Ja. Kleypas et Dm. Burrage, SATELLITE-OBSERVATIONS OF CIRCULATION IN THE SOUTHERN GREAT-BARRIER-REEF, AUSTRALIA, International journal of remote sensing, 15(10), 1994, pp. 2051-2063
Twenty-one NOAA-9 AVHRR satellite images of the southern Great Barrier
Reef, spanning the period from June 1986 to September 1988, were exam
ined for sea surface temperature patterns in order to trace circulatio
n within this bathymetrically complex area. Our findings are in genera
l agreement with the few field studies of this region. The East Austra
lian Current tended to flow outside the reefs along the shelf break un
til it entered the Capricorn Channel, where it either meandered westwa
rd along the narrowing shelf, adhering closely to the slope contours,
or flowed directly southward. It then impinged upon the shelf break, n
ear Fraser Island, where it bifurcated to produce a southward continua
tion of the current, and a cyclonic eddy within the Capricorn Channel.
Cool water, which commonly occurred over the shelf between Fraser Isl
and and Cape Clinton, has probable significance for biological product
ion within the adjacent Capricorn/Bunker Reefs of the Great Barrier Re
ef Marine Park. Interpreted as a response to upwelling, this cool wate
r may be the result of. 1. the combined effect of tidal pumping and co
astal trapped waves; 2. effects of the longshore wind component; or 3.
topographically-induced upwelling of slope waters due to flow of the
East Australian Current along the continental shelf break. The evidenc
e for each of these possible factors is discussed.