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.

作为“近岸海洋环境预测”（Predicting the Coastal Marine Environment）项目的组成部分，本研究通过观测研究与预测模型，评估自然及人为驱动因素对珊瑚礁生态系统的现状、演化与物理退化过程的影响。研究综合考量珊瑚礁周边的波浪、潮汐、湍流与环流等物理过程，结合非保守性化学过程与海洋幼虫的主动行为，以阐明其相互作用机制，以及该机制对珊瑚礁生物与礁体扩散演化过程的影响，进而形成全新的认知。本项目的创新之处在于开展波浪诱导流相关研究，并分析其对礁体水交换与礁顶混合过程的影响。本研究通过布放海洋学仪器，获取物理要素（波浪、海流、潮位）的原位观测数据（in situ data），并利用该类数据验证数值模拟（numerical modelling）结果。本研究的核心目标为获取该区域内影响珊瑚礁环流与水交换过程的综合物理海洋学数据集。所获取的数据集将用于验证上述海洋学过程的理论模型与数值模型，从而使这些模型可通用推广至整个宁格罗礁（Ningaloo Reef）区域。