Authors / CoAuthors
Huang, Z.
Abstract
The concentration of chlorophyll-a in ocean surface waters is a good indicator of primary productivity. As part of a national-scale analysis of ecosystem processes influencing marine biodiversity, daily MODIS images were processed using NASA's SeaDAS software to generate chlorophyll-a monthly data for the period 2009-2011. Results show that Australian oceans have relatively low surface chlorophyll-a concentrations (average 0.2 mg/m3), with concentrations greater than 0.7 mg/m3 considered to indicate 'high' productivity. On this basis, productivity hotspots are mapped for locations that have 'high' productivity greater than 75% of the time (i.e. 9 out of 12 months). As expected, most productivity hotspots are confined to inner shelf and coastal areas, especially embayments. Key areas include the Great Barrier Reef, Gulf of Carpentaria, Van Diemen Gulf, Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, Kimberley coast, Exmouth Gulf and Shark Bay. Seasonally, the period February to June has larger areas of 'high' productivity. Annually, areas of hotspots decrease from 2009 to 2011. Among the 59 existing and proposed Commonwealth Marine Reserves (CMR), nine have hotspots occupying more than 1% of their area; a result consistent with their largely offshore location. In contrast, 47 out of 128 state/territory Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) which lie in inshore waters have more than 1% of area identified as hotspots. In total, chlorophyll-a hotspots occur in more than 20% (by area) of the state/territory MPAs, compared to less than 0.4% of CMRs. Ongoing analysis will relate these patterns to oceanographic models and biodiversity patterns at regional scales, with a focus on northern Australia.
Product Type
nonGeographicDataset
eCat Id
75551
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Custodian
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Custodian
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Keywords
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- External PublicationAbstract
- ( Theme )
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- remote sensing
- ( Theme )
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- marine biodiversity
- ( Theme )
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- marine
- ( Theme )
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- NERP
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Marine Geoscience
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- Published_Internal
Publication Date
2013-01-01T00:00:00
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notPlanned
Topic Category
oceans
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Lineage
The abstract was based on the research results of NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub Theme3 project 1.
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NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub