The Resilient Reefs Network (RRN) guidance tool is a dashboard that will support your investigation of environmental pressures affecting areas across the Great Barrier Reef.
Note: most data refer exclusively to Austral summer (December to March) events, specifically from 1 November to 30 April each year. See 'Newest data' note in each graph on the dashboard, and check axis for details.
The Resilient Reefs Network (RRN) guidance tool is a dashboard that will support your investigation of environmental pressures affecting areas across the Great Barrier Reef.
Introduction
The RRN dashboard allows users to identify and map the disturbance history and the potential for recovery and resilience of individual reefs within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Data has been collated from multiple sources, including remote sensing based environmental exposure mapping and hydrodynamic modelling tools (see Data attributions (page 3) for sources). Resilience potential is based on dynamic exposure and connectivity mapping as well as other monitoring and modelling information. Reefs that are more resilient will likely play a more important role in supporting the health of the overall Great Barrier Reef system.
The RRN dashboard includes:
- Individual acute disturbances—pulse-type stressors
- Chronic pressure—press-type stressors
- Disturbance history
- Resilience Potential Quadrants
Cautions for dashboard use and interpretation
Be aware when interpreting the information found in the RRN Dashboard, keep the following in mind.
More information can be found in the Support information and instructions section.
Disturbance history considers modelled exposure to pressures at an intensity that is expected to lead to coral mortality. Data include:
- Bleaching potential (thermal exposure): 5 km resolution, global scale
- Cyclones: 1–5 km resolution, GBR scale
- Crown-of-thorns starfish: ca. 5 m resolution, within reef scale
Disturbance history refers to pressures included as 'Disturbances' with defined thresholds that when crossed, can result in coral mortality.
Recovery Potential is improved if a reef is connected via water currents to an important source reef (which has the potential to provide coral larvae to other reefs) and reduced if exposed to coastal waters (e.g. flood plumes can be stressful for corals by increasing the sediment and nutrient loads in their surrounding waters):
- Coral larvae connectivity: 4 km resolution, GBR scale
- Coastal water: 500 m resolution, GBR scale
Coastal waters data used here is 'wet season water colour', which is derived from satellite remote sensing and provides an indication of the level of sediment and/or nutrients in the surface waters. This data cannot be directly linked to coral mortality. It does, however, provide an insight into conditions which may hinder coral recovery.
The position of the reef dot on the resilience potential quadrants diagram on the dashboard is translated into an index (single number) on the GBR overview on the maps in page 2.
Please also note:
Content is Draft and for Official Use only. Screenshots currently require approval.
If you would like to share screenshots of this dashboard with your external colleagues for specific project purposes, please use this template.
Some parts of this application may not work unless you’re using recent versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, or Microsoft Edge.
We do not recommend using this tool on a small screen, such as a mobile device.
Support information and instructions content list
Use the content list below to navigate the instructions, support information and definitions for the the RRN Dashboard.
Content list
- Context: Linkages to the Blueprint for Resilience
- Filters
- Maps
- Individual acute disturbances—pulse-type stressors
- Cumulative Exposure
- Chronic pressure—press-type stressors
- Resilience Potential Quadrants
- Resilience Potential Index
- Recovery Potential
- Additional datasets
- Extra information
Context: Linkages to the Blueprint for Resilience
By early 2017, the Great Barrier Reef had faced an unprecedented combination of system impacts: two consecutive years of mass coral bleaching, category 4 tropical cyclone Debbie, and a major crown-of-thorns starfish outbreak that has been ongoing since 2010. In 2017, the Authority convened the Great Barrier Reef Summit – Managing for Resilience to help craft a blueprint to navigate a future characterised by uncertainty and accelerating change. The resulting Great Barrier Reef Blueprint for Resilience (the Blueprint) outlines additional actions and innovative approaches the Authority will pursue with its partners to maximize the Reef’s resilience in the face of a changing climate.
