Compilation of riverine water quality data from the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, northeastern Australia

James, Cassandra, Bainbridge, Zoe, Lewis, Stephen, Clech-Goods, Celine, Mann, Reinier, Huggins, Raethea, Orr, David, Welk, Kylee, Liu, Shuci, Agnew, Gordon, Bartley, Rebecca, Bramley, Robert, Buckle, Alicia, Cogle, Lex, Cross, Matthew, Davis, Aaron, Devlin, Michelle ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2194-2534, Eyre, Bradley D., Faithful, John, Furnas, Miles, Godfrey, Paul, Gruber, Renee, Hawdon, Aaron, Howley, Christina, Hunter, Heather, Kennard, Mark, Laxton, Emma, Mackay, Stephen, McJannet, David, Nash, Michael, O’Brien, Dominique, Oudyn, Fred, Pearson, Richard, Rohde, Ken, Tink, Michelle and Moss, Andrew (2025) Compilation of riverine water quality data from the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, northeastern Australia. Scientific Data, 12 (1). ISSN 2052-4463

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Abstract

This manuscript describes the collation of available water quality data from the freshwater reaches of surface streams within the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, northeastern Australia. This compilation represents one of the most comprehensive online datasets for historical tropical and subtropical freshwater quality around the world. We document the criteria for selection of the data and associated publications as well as the processes of data cleaning used to produce a qualitative assessment of the datasets. The final compilation includes 41 individual datasets that collectively report 466 sites and contain over 26,000 discrete water quality sample records totaling more than 350,000 unique water quality results. Finally, we outline the nuances of the data that end users need to take into account when combining them for spatial and temporal analyses. The dataset ensures that these valuable water quality data collected over the past four decades are preserved for the next generations of researchers, practitioners, management agencies and policy makers.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	We dedicate this paper to all the pioneering water quality practitioners for their service to the Great Barrier Reef Catchment Area and particularly to the memory of Alan Mitchell, Jon Brodie, John Laxton and Steve Blake. The first comprehensive compilation of water quality data from the GBRCA was performed by Alan Mitchell and colleagues from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, James Cook University, Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations and Griffith University whose work provided the foundation to develop nutrient budgets for the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. We also acknowledge the often-underappreciated skilled laboratory technicians who carefully prepared and analysed the water quality samples. This compilation was funded by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and managed by the Queensland Government Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI). Andrew Moss (DETSI) initiated, obtained funding and managed this project. We gratefully acknowledge Madeline McKenzie, Mellissa Elliman, Jai McKay and Declan Cargill (JCU TropWATER) for undertaking data checks. The following people provided dataset assistance to this project: John Armour, Angela Arthington, Barry Butler, Robert Congdon, Rob De Hayr, Cameron Dougall, Grant Fraser, Anne Henderson, Sarit Kaserzon, Adam King, Trish Knavel, Jack Koci, Chris Manning, Bronwyn Masters, Carl Mitchell, Michael Nash, David Neil, Andrew Novic, Bob Packett, George Rayment, Laura Shields, Mark Silburn, Craig Thornton, Ryan Turner, Jane Waterhouse, Dave Waters and Bofu Yu. We acknowledge the relevant natural resource management bodies of the Great Barrier Reef catchment area for supporting several of the earlier WQ monitoring programs especially Terrain NRM, North Queensland Dry Tropics, Herbert Cane Productivity Services Ltd and the Fitzroy Basin Association. We also thank the Burnett Catchment Care Association, the Townsville City Council (Sustainability and Environmental Services) and the Sunshine Coast Council as dataset custodians and for providing these data. We are grateful to Shelley Templeman for invaluable discussions on metals and pesticides, Michele Skuza on earlier AIMS laboratory methods, and the Townsville Laboratory Services and Cairns Regional Council Laboratory Services for their assistance with our laboratory methods compilation.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	statistics and probability,information systems,education,computer science applications,statistics, probability and uncertainty,library and information sciences ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2600/2613
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Centres > Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas
Related URLs:	https://www.scopus.com/pages/publication...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	02 Jul 2026 12:06
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2026 17:39
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/103602
DOI:	10.1038/s41597-025-04534-7

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