Sensitivity of coral cays to climatic variations, southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Flood, P. G.

doi:10.1007/bf00302166

Cited by 67 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…However, attributing the role of each factor in island change has yet to be definitively resolved. At interannual to decadal timescales variations in wind conditions (e.g., El-Nino Southern Oscillation variations) and their influence on physical processes on reef surfaces (e.g., wave energy and sediment flux) have been shown to govern the morphological and planform changes (migration) of islands (Verstappen, 1954;Flood, 1986;Dawson and Smithers, 2010). Webb and Kench (2010) presented detailed alterations in the planform configuration of atoll islands in the central Pacific over four decades, a period in which sea level had risen 2 mm/yr.…”

Section: Multidecadal-centennial Timescalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reef Island Evolution and Dynamics: Insights from the Indian and Pacific Oceans and Perspectives for the Spermonde Archipelago

Kench

Mann

2017

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Along southwestern Sulawesi, Indonesia, the Spermonde Archipelago comprises some 120 islands of variable size and degree of anthropogenic modification. Comparable to adjacent areas in Southeast Asia, the Spermonde Archipelago is characterized by the congregation of a naturally high marine biodiversity and, at the same time, a high population density influencing the surrounding environmental conditions. As a consequence, during the last decades, research projects that have been carried out in the Spermonde mainly focused on social, ecological, political and economic interactions. However, geological and geomorphological aspects of the coral reef islands are less well understood and there have been few studies undertaken since the pioneering work of Umbgrove, Kuenen, and Verstappen in the Indonesian archipelago in the early to mid-twentieth century. Here we review the existing studies, with a focus on the Spermonde Archipelago, and reconcile them with more recent works on reef island evolution and dynamics from the Indian and Pacific Oceans. This synthesis shows that reef islands in the Spermonde Archipelago are well suited for geomorphological investigations, and provides perspectives for future reef island research in that area that will have global interest. We identify four research priorities: (1) To identify the timing and chronology of island formation; (2) Improved understanding of carbonate budgets and sediment generation that contribute to island building; (3) Document morphological changes in reef islands at seasonal to decadal timescales, and; (4) Quantify the process regime that drives sediment transport and island change with particular focus on the role of different monsoon seasons.

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Section: Multidecadal-centennial Timescalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reef Island Evolution and Dynamics: Insights from the Indian and Pacific Oceans and Perspectives for the Spermonde Archipelago

Kench

Mann

2017

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…To determine errors related to the digitization (D i ) of the different polylines, we adopted the approach from Ford [33,42] and calculated the standard deviation in shoreline positions after the same shoreline section was repeatedly digitized. This procedure was applied to all resolutions and resulted in values ranging from 0.3 to 1.1 m. The total uncertainty U t [43] is given by: (6) and ranged in this study from 0.7 to 3.2 m. Uncertainties with WLR rates of long-term shoreline change were computed at a 2σ confidence interval.…”

Section: Quality and Uncertainties Of Data Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gourlay [5] noted that the shoreline orientation of coral reef islands is influenced by cyclones and climate variations (i.e., changing wind directions). Flood [6] argued that wind directions fluctuate as a result of long-term climatic oscillations such as a change in the predominant wind direction, the occurrence of cyclones and seasonal variations. Wind data for Takú Atoll do not indicate a long-term shift in wind direction [40], and tropical cyclones are uncommon between 5°N and 5°S [50].…”

Section: Driving Mechanisms Of Extreme Shoreline Positionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Waves and currents transport biogenic calcareous sands and gravels from the reef crest and onto the reef flat where islands form [5]. The reef platform promotes refraction and diffraction of waves on the reef flat [6,7]. Resulting patterns of wave propagation control the entrainment and transport (supported by currents generated by winds, tides and wave pumping) of sediments to areas of least current velocity (i.e., nodal point) where the sediment load is deposited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing Long-Term Changes in the Beach Width of Reef Islands Based on Temporally Fragmented Remote Sensing Data

Mann

Westphal

2014

Remote Sensing

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Atoll islands are subject to a variety of processes that influence their geomorphological development. Analysis of historical shoreline changes using remotely sensed images has become an efficient approach to both quantify past changes and estimate future island response. However, the detection of long-term changes in beach width is challenging mainly for two reasons: first, data availability is limited for many remote Pacific islands. Second, beach environments are highly dynamic and strongly influenced by seasonal or episodic shoreline oscillations. Consequently, remote-sensing studies on beach morphodynamics of atoll islands deal with dynamic features covered by a low sampling frequency. Here we present a study of beach dynamics for nine islands on Takú Atoll, Papua New Guinea, over a seven-decade period. A considerable chronological gap between aerial photographs and satellite images was addressed by applying a new method that reweighted positions of the beach limit by identifying "outlier" shoreline positions. On top of natural beach variability observed along the reweighted beach sections, we found that one third of the analyzed islands show a statistically significant decrease in reweighted beach width since 1943. The total loss of beach area for all islands corresponds to 44% of the initial beach area. Variable shoreline trajectories suggest that changes in beach width on Takú Atoll are dependent on local control (that is, human activity and longshore sediment transport). Our results show that remote imagery with a low sampling frequency may be sufficient to characterize prominent morphological changes in planform beach configuration of reef islands.

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“…The carbonate sediment produced by the growth of reef organisms (Woodroffe and Biribo, 2011) is transported from areas of high wave energy to areas of low wave energy (Beetham and Kench, 2014). These areas of low wave energy, prone to sediment accumulation and island formation, are thought to be a consequence of wave refraction and diffraction on the reef top, which creates zones of wave convergence or nodal points (Flood, 1986;Gourlay, 1988;Kench and Brander, 2006a;Mandlier and Kench, 2012;Mandlier, 2013). Furthermore, the amount of wave energy that propagates and refracts on the reef flat depends on water level (Lugo-Fernández et al, 1998a, 1994 and therefore, fluctuations of wave energy that reach reef islands shorelines are observed at tidal time scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wave and tidally induced processes on Rocas Atoll: geomorphological implications and future projections

Costa¹

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Sensitivity of coral cays to climatic variations, southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Cited by 67 publications

References 7 publications

Reef Island Evolution and Dynamics: Insights from the Indian and Pacific Oceans and Perspectives for the Spermonde Archipelago

Reef Island Evolution and Dynamics: Insights from the Indian and Pacific Oceans and Perspectives for the Spermonde Archipelago

Assessing Long-Term Changes in the Beach Width of Reef Islands Based on Temporally Fragmented Remote Sensing Data

Wave and tidally induced processes on Rocas Atoll: geomorphological implications and future projections

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