae are taken into account to develop new understandings of their interactions and effects on the dispersal and evolution of coral reef organisms and structures. New elements in this project are the studies of the flow induced by waves and their impact on the flushing of the reef and mixing processes on the reef top. In situ data on physical factors (waves, currents, tidal levels) are acquired from deployments of oceanographic instruments and used to verify numerical modelling results. The aim of this study was to obtain a comprehensive data set on the physical oceanographic processes that influence the circulation and flushing of the reefs in this region. The data obtained will now be utilised to verify theoretical and numerical models of these oceanographic processes, such that these models can be generically applied to the Ningaloo Reef region as a whole.