Field and model studies of the nepheloid layer in coastal waters of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Abstract

Field studies were undertaken of nepheloid layer dynamics in the coastal waters of the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns during the dry season in November 2001. A nephleoid layer was formed during calm weather along the coast and was advected offshore as a bottom-tagging layer. The layer spreads offshore with the ebb tidal currents and with the sediment-induced baroclinic currents. A conceptual numerical model suggests that the nepheloid layer can be modelled as a negatively buoyant plume that is deflected longshore alternatively northward and southward by the prevailing, reversing oceanic currents.