Each collection station is denoted by date, latitude and longitude. The data were sampled at several depths at each site: the number of samples was primarily, but not always, dependent on bottom-depth. A unique identifier has been assigned to each replicate.Variables: depth, dissolved inorganic phosphate (DIP), silicate, ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), temperature, salinity, particulate nitrogen (PN), particulate phosphorus (PP), particulate organic carbon (POC), zooplankton, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), total dissolved phosphorus (TDP), Chlorophyll a, phaeophytin, Secchi disk. Weather information is recorded on swell and wind.Information about the methods used are in the Data Quality section of this metadata record.
To collect information about water quality on the Great Barrier Reef. To assist in better defining the range of conditions within which reefs normally exist and the extreme conditions likely to cause significant changes in biological reef communities.
Chlorophyll a, PP, PN and Secchi data have been used for the e-Atlas: http://e-atlas.org.auData plot checks by year revealed seemingly abnormally high values of nitrogen-based parameters 1976-1987 with typical values >10 times those of later years. Since many other variables had no data for this period, the data for all parameters was restricted to the period 1988 to current.Methods are summarised in the data quality section of this metadata record.
