The Final Australia Field Campaign – Alice Springs Litter Baseline

Our marine debris researchers have been busy with fieldwork during the first half of this year. In April, TJ and Kathy were joined by some new researchers, Leah and Olivia, to complete the final litter surveys for our Australian plastic pollution baseline project.

Did you know that nearly one fifth of Australia (18%) is covered in desert. To get a true picture of plastic pollution across Australia, we needed to venture away from the coast and into Central Australia. This time, our researchers headed to Australia’s ‘Red Centre’, Alice Springs, situated in the Simpson Desert. With no ocean or coastline, the researchers could only survey inland and river environments. Unlike other metropolitan regions in Australia, the majority of rivers in Alice Springs have dry riverbeds, making it a unique survey experience for our researchers. The days were hot, the nights were freezing and the flies were relentless! While the researchers were in Alice Springs, they connected with the fabulous Low Ecological Services team and trained them in the CSIRO Plastic Litter Monitoring methods. Some of the trained colleagues joined the CSIRO researchers for a few days to complete the baseline surveys.

	Red sand and spiky spinifex grass, a typical desert environment surveyed during the Alice Springs campaign. Image credit: Kathy Willis.
	TJ (centre) explaining how to access and survey the dry riverbed site to Leah (left) and Olivia (right). Image credit: Kathy Willis.
	A gorgeous dry riverbed lined with iconic river red gums. This is what the majority of rivers look like in Alice Springs during the dry season.
	Views from an inland survey site. Due to recent heavy rains earlier in the year, the iconic red desert was transformed into a green oasis! Image credit: Kathy Willis.