Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/11343/347

Filters

2021 1
Reset filters

Settings
Statistics
Citations
Author: Western, Andrew × Author: Guo, Danlu × Start date: 2020 × End date: 2022 × Type: Preprint ×

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    A Bayesian approach to understanding the key factors influencing temporal variability in stream water quality: a case study in the Great Barrier Reef catchments
    Liu, S ; Ryu, D ; Webb, JA ; Lintern, A ; Guo, D ; Waters, D ; Western, AW ( 2021-01-12)
    Abstract. Stream water quality is highly variable both across space and time. Water quality monitoring programs have collected a large amount of data that provide a good basis to investigate the key drivers of spatial and temporal variability. Event-based water quality monitoring data in the Great Barrier Reef catchments in northern Australia provides an opportunity to further our understanding of water quality dynamics in sub-tropical and tropical regions. This study investigated nine water quality constituents, including sediments, nutrients and salinity, with the aim of: 1) identifying the influential environmental drivers of temporal variation in flow event concentrations; and 2) developing a modelling framework to predict the temporal variation in water quality at multiple sites simultaneously. This study used a hierarchical Bayesian model averaging framework to explore the relationship between event concentration and catchment-scale environmental variables (e.g., runoff, rainfall and groundcover conditions). Key factors affecting the temporal changes in water quality varied among constituent concentrations, as well as between catchments. Catchment rainfall and runoff affected in-stream particulate constituents, while catchment wetness and vegetation cover had more impact on dissolved nutrient concentration and salinity. In addition, in large dry catchments, antecedent catchment soil moisture and vegetation had a large influence on dissolved nutrients, which highlights the important effect of catchment hydrological connectivity on pollutant mobilisation and delivery.