Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring in Russell-Mulgrave Catchment, 2016-2020

From 2016 to 2020, this dataset contains results from a real-time water quality monitoring program across the Russell-Mulgrave catchment south of Cairns. It was produced under NESP TWQ projects 2.1.7 and 4.8, aggregating 2-3 hourly in situ measurements of stream height and nitrate concentrations from 9 sites representing sugarcane, urban, banana, and rainforest land uses. The data is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Analyzing nitrate concentration trends over time based on 2-3 hourly sensor readings.
• Comparing water quality signatures across different land-use categories (sugarcane, urban, banana, rainforest).
• Quantifying the specific impact of sugarcane industry activities on end-of-catchment water quality.
• Evaluating the reliability of real-time sensor technologies for water quality monitoring at multiple spatial scales.

Strengths

• Data spans a 5-year period from 2016 to 2020, covering two consecutive research projects.
• Includes high-frequency, 2-3 hourly in situ measurements of key parameters like nitrate concentration and stream height.
• Monitoring design covers 9 distinct sites selected to represent major regional land-use types.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is under an 18-month embargo period from the completion of project NESP TWQ 4.8.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data.gov.au, associated with NESP TWQ projects 2.1.7 and 4.8.

Collection Method

Real-time water quality monitoring using in situ sensors and telemetry, integrated with traditional discrete sample collection for laboratory analysis.

Time Range

2016-2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 14:47:19.579993; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Russell-Mulgrave catchment, south of Cairns, Queensland, Australia.