The Resilient Reefs Network is a core outcome of the Blueprint. It aims to enhance our understanding of reefs and provide context and guidance on the best locations and times to target management actions.
Filters
Main controls
Location on dashboard: Along the top (page 1 and 2)
You can search for particular reefs by either the reef name or reef ID. There is also the option to filter your search by:
- Marine Park zoning
- GBRMPA management areas
- Bioregions
- Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreements (TUMRA)
- 'Surveyed' field—hover over list items to see full description of included monitoring/surveying programs
- AIMS Long Term Monitoring Program (LTMP)
- AIMS Marine Monitoring Program (MMP coral monitoring)
- GBRMPA JCU Inshore Rezoning Monitoring Study
- GBRMPA Bleaching Response Surveys (either 2016/17 bleaching event, or the 2019/20 bleaching event)
- Eye on the Reef (EotR) RHIS surveys undertaken between 2010-2019 (minimum of 9 surveys per reef)
- Upwelling and deep water intrusion areas
- AIMS field sectors
Selections will restrict the other filters, e.g. only options relevant to the selected reef(s) will remain.
For example: Choose Ribbon No. 10 by either typing “ribbon” or its ID: “14-146” and then choose from options. Ribbon No. 10 doesn’t fall within a TUMRA or Upwelling/Intrusion area, and is not part of one of monitoring programs (AIMS LTMP, MMP or JCU Inshore reefs), but has been surveyed as part of the Authority’s Eye on the Reef “Reef Health Impact Survey” Program.
Page 1 filters
Satellite Map
Location on dashboard: corresponding to the map on left side (page 1)
- Resilience Potential (top right filter)—defaults to showing the reefs' resilience potential based on the 'last 10 years'. If you would like to see other time periods, see the Period filter in the Resilience Potential Quadrants graph (top right box)—choose "Select all" and this will enable a choice of resilience potential scores from the different time periods.
- Quadrants (middle right filter)—allows filtering to reefs that fall into specific resilience potential quadrants only. Does not constrain the Main filters along the top
Resilience Potential Quadrants graph
Location on dashboard: top right plot (page 1)
- Period (time)—allows filtering to each of the three time periods considered (last summer, last 10 years and last 25 years). I.e. only data collected within the time period was combined/summarised
Page 2 filters
Resilience Potential Quadrants
Location on dashboard: top filter
- Resilience Potential Quadrants—allows filtering to reefs that fall into specific quadrants only—corresponds to all four maps on the page
Individual Pressures
Location on dashboard: top left of far left map
- Individual Pressures—corresponds to left side map only. Enables selection of the available pulse- and press-type stressors for which data has been considered. Use in combination with the Austral Summer filter (described below)—if individual pressures are missing, check which years are selected—potentially no data for that pressure-type.
- cot (modelled) mean per tow: Modelled annual (fiscal) estimates of COTS density on reefs— this is shown on the graph on page 1
- cot_meanpertow: Observed estimates of annual COTS severity on reefs (EotR RHIS data and manta tow surveys from AIMS and GBRMPA’s Reef Joint Field Management Program and COTS Control Program)
- cyc_sumHrs4mw: Predicted number of hours each reef has been exposed to >4m waves each fiscal year
- sst_maxdhw: Predicted number of Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) each reefs has been exposed to each fiscal year. SST = sea surface temperature. DHW is a measure of accumulated heat stress on a reef
- wqc_freqcc15: Exposure frequency to coastal waters—combined primary and secondary water types during cloud free wet season weeks each fiscal year
Austral Summer
Location on dashboard: top right of far left map
- Austral Summer—corresponds to left side map only. Enables selection of individual fiscal years. Use in combination with the Individual Pressure filter (described above)—if particular years are missing, check which pressures are selected—potentially no data for that year.
This filter affects the left-side table below the map (data restricted to only the time periods selected).
Period
Location on dashboard: spanning middle to right side of dashboard in grey
- Time period—corresponds to three right hand side maps only. Allows filtering to each of the three time periods considered (last summer, last 10 years and last 25 years). I.e. only data collected within the time period was combined/summarised.
