| Summary: | Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded Credit Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). It is operated by a consortium of institutions as an unincorporated joint venture, with the University of Tasmania as Lead Agent. Credit Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR) Credit University of Tasmania (UTAS) Credit James Cook University (JCU) Credit Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Credit Oxford University Credit The University of Edinburgh Credit Fugro Seafloor Survey GBR Queensland (Doherty): In the Great Barrier Reef the program is focused on seagrass beds in the middle of the GBR lagoon to understand how their abundance is affected by upwelling coming through the Magnetic and Palm Passages and on deepwater coral reefs on the outer GBR. Although there is extensive monitoring of shallow water reefs along the extent of the GBR, there has been relatively little opportunity to monitor deeper reefs. Understanding the nature of these deepwater reefs may provide important insights into the resilience of the GBR to stresses such as changing temperatures, ocean acidification, cyclones and nutrient influx from the coast. Surveys of the seagrass beds in the lagoon, which were designed to revisit sites surveyed using towed video ten years ago, and at Myrmidon Reef on the outer GBR were completed during July 2011 to establish benthic reference sites in this area.
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