A National reference station infrastructure for Australia - using telemetry and central processing to report multi-disciplinary data streams for monitoring marine ecosystem response to climate change

As part of a broader Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), the marine community in Australia is developing a National Reference Station (NRS) network to monitor coastal processes. IMOS is an Australian Government initiative established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). The aim of NCRIS is to provide researchers with access to the infrastructure and networks to build automated and ongoing in situ observing systems necessary to undertake world-class research. The NRS network fulfils this role as part of the Australian National Mooring Network, which is one of eleven IMOS facilities. The nine stations around Australia continue and expand the three existing sites where monthly water quality data have been collected since the 1940s. The overall aim of the NRS network is to provide the data to examine interactions between major coastal boundary currents and continental shelf ecosystems, especially in the context of climate change. To do this each NRS will provide long-term data series of physical and chemical parameters alongside community composition and primary (phytoplankton) and secondary (zooplankton) biological production and diversity. This will be achieved using a combination of in situ measurements (moored sensors) and monthly visits to collect samples for laboratory analysis. The NRS will provide critical baseline data to examine the impact of human stresses (such as climate change and eutrophication) on Australian marine ecosystems.