Integrated Coral Rubble Vulnerability Map of the Great Barrier Reef, 1950-2022

A 1988x2707 pixel raster map integrates six historical environmental stressors from 1950 to 2022 into a single vulnerability score for the Great Barrier Reef. The map, produced by the RRAP Rubble Stabilisation project at QUT, combines data on cyclonic waves, currents, cyclone tracks, heatwaves, crown-of-thorns starfish, and tsunamis. It is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in July 2026.

Use Cases

• Prioritizing reef restoration sites based on integrated vulnerability scores.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of coral rubble risk from cyclones and heatwaves.
• Modeling cumulative environmental stress on reefs from multiple historical sources.

Strengths

• Integrates six distinct environmental stressor datasets spanning up to 72 years (1950-2022).
• Provides a standardized vulnerability score on a common 0.005° raster grid for spatial consistency.
• The methodology is detailed, including specific data sources and reclassification into five categories.

Limitations

• The model assigns equal weight to all six variables, which may not reflect their true relative importance.
• It does not account for reef topology, coral production rates, or the fact some inshore areas are not coral reefs.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

RRAP Rubble Stabilisation project at QUT, via Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Integration and reclassification of multiple spatial datasets using ArcGIS Pro.

Time Range

1950 to 2022 (varies by stressor dataset).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 18:41:05.785289; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Barrier Reef, Australia.