Where to find WAMSI science data

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Data from the Western Australian Marine Science Institution’s WAMSI-2 projects (2012-2018) is discoverable and available for reuse.

WAMSI Data Manager, Luke Edwards from the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, manages the collection and storage of data from the programs including:

WAMSI Dredging Science Node

Kimberley Marine Research Program

Wheatsone sawfish offsets project

“One of the great legacies of the WAMSI science is that the data is made discoverable for ongoing and future research,” Luke Edwards said. “Data is made public after the default 18 month embargo period to enable researchers to publish.”

For example, KMRP project 1.3.1 on Reef Growth and Maintenance has data publicly available now.  The link to the metadata record is http://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/metadata.show?uuid=7ab491d2-9507-428c-aed1-091d2aaed521.

Within the metadata, there are links to the Pawsey Data Portal, where it is held.

As well as the Pawsey Data Portal, data is stored in the CSIRO Data Access Portal (DAP) and AIMS Data Centre.

Data discovery and access starts via the AODN catalogue – http://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/.  To see all WAMSI 2 projects, type WAMSI 2 into the “Title” search box.

Other discovery pathways are being developed including via the WA Open Data catalogue – https://catalogue.data.wa.gov.au/group/wamsi.

Other WA Government marine data is available here – https://catalogue.data.wa.gov.au/group/0-wa-marine-map.

 

Category:

Sawfish Project Kimberley Marine Research Program Dredging Science

Sediment timeline reveals climate change influence on Kimberley

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By: Jo Myers, CSIRO

The remote Kimberley coast of northwestern Australia is one of the few marine environments on earth largely unaffected by human use. However, the region is undergoing increasing economic importance as a destination for tourism and significant coastal developments associated with oil and gas exploration.

A team of researchers, which included scientists from CSIRO, Edith Cowan University, La Rochelle University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, collected sediment cores from three coastal locations in the Kimberley region, to provide an indication of the level of variability and change in water quality over the last 100 years.

The study locations of Koolama Bay (King George River), Cygnet Bay and Roebuck Bay in the southern, central and northern Kimberley were selected as each offered a different perspective in comparison of levels of human use or natural environmental variability.

Collecting sediment cores at Cygnet Bay (CSIRO)

The team found that for the Kimberley in general, climate change, in particular temperature increases have had, and may continue to have, a significant influence on phytoplankton biomass.

Analysis of cores from the Broome site lent general support to other studies which have indicated increased nutrient pollution levels in Roebuck Bay.

At Cygnet Bay, where pearl farming has occurred since the 1960s, there were small but detectable, gradual changes in the environment evident over the long term.

Sediment cores indicated increased nutrient pollution levels in Roebuck Bay.

The project also undertook a pilot study using the King George River cores, which indicated that coastal sediment cores could reveal long-term patterns of bush fires in different catchments in the Kimberley.

Links:

Yuan Z, Liu D, Keesing, J K, Zhao M, Guo S, Peng Y, Zhang H (2018) Paleoecological evidence for decadal increase in phytoplankton biomass off northwestern Australia in response to climate change. Ecology and Evolution doi:10.1002/ece3.3836

The project report Sediment Records in the Kimberley_WAMSI KMRP Report 2.2.9_Keesing et al 2017_FINAL is available at www.wamsi.org.au/sediment-record

The $30 million Kimberley Marine Research Program is funded through major investment supported by $12 million from the Western Australian government co-invested by the WAMSI partners and supported by the Traditional Owners of the Kimberley.

Category:

Kimberley Marine Research Program

Protecting the Balguja

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A CSIRO study being carried out in partnership with Indigenous rangers in the Kimberley is merging Traditional Knowledge with science to gain a better understanding of the ecology of this magnificent species to help guide their future management.

Click here to read the full story published in LANDSCOPE

 

 

 

 

More information on the WAMSI Dugong Project is available at: www.wamsi.org.au/dugong

The $30 million Kimberley Marine Research Program is funded through major investment supported by $12 million from the Western Australian government co-invested by the WAMSI partners and supported by the Traditional Owners of the Kimberley.

Category: 

Kimberley Marine Research Program

EPA approval for Onslow marine base stage 2

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By: Matt Mckenzie (Monday, 5 February, 2018)

 

A plan to expand the Onslow Marine Support Base has been given the tick of approval by the Environmental Protection Authority, three months after stage one of the project was completed.

The existing facility is run by Kuwait-based Agility Logistics, located on Beadon Creek near the town of Onslow.

Work on stage one of the facility started in 2016 and was finished late last year at a cost of about $125 million.

Stage two received the green light from the EPA today.

The plan will include extending and modifying the harbour approach channel at Beadon Creek and improving the facility’s turning basin and berth pocket.

About a million cubic metres of sediment will be dredged as part of the project.

EPA deputy chairman Robert Harvey said the department had a high level of confidence in the assessment.

“The proponent incorporated contemporary and locally relevant dredging science from the Western Australian Marine Science Institution into its predictions and proposed management of the project’s impacts,” Mr Harvey said.

“The use of the latest dredging science, as well as the conditions identified by the EPA, including the implementation of a dredging and spoil disposal management plan, means the proposal can be managed in an environmentally acceptable way.”

Spoil from dredging will be piped onshore to a disposal area near Onslow Airport.

The new harbour approach will run for around two kilometres with a depth of about six metres, enabling offshore vessels to enter the facility

The base is in close proximity to a number of offshore oil and gas projects, including Gorgon at Barrow Island and Woodside Petroleum’s Pluto platform.

That means it will be competing with nearby bases in Dampier and Exmouth.

 

The article was originally published in Business News Western Australia

Category: 

Dredging Science