The Future Reef project is taking the 'pulse' of the Reef using specially engineered water sensors mounted on a 'ship of opportunity'; Rio Tinto's RTM Wakmatha vessel.
This is the first large-scale observing system for ocean acidification on the Great Barrier Reef, enabling the changing ocean chemistry along the entire length of the Reef to be monitored for the first time.
As this ‘ship of opportunity’ travels along the Queensland coast in the ordinary course of business, CSIRO scientists are collecting vital data used to gain insights as to how ocean chemistry is changing across Reef habitats.
Combined with the Carbon Chemistry project, an initiative gathering similar information across the breadth of the Reef using the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s vessel RV Cape Ferguson, these projects are providing, for the first time, a picture of ocean acidification from a ‘whole-of-Reef’ perspective.
Using this vital information, scientists will be able to develop models and tools to understand how the Reef will change into the future.
Technology, innovation and ingenuity combine to take the 'pulse' of the Reef using a ship of opportunity
