Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) scientists have found more than 1000 previously uncharted coral reefs in northern Australia.
It says the reefs from Houtman Abrolhos in Western Australia through to western Cape York in Queensland had mostly been “invisible” and overlooked in the past.
The research revealed that northern Australia has as many reefs as the famous Great Barrier Reef, however many of the reefs are much smaller.
The Marine and Coastal Hub project, led by AIMS in partnership with the University of Queensland (UQ), unveiled the reefs that were typically hidden in sediment-rich waters.
AIMS e-Atlas Project Manager Dr Eric Lawrey said the rise of satellite technology allowed researchers to view coral reefs that were not on any maps.
The reefs were often in murky waters, making them hard to see, even on clear days.
“If you look at any one satellite image, the water just looks like turquoise paint and you can’t really see reefs,” he said.
“But if we overlay 200 images of the area, taken at different times, to create a composite image, all the swirly patterns of the moving water move around and average out while the reefs are constant.
“Their signal gets reinforced and they become much clearer. It allows us to peek deeper into the water column than we could in one image.”
Previously, most of the northern Australian coastline was unsurveyed, AIMS said in a statement.
“The best mapping of northern Australia could be found in the marine charts which did not distinguish between coral reefs and rocky reefs as they were simply designed to warn vessels to stay clear,” it said.
“By revealing what lies beneath northern Australia’s coastal waters, this project is supporting stronger protection for marine ecosystems that have long gone unnoticed.”
