A ship-borne radiometer, custom built by AIMS engineers and installed
on the Fantasea One, was officially launched in March and is
sampling sea surface temperatures critical to coral bleaching and climate
research.
Perched above the bridge of Fantasea One, the automated
radiometer enables scientists to be updated on sea surface temperatures
(SST) while they are working hundreds of kilometres away in their
laboratories at Cape Ferguson (near Townsville).
AIMS Physical Oceanographer Craig Steinberg said the Fantasea One
has the only ship-borne radiometer worldwide working regularly in the
tropics, which makes the readings significant for climate change
scientists internationally.
Fantasea One travels daily between Shute Harbour and the Reefworld
floating adventure platform at the outer Hardy Reef. This radiometer
provides SST samples over 40 kilometres in addition to information from a
full weather station permanently located on the Reefworld pontoon.
A radiometer is a thermometer, which measures the temperature of the
ocean using the infra-red radiation (heat) emitted from the surface.
"Instead of receiving information from a handful of temperature data
loggers retrieved every 6 months, AIMS is now receiving SST data seven
days a week," Mr Steinberg said.
AIMS remote sensing specialist Mike Mahoney downloads the radiometer
measurements and compares them with data from orbiting satellite sensors
to calculate the error created by "looking" through the atmosphere.
"Aerosols such as dust, cloud and water vapour can be a source of error.
This system ensures the satellite measurements across the Great Barrier
Reef are accurate."
Mike Mahoney said the device designed by AIMS electronics experts is
the most advanced yet for measuring changes in temperature across our
seas. "They have fabricated the sophisticated radiometer system from start
to finish at the AIMS workshops at Cape Ferguson."
"This project couldn’t exist without the cooperation and commitment
from Fantasea Cruises’ founder and managing director David Hutchen and new
owners Riverside Marine who appreciate the full value of this information
and the very real threat of warming seas," Mr Mahoney said.
SST holds the key to understanding many aspects of the Great Barrier
Reef (GBR). It strongly influences fish distributions and the abundance
and variety of marine species. Water temperature is a major cause of
stress in corals. During 1998, 2002 and again this year significant
proportions of the GBR were bleached due to elevated SSTs. Corals that
survived produced less spawn the following year while disease outbreaks
increased. Seagrass beds have been burned affecting grazing herbivores
such as dugongs. The information gathered from satellite images and this
radiometer will help shed light on the impact SST has on the Great Barrier
Reef.
The radiometer data also contributes to an international project
gathering a high-resolution daily temperature map of the world’s oceans.
Daily satellite imagery of the Coral Sea and the GBR is now available to
the public via the world wide web.
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/remote-sensing.html
Research
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