This filter affects the right-side table below the maps (data restricted to only the time periods selected).
Severity categories
Location on dashboard: top right of all maps
Enables filtering to different levels of severity:
- Exposure Categories—left side map. Filter so only consider reefs with None, Low, Medium, High or Very High exposure to the chosen pressure in the chosen year(s). This filter cannot be used in conjunction with the associated table (left hand side)
The next three filters filter so only consider reefs with different categories of the metrics. These filters interact with the other two maps (e.g. Disturbance Categories also affects which reefs are shown on the Recovery Potential map and the Resilience Potential map)
- Disturbance Categories—centre left map: Cumulative Exposure
- Recovery Potential Categories—centre right map: Recovery Potential
- Resilience Potential Categories—far right map: Resilience Potential
Maps
Hover over points on the map to get Reef ID and associated value(s)
Page 1 satellite map and details above it
Location on dashboard: left column (page 1)
Once a reef is selected (e.g. Ribbon No. 10) its location will appear on the map and information about the reef will be displayed above the map. Hover over the blue zone heading to see the full list of zones for that reef.
Map point colours represent which Resilience Potential Quadrant the reef(s) fall in.
Additional filters: Time Period—choose particular periods of interest (last summer, last 10 years, or last 25 years) or all time periods (recommended for individual reefs only)
For example: Ribbon No. 10 is predominantly within a Marine National Park zone, located within the Cairns/Cooktown Management Area, and classified primarily as an Outer Barrier Reef Bioregion. Considering the previous 10 years (2009-10 to 2018-19), Ribbon No. 10 was a “High Disturbance, High Recovery”.
Page 2 Maps
Individual Pressure map
Location on dashboard: far left side (page 2)
Function: Use to explore the individual pressures (both pulse- and press-type stressors) that affect the reefs.
Additional filters: Resilience Potential Quadrants, Individual Pressures (COTS, cyclones, sea surface temperature, water quality), Austral Summer (annual fiscal years) and Exposure Categories (levels of severity)
For example: With All Reefs and Resilience Potential Quadrants selected, and choosing Individual Pressures = cyc_sumHrs4mw and Austral Summer = ‘10/11, the map shows the exposure footprint of Tropical Cyclone Yasi on the Reef.
Cumulative Exposure, Recovery Potential and Resilience Potential maps
Location on dashboard: three right side maps (page 2)
Function: Use to explore the combined metrics:
- Cumulative Exposure: relates to sea surface temperature, cyclones and crown-of-thorns starfish
- Recovery Potential: relates to connectivity to coral larval source reefs and low exposure to coastal waters
- Resilience Potential: a combination of the two above
Additional filters: Resilience Potential Quadrants, Period, the severity categories for each map
For example: With All Reefs selected, and choosing Resilience Potential Quadrants = “High Disturbance, High Recovery” (HDHR), Period = “Last 10 years”, and Disturbance Categories = “0.5-0.6”, the cumulative exposure maps show the reefs in the HDHR category, with lower level disturbance categories, and their corresponding Recovery Potential categories (centre right map) and Resilience Potential categories (right map).
The right-side table is linked to these selections
Individual acute disturbances—pulse-type stressors
Location on dashboard: graphs in the centre column (page 1).
Also shown as a GBR overview (page 2 left map)—select the filters to choose individual pressures in different summer periods
Thermal Exposure—blue bars
Location on dashboard: top middle column (page 1)
This graph allows you to quickly assess if satellite remote sensing has identified conditions indicative of coral bleaching on your selected reef. DHW is a measure of accumulated heat stress on a reef over a 12-week period. It is directly related to the timing and intensity of coral bleaching. Significant coral bleaching usually occurs when the DHW value reaches 4 °C-weeks. By the time the DHW value reaches 8 °C-weeks, severe, widespread bleaching is likely and significant mortality can be expected.
