NW Shelf ARGOS Drifters

The extent to which the major coral reef systems of the Western Australian Coast are interconnected through hydrodynamic pathways is not well understood. Over the last 4 years, a fleet of satellite tracked "Davis" type near-surface drifters (see Bird et al., 2004 for details) has been deployed from Scott Reef, Ashmore Reef and the Rowley Shoals to investigate and describe the hydrodynamic connectivity between these isolated coral reefs.

西澳大利亚海岸主要珊瑚礁系统通过水动力路径实现连通的程度，目前尚未得到充分认知。过去四年间，研究团队从斯科特礁（Scott Reef）、阿什莫尔礁（Ashmore Reef）以及罗利沙洲（Rowley Shoals）布放了一组搭载卫星追踪系统的戴维斯型近表层漂流浮标（Davis type near-surface drifters，详见Bird等人2004年的研究文献），以探究并阐明这些孤立珊瑚礁之间的水动力连通性。