Great Barrier Reef Marine Monitoring Program for Inshore Water Quality (MMP WQ)

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Monitoring Program for Inshore Water Quality (MMP WQ) has monitored inshore water quality of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon since 2005 through the collection of in situ water chemistry data, along with time-series of temperature, salinity, fluorescence, and turbidity. This program is a partnership between the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Australian Government, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), James Cook University (JCU), and the Cape York Water Partnership (CYWP). This metadata record also describes data from 2020-present collected by the Fitzroy Basin Marine Monitoring Program for Inshore Water Quality, which is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, and AIMS. The Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program (Australian and Queensland governments, 2018b) is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan (Australian and Queensland governments 2018a) and report progress towards goals and targets. The MMP WQ forms an integral part of the Paddock to Reef Program, along with other MMP components monitoring inshore coral, seagrass, and pesticides. The overarching objective of the MMP WQ is to ‘Assess temporal and spatial trends in inshore marine water quality and link pollutant concentrations to end-of-catchment loads’ (Australian and Queensland governments, 2018a).The MMP WQ is designed to measure the annual condition and long-term trends in coastal water quality. Australian tropical coastal waters are characterised by high variability in river discharge during the wet season (November - March), as rainfall from low pressure systems causes river flood plumes to extend into the coastal ocean. River discharge is generally negligible during the dry season (April - October), a period of low rainfall. 'Routine' monitoring by the MMP WQ is conducted during ambient conditions of the wet and dry seasons outside of major flood events, while 'event' monitoring occurs in response to major flood events to capture conditions within flood plumes. A summary of the Natural Resource Management (NRM) regions and associated focus regions where the MMP WQ operates is given below. The MMP WQ currently monitors a total of 55 routine sites (also sampled during events), with an additional 33 event sites monitored as required. The date ranges of routine monitoring, number of sites, and present frequency of sampling are also shown. Cape York NRM (monitored 2017-present) focus regions:    Pascoe (6 sites, sampled 5 times per year)    Stewart (4 sites, sampled 5 times per year)    Normanby (6 sites, sampled 4 times per year)    Annan-Endeavour (5 sites, sampled 5 times per year)Wet Tropics NRM (monitored 2005-present) focus regions:    Barron-Daintree (6 sites, sampled 3 times per year)    Russell-Mulgrave (5 sites, sampled 10 times per year)    Tully (6 sites, sampled 10 times per year)Burdekin NRM (monitored 2005-present): 6 sites, sampled 9 times per yearMackay Whitsunday NRM (monitored 2005-present): 5 sites, sampled 5 times per yearFitzroy NRM (monitored 2005-2014 under MMP WQ, 2020-present under Fitzroy Basin program): 6 sites, sampled 10 times per yearFrom 2005 to 2014, monitoring occurred 3 times per year at ~3 sites in most regions listed above. An independent statistical review of the MMP in 2014 (Kuhnert et al., 2015) showed that additional sites and higher sampling frequency would provide additional statistical power. The current program design was implemented in February 2015 and includes most of the sampling sites in the pre-2015 design, allowing for the continuation of the long-term time-series. This program re-design was reviewed and its increase in power to detect change in inshore water quality was verified (Lloyd-Jones et al., 2022).The MMP WQ uses in situ sampling to measure 17 key physico-chemical (salinity, temperature, Secchi depth, total suspended solids, and coloured dissolved organic matter), nutrient (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, dissolved inorganic phosphorus, silicate, particulate nitrogen, particulate phosphorus, total dissolved nitrogen, total dissolved phosphorus, particulate organic carbon, and dissolved organic carbon), and biological (chlorophyll a) parameters. On every water sampling occasion, a Conductivity Temperature Depth instrument cast is done to collect a vertical profile of depth, salinity, temperature, and other water quality parameters. Data-logging instruments measuring time-series' of turbidity and fluorescence (a proxy for chlorophyll a) are deployed at 19 of the sites described above. Data-logging instruments measuring time-series' of salinity and temperature are deployed 9 of the sites described above. The details of each of these datasets are provided in the child metadata records attached to this parent record.

