The physical environment of Scott Reef, Western Australia (2003)

Ten current meter moorings, a weather station, two tide gauges and 45 temperature loggers were deployed at Scott Reef, prior to the coral spawning event in March, 2003 and recovered in June, 2003. In addition to moored instruments, surface drifters were deployed to map surface circulation. CTD casts were also made.
Arrays of instruments were deployed to quantify patterns of water circulation and stratification in the vicinity of Scott Reef. Surface drifters were deployed to observe both the local fine scale circulation in the immediate vicinity of Scott Reef, and to better understand the potential connectivity between reef systems along this region of the West Australian North West Shelf and possible transport of spawned material. The goal was to elucidate key physical oceanographic mechanisms influencing observed temporal and spatial variability of coral recruitment and coral bleaching at Scott Reef.As part of this study a preliminary depth-averaged hydrodynamic model was developed and applied to describe in broad detail the major features of depth averaged tidal circulation.
This research is the "Physical Environment" sub-project of the project "Biological and Physical Environment at Scott Reef 2003"

2003年3月珊瑚产卵事件发生前，研究团队于斯科特礁（Scott Reef）布设了10套海流计锚系、1座气象站、2台验潮仪以及45台温度记录仪，并于同年6月完成所有设备的回收作业。除锚定观测仪器外，团队还布设了表面漂流浮标（surface drifters）以绘制表层环流格局，同时开展了CTD（温盐深仪）剖面测量。

本次研究通过布设多组仪器，旨在量化斯科特礁周边海域的水环流与层结格局。其中，表面漂流浮标用于两方面观测：一是精准捕捉斯科特礁紧邻区域的局地小尺度环流特征，二是深入理解西澳大利亚西北陆架该区域内各礁体系统间的潜在连通性，以及珊瑚产卵物质的可能输运路径。本研究的核心目标为阐明影响斯科特礁珊瑚幼体补充与珊瑚白化现象时空变异的关键物理海洋学机制。

作为本次研究的组成部分，团队开发并应用了一款初步的深度平均水动力模型，以概化描述深度平均潮汐环流的主要特征。本研究为"Biological and Physical Environment at Scott Reef 2003"项目下设的"Physical Environment"子课题。