Remote sensing study on the North Queensland Current

Description:

The westward flowing South Equatorial Current bifurcates into two western boundary currents at around 15o S when it encounters Australian continental margin: the northward flowing North Queensland Current (NQC) and the southward flowing East Australian Current (EAC). NQC has significant ecological impact on many Great Barrier reefs along its path. As shown in Huang et al. (2023), NQC provides significant thermal relief to corals, which prevent them from severe bleaching during marine heatwaves events. However, compared to EAC, NQC is much less studied. This PhD project aims to advance our scientific understanding of NQC’s oceanographic characteristics. One major component of this study uses high-resolution time-series remotely sensed data to map and investigate NQC’s spatial and temporal variabilities. A number of remotely sensed datasets could be appropriate for this study, including (but not limited to) Himarwari-8 and 9 SST and ocean color data, and MODIS SST and ocean color data. This remote sensing component of the study will be supervised by Dr Huang. The other major component of this study uses existing (e.g., eReef) or develops new oceanographic models to examine NQC’s temporal dynamic throughout its water column (e.g., temperature and speed profiles). One of the key objectives of this oceanography component is to understand NQC’s upwelling mechanism(s) that was proved to be key in providing thermal relief to corals (Huang et al., 2023 and the references therein). In addition, this study also seeks opportunities to acquire in-situ oceanographic data at various locations of NQC using instruments such as CTD, mooring and glider. This in-situ data would greatly benefit the remote sensing and oceanographic modelling works. This oceanography component of the study will be supervised by Prof. Wang. The successful PhD candidate is expected to have a strong research and analytical skills. Experience and skills in either GIS/Remote Sensing or Physical Oceanography field or both are highly desirable.

Huang, Z., Feng, M., Dalton, S.J., Carroll, A.G., 2023. Marine heatwaves in the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea: their mechanisms and impacts on shallow and mesophotic coral ecosystems. Science of the Total Environment, 908, 168063.