For example: In June 2020, Ribbon No. 10 had exceeded six-degree heating weeks in three out of the previous five years—crossing a threshold for coral bleaching (coral mortality is expected to occur).
Location on dashboard: far left map (page 2)
Select 'sst_maxdhw' from the Individual Pressures filter.
Cyclonic Wave Exposure—orange bars
Location on dashboard: centre middle column (page 1)
Cyclone wave exposure shows if a reef has been exposed to significant wave heights of four metres or higher over time. Cyclone generated waves can be very damaging to a reef. If a reef is exposed to greater than four metre waves for four to six hours, catastrophic wave damage is likely. Once exposure passes six hours, the risk of catastrophic wave damage is elevated to very likely.
For example: In June 2020, Ribbon No. 10 had last experienced catastrophic cyclones in the 2014-15 summer (Tropical Cyclone Nathan—category 4).
Hover over the data bars to see tooltips on which cyclones affected the Great Barrier Reef system in each high risk season.
Location on dashboard: far left map (page 2)
Select 'cyc_sumHrs4mw' from the Individual Pressures filter.
Crown-of-thorns Starfish Exposure—yellow bars
Location on dashboard: bottom middle column (page 1)
Although a native predator on the Great Barrier Reef, Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) can devastate a reef if the rate of predation exceeds the rate of coral growth. When monitoring for COTS, if 0.22 starfish per manta tow are observed, that reef is considered to be under an “active starfish outbreak”. Note that we still know very little about COTS densities for most reefs in the Marine Park, especially through time.
For example: While no COTS were observed at Ribbon No. 10 over the summers of 2018-19 and 2019-20, this was likely to be because the Authority’s COTS Control Program had been operating at that location. Future versions of the dashboard will highlight reefs that have undergone culling
Location on dashboard: far left map (page 2)
Select 'cot_meanpertow' or 'cot (modelled) mean per tow' from the Individual Pressures filter.
Thresholds
| Pressure | Metric | Lower | Mid | Upper | Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thermal Stress | DHW | >4 – Significant coral bleaching expected | >6 | >8 – Widespread coral bleaching likely and significant coral mortality can be expected | Max. no. degree heating weeks per year |
| Cyclones | 4MW | >1 – Possible to have experienced catastrophic damage | >4 – Likely to have experienced catastrophic damage | >6 – Very likely to have experienced catastrophic damage | No. hours exposed to >4m waves per year |
| Crown of thorn starfish | COTS | >0.11 – Potential outbreak | >0.22 – Established outbreak | >8 – Severe outbreak | Max. no. animals per manta tow |
Cumulative Exposure
Location on dashboard: right column centre graph (purple bars) (page 1). Shown as a GBR overview on page 2 (centre left plot)
Cumulative exposure is an analysis done to evaluate the combined effect of these three disturbances/pressures (thermal stress, cyclones and crown-of-thorns starfish) on the Reef.
The individual reefs are compared against each other for three time periods—the last summer only, the last 10 years and the last 25 years. A value of 1 represents the worst case that any reef was exposed to across the time period selected.
For example: In June 2020, Ribbon No. 10 had experienced
-
less disturbance than about half the other reefs in the Marine Park, last summer (2019-20)—cumulative exposure score of 0.50,
-
close to maximum disturbance experienced by any of the reefs in the Marine Park over the last 10 years—cumulative exposure score of 0.98,
-
less disturbance than about a quarter of the other reefs in the Marine Park over the last 25 years—cumulative exposure score of 0.69.
Chronic pressure—press-type stressors
Chronic pressure is not known to directly cause coral mortality, but affects a reef's potential to recover from disturbances.
Coastal Waters—green bars
Location on dashboard: bottom right graph (page 1). Shown as GBR overview on page 2 (left plot once filters are chosen appropriately)
This graph allows you to quickly see how much freshwater runoff from floods and resuspended sediments reached a reef. A value of 1 means the reef was exposed almost daily during the summer months. These data are collected from satellite images. No management thresholds are used in this analysis because there is no definitive research that links coral mortality to exposure of coastal waters (only salinity, which is not what is measured here).
