Norfolk Island Marine Water Quality Monitoring Data 2022-2024

Full description

This dataset is the Norfolk Island marine water quality monitoring data collected from April 2022 to April 2024 as part of the Norfolk Island Water Resource Assessment (NIWRA). It was used to derive site-specific marine water quality guidelines for Norfolk Island.

Seawater samples were collected from sites in Slaughter Bay (SB), Emily Bay (EB) and Cemetery Bay (CB) where the health of the coral reef was affected. Seawater samples were also collected from non-contaminated reference sites in Cascade Bay (R1), Duncombe Bay (R2), Anson Bay (R3) and Ball Bay (R4). Monthly sampling was performed at the reference sites when possible. Sampling was performed on six occasions for the remaining sites when possible. These samples were collected under baseline conditions where there was minimal rain leading up to the collection date. Samples were also collected as soon as possible after six rain events (defined as greater than 20 mm rain in the previous 24-48 h).

Water chemistry parameters measured were: physico-chemistry (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, salinity, turbidity, total suspended solids, alkalinity, dissolved organic carbon, chlorophyll a); nutrients (reactive silica, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, nitrite + nitrate (NOx), total kjeldahl nitrogen, total nitrogen, dissolved reactive phosphorus, total phosphorus); filtered and unfiltered metal(loid)s; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; pesticides.

Passive samplers were also used to detect ultra-trace organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, personal care products and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.




Lineage: Collected water sample analyses were performed by NATA accredited ALS laboratories in either Sydney or Brisbane. Passive water sample analyses were performed by University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS).

QA/QC measures were taken such as field duplicates and blank samples as well as recovery of nutrients in reference waters and inter-laboratory testing.

Laboratory report files with QAQC are provided.

Methods for collecting the marine water samples are described in Golding et al. (2023):
Golding, L.A., Currie, S., Donaldson, D., Greenwood, D., Lamontagne, S., Tavener, N., Taylor, N., Vanderzalm, J., 2023. Norfolk Island Water Resource Assessment. Marine Water Quality – Year 1 of water quality monitoring and interim site-specific guideline values. A report from the CSIRO Norfolk Island Water Resource Assessment Team to the Australian Government. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25919/jef8-b158