News

Satellite view of Southwest England with bright, light blue algal bloom visible in the dark water.

Australia joins with UK to deliver large-scale water quality monitoring from space

Australia’s AquaWatch system, a mission to develop a ‘weather service’ for water quality will be established in the UK, following bilateral support and co-funding from the two countries’ space agencies.

Diver floats underwater looking at a large sea turtle in the foreground.

Meet Janet Anstee: keeping an eye on water

Janet Anstee, Deputy Mission Lead for AquaWatch Australia, is focused on delivering our ‘weather service’ for water quality and driving Indigenous co-design opportunities.

Circular fish farm pen seen from a drone in the Spencer Gulf.

Satellites and seafood: expanding our water quality monitoring

As is tradition, many Aussies celebrating the summer holidays will soon be reaching for the prawns and oysters. One region in South Australia plays a big role in getting seafood to our plates. Spencer Gulf is often referred to as ‘Australia’s seafood basket’, with local aquaculture worth about $238 million a year.

Satellite image showing sediment flow from the Fitzroy River out to Keppel Bay and the Southern Great Barrier Reef.

World-first system to monitor the ‘seafood basket’ of Australia

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has completed initial testing of a ‘weather service’ for water quality in the Spencer Gulf in South Australia – which provides much of the country’s seafood – with plans to use the technology in local seafood farms.

Sentinel-2 satellite orbiting Earth

Out of the blue: Australia’s waters get a health check from above

Our AquaWatch Mission is using satellites to monitor water quality from space. It turns out that getting a satellite's view allows us to not only detect large algal blooms, but also track them as they grow and move.

Brown sediment plume mixes with blue sea water at Darumbal Sea Country Keppel Bay.

Muddy waters: Our ‘weather service’ for water quality arrives at the Great Barrier Reef

Near the Southern Great Barrier Reef, the Fitzroy River disperses sediment in brown plumes into the sea, impacting the environment and tourism in the area. Enter our AquaWatch mission.

AquaWatch sensor is lower into the water at Keppel Bay Darumbal Sea Country.

CSIRO deploys world-first sensors in Southern Great Barrier Reef

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has installed specialised sensors on Darumbal Sea Country in the Southern Great Barrier Reef to help monitor and forecast sediment run-off, which impacts the UNESCO World Heritage site’s marine ecosystem.