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Impact of an extreme flood event on optical and biogeochemical properties in a subtropical coastal periurban embayment (Eastern Australia)
Author(s) -
Oubelkheir Kadija,
Ford Phillip W.,
Clementson Lesley A.,
Cherukuru Nagur,
Fry Gary,
Steven Andrew D. L.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1002/2014jc010205
Subject(s) - colored dissolved organic matter , biogeochemical cycle , bay , environmental science , attenuation coefficient , single scattering albedo , particulates , chlorophyll a , absorption (acoustics) , flood myth , oceanography , hydrology (agriculture) , atmospheric sciences , environmental chemistry , aerosol , phytoplankton , nutrient , geology , chemistry , geography , meteorology , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , biochemistry , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , acoustics
Major floods impacted the city of Brisbane, eastern Australia, in January 2011, delivering large amounts of dissolved and particulate materials and nutrients into the adjacent coastal embayment, Moreton Bay. The resulting spatially resolved changes in biogeochemical and optical properties in Moreton Bay were examined 1, 2, 6, 19, and 49 weeks after the main freshwater discharge. One week postflood, total suspended matter (TSM) and chlorophyll a (TChl a ) concentrations varied over 1 order of magnitude throughout Moreton Bay, the particle scattering coefficient at 555 nm varied by a factor of 20, and the total absorption coefficient and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) absorption coefficient at 440 nm varied by a factor of 5. The largest changes in biogeochemical and optical properties observed during our study were from 1 to 2 weeks after the floods: near the Brisbane River mouth, TSM decreased by a factor of 3, CDOM by a factor of 2, while TChl a increased by a factor of 3. Within a year, optical and biogeochemical properties recovered to levels similar to nonflood conditions. The strong changes in the characteristics of the particulate and dissolved material following the flood event and subsequent biological and photochemical processes led to a large spatial and temporal variability in the relative contribution of different constituents to the total absorption coefficient at 440 nm, the particle single scattering albedo, and the specific inherent optical properties. This work has significant implications for the accuracy of standard ocean color remote sensing algorithms in coastal waters during flood events.