Reef Report Cards measure progress towards the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan targets, objectives, and long-term outcomes. The GBR Report Card reports catchment and marine conditions over six NRM regions and these results inform assessments of the success of actions taken to address water quality in the GBR. These reports were first implemented against a baseline undertaken in 2009 (October to September of the following year) either yearly (7 occasions) or biannually (4 occasions) with the Report Card usually released the following year.
For the last five report cards key water quality parameters have been estimated using a data assimilating hindcast (or reanalysis) from the eReefs regional marine model to report on Chlorophyll-a (productivity linked to nutrient concentrations) and Secchi depth (proxy for water clarity and presence of fine sediments). Both variables are subsequently combined into a metric that is used to report on the water quality of open coastal waters of the six Natural Resource Management regions covered by the Report Card. All report cards use the eReefs Data Assimilated Biogeochemical (BGC) Reanalysis marine model, which merges remote sensing observations with the numerical solution from the eReefs BGC model, allowing for the fine-tuning of the eReefs marine model for Chlorophyll (Chl-a) and total suspended solids (TSS) required for the report card. Using data assimilation ensures that model uncertainty is reduced, and sparse observation data is dynamically interpolated using the model.
Due to the requirements of the eReefs marine model there has been a substantial increase in the integration and interconnection between the eReefs marine model and the paddock/catchment models, allowing for a more holistic approach to land to sea exchanges in the GBR.
| Report | Reporting Years | Publication of report | Remote sensing used | Number of rivers | Flow | Nutrients and sediments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report Card 7 | Oct 1, 2015 – 30 Sep 2016 | 2017 | yes | 35 | Gauged | QLD DESI SOURCE |
| Report Card 8 | Oct 1, 2016 – 30 Sep 2018 | 2019 | yes | 35 | Gauged | QLD DESI SOURCE |
| Report Card 9 | Oct 1, 2018 – 30 Sep 2019 | 2020 | yes | 35 | Gauged | QLD DESI SOURCE |
| Report Card 10 | Oct 1, 2019 – 30 Sep 2020 | 2022 | yes | 35 | Gauged | QLD DESI SOURCE |
| Marine model uplift (plus QLD DESI Paddock and Catchment models uplift) | ||||||
| Report Card 11 (2 years) | Oct 1, 2020– 30 Sep 2022 | 2024 | yes | 103 | BoM G2G | QLD DESI SOURCE |
