IMOS is expanding its national observing capability with the establishment of a new Estuarine and Coastal Moorings Facility, led by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). This initiative will deliver coordinated, near real-time monitoring of water quality in Australia’s estuaries and coastal zones.
Australia’s coastal and estuarine environments are under increasing pressure from climate change, sea-level rise, and coastal development. With more than 85 per cent of Australians living within 50 kilometres of the coast, and many major cities built around estuaries, there is a growing need for standardised, long-term data to support sustainable management of these critical environments.
“Australia’s estuaries are the gateway connecting our rivers to marine and coastal systems. They contain critical habitats and ecosystems, often support busy ports, and host many of our major urban areas. Better understanding of estuarine water quality will help support our ecosystems, communities, oceans and coasts.”
Michelle Heupel, IMOS Executive Director
The new network will consist of small to medium-sized buoys deployed in shallow waters and anchored to the seabed. Each mooring will record temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity, with the option to include additional sensors to measure pressure, currents, pH, or nutrients. The moorings will be serviced every two to three months to clean and calibrate sensors, replace components, and collect water samples for validation.
Data from the network will be integrated with existing IMOS observations and, where possible, combined with information collected by state agencies, industry, and other stakeholders. This coordinated approach will expand spatial coverage and provide a more complete understanding of coastal water quality and ecosystem health.
The IMOS Estuarine and Coastal Moorings Facility will play a key role in connecting Australia’s coastal observations into the broader IMOS network, ensuring that decision makers, researchers, and communities have access to consistent, high-quality data to inform sustainable management of estuarine and coastal environments.
This new Estuarine and Coastal Moorings Facility represents one of the initial investments IMOS is contributing to establish the CoastRI program. CoastRI, a cross-NCRIS collaboration, is being developed to provide a national-scale coastal observing and modelling capability for Australia.