For example: On average, Ribbon No. 10 is exposed to negligible quantities of coastal waters—maximum exposure was 10% of the wet season over the 2013/14 summer.
Location on dashboard: far left map (page 2)
Select 'wqc_freqcc15' from the Individual Pressures filter.
Resilience Potential Quadrants
Location on dashboard: top right diagram (page 1). Also shown as GBR overview on left hand map (page 1)
Additional filters: Time Period—choose particular periods of interest (last summer, last 10 years, or last 25 years) or all time periods (recommended for individual reefs only)
The resilience potential quadrants take into account the disturbance history that a particular reef has been exposed to, and the potential for the reef to recover following disturbances in comparison to all other reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. Recovery potential is based on how likely a reef is to receive coral larvae from other reefs (not shown explicitly; see reference on page 3) and the level of hindrance from exposure to coastal waters.
The disturbance model provided considers Cumulative exposure (C. Exp), which includes thermal stress, cyclone wave exposure and presence of COTS. You are given the cumulative exposure value for the past 25 years, 10 years, and the last summer.
For example: Ribbon No. 10 is expected to have high recovery potential compared to the other reefs in the Marine Park. In June 2020, the reef was fairly consistently considered a high disturbance reef across the three time periods (last summer: 2018-19, last 10 years: 2009-10 to 2018-19 and last 25 years: 1994-95 to 2018-19).
Resilience Potential Index
Location on dashboard: right map (page 2)
The position of the reef dot on the resilience quadrants diagram (page 1) is translated into an index (single number) through a geometric transformation. The index allocates ‘high resilience’ to reefs in the top left corner of the quadrants diagram (‘LDHR’) and ‘low resilience’ to reefs in the bottom right corner of the quadrants diagram (‘HDLR’).
The index prioritises reefs that are not expected to have been exposed to significant coral mortality, and with high potential connectivity to coral larval source reefs/low exposure to coastal waters.
For example: Ribbon No. 10 is expected to have a lower resilience potential index compared to three quarters of the other reefs in the Marine Park when considering the last 10 years (2009-10 to 2019-20; score of 0.15). Hover over dot on map or see right hand table.
Recovery Potential
Location on dashboard: centre right map (page 2)
The recovery potential of a reef increases with increased modelled connectivity to coral larval source reefs, and decreases with increased exposure to coastal waters (primary and secondary water colours). See references on page 3
For example: Ribbon No. 10 is expected to have higher recovery potential than at least half of the other reefs in the Marine Park when considering the last 10 years (2009-10 to 2019-20; score of 0.64). Hover over dot on map or see right hand table.
Additional datasets
Eye on the Reef surveys
Location on dashboard: bottom left of map (page 1)
Number of Eye on the Reef surveys that have been collected on the reefs showcased on the map, separated by three sub-programs: Reef Health Impact Surveys (RHIS), Rapid Monitoring and Tourism Weekly surveys (Figure 2).
For example: Between 1 July 2010 and 29 August 2020, Ribbon No. 10 was surveyed under three of the Eye on the Reef survey programs: 65 RHIS, 24 Rapid and 448 Tourism Weekly surveys. Note that the map currently only displays surveys from three of the six EotR data streams (Figure 2)
Wave Exposure
Location on dashboard: centre right figure—"wave roses" (page 1)
This figure shows results from a model to determine the maximum significant wave height that can be generated by cyclones at each reef. Note that some reefs are bounded by islands, so will not receive waves from that direction.
For example: The maximum modelled significant wave height at Ribbon No. 10 would come from the north-east, east and south-easterly directions.
Extra information
Location on dashboard: top right banner (page 3)
Date of the last whole-of-dashboard update
Location on dashboard: top right corner of all bar graphs (page 1)
Dates or time period (e.g. Summer 2018/19) of most recent data contained within the plots