大堡礁近岸水质海洋监测计划（MMP WQ）自2005年起通过收集原位水化学数据，以及温度、盐度、荧光和浊度的时间序列数据，对大堡礁（GBR）泻湖的近岸水质进行监测。

该计划由大堡礁海洋公园管理局、澳大利亚政府、澳大利亚海洋科学研究所（AIMS）、詹姆斯·库克大学（JCU）以及约克角水资源伙伴关系（CYWP）合作开展。

本元数据记录还描述了2020年至今由菲茨罗伊盆地近岸水质海洋监测计划收集的数据，该计划由澳大利亚政府珊瑚礁信托基金、大堡礁基金会与AIMS合作资助。

‘从牧场到珊瑚礁’综合监测、建模与报告计划（澳大利亚及昆士兰州政府，2018b）用于评估《2050年大堡礁水质改善计划》（澳大利亚及昆士兰州政府，2018a）的实施效果，并报告目标进展情况。MMP WQ是该计划的重要组成部分，与监测近岸珊瑚、海草和农药的其他MMP组件协同运作。

MMP WQ的核心目标是‘评估近岸海洋水质的时空变化趋势，并将污染物浓度与流域末端负荷关联起来’（澳大利亚及昆士兰州政府，2018a）。

MMP WQ旨在监测沿海水质的年度状况和长期趋势。澳大利亚热带沿海水域的特点是湿季（11月-3月）河流流量变异性高，低压系统带来的降雨导致河流洪水羽流延伸至沿海海域；而旱季（4月-10月）降雨稀少，河流流量通常可忽略不计。

MMP WQ的‘常规’监测在湿季和旱季的常态条件下（非重大洪水事件期间）进行，而‘事件’监测则针对重大洪水事件开展，以捕捉洪水羽流内的水质状况。

以下概述了MMP WQ开展监测的自然资源管理（NRM）区域及相关重点区域。目前，MMP WQ共监测55个常规站点（事件期间也会采样），并根据需要额外监测33个事件站点。下文还列出了常规监测的时间范围、站点数量及当前采样频率。

约克角NRM区域（监测时间：2017年至今）重点区域：
帕斯科（6个站点，每年采样5次）
斯图尔特（4个站点，每年采样5次）
诺曼比（6个站点，每年采样4次）
安南-恩德比（5个站点，每年采样5次）
湿热带NRM区域（监测时间：2005年至今）重点区域：
巴伦-丹特里（6个站点，每年采样3次）
拉塞尔-马尔格雷夫（5个站点，每年采样10次）
塔利（6个站点，每年采样10次）
伯德金NRM区域（监测时间：2005年至今）：6个站点，每年采样9次
麦凯-圣灵群岛NRM区域（监测时间：2005年至今）：5个站点，每年采样5次
菲茨罗伊NRM区域（2005-2014年由MMP WQ监测，2020年至今由菲茨罗伊盆地计划监测）：6个站点，每年采样10次

2005至2014年期间，上述多数区域的监测为每年3次，每个区域约3个站点。2014年对MMP的独立统计评估（Kuhnert等，2015）表明，增加站点数量和提高采样频率可增强统计效力。当前的计划设计于2015年2月实施，包含了2015年前设计中的大部分采样站点，确保了长期时间序列数据的连续性。该计划的重新设计已通过评估，其检测近岸水质变化的效力提升得到了验证（Lloyd-Jones等，2022）。

MMP WQ通过原位采样测量17项关键参数，包括物理化学参数（盐度、温度、塞奇深度、总悬浮物、有色溶解有机物）、营养盐参数（氨、亚硝酸盐、硝酸盐、溶解性无机磷、硅酸盐、颗粒态氮、颗粒态磷、总溶解性氮、总溶解性磷、颗粒态有机碳、溶解性有机碳）及生物参数（叶绿素a）。每次水样采集时，均会投放温盐深仪（Conductivity Temperature Depth instrument）以获取深度、盐度、温度及其他水质参数的垂直剖面数据。在上述19个站点部署了记录浊度和荧光（叶绿素a的替代指标）时间序列的日志仪器；在9个站点部署了记录盐度和温度时间序列的日志仪器。这些数据集的详细信息见本父元数据记录附带的子元数据记录。