Field and laboratory measurements of suspended-sediment particle size and concentration from nine rivers draining to the Great Barrier Reef (Q6720135)

Dataset includes in-situ (n = 144,912) and laboratory-dispersed (n = 64) particle size measurements collected using laser diffractometry from nine riversdischarging along 800 km of Great Barrier Reef, Queensland Australia coastline. Two field campaigns (24 February to 5 March 2021 and24th to 31st of April 2021)were undertaken to collect vertical profiles of in-situ particle size, water velocity, turbidity, and salinity. Water samples were collectedfor analysis of laboratory-dispersedparticle size and suspended-sediment concentration.Water samples were collected usingUS-P61 orVan-Dorn samplers deployed alongside a LISST 200x laser diffractometer and an EXO2 YSI multiparameter water quality sonde. Total depth and water velocity were measured using a Nortek Signature ADCP and Teledyne RiverRay ADCP during the first and second field campaigns, respectively. During both campaigns, measurements were undertaken during relatively high discharge events when discharge exceeded the 90th percentile of 2020/2021 gauged wet season flows. Data areprovided in three csv files. In_situ_data.csv contains in situ measurements of particle size, turbidity, salinity, and depth along with estimates of shear rate. Shear rate is estimated from theory and measurements of ADCP-measured total depth anddepth-averaged flow(see equation 2 ofLivsey etal., 2022). Lab_data_this_study.csv contains particle size measurements of suspended-sediment following laboratory dispersion along with coeval measurementsof in-situ particle size, turbidity, salinity, and shear rate averaged over the filling time of the US-P61 sampler. Lab_data_DES_WQI.csv contains laboratory dispersed particle size measurements collected by theDepartment of Environment and Science Water Quality Investigation Unit of Queensland Australia (Turner et al., 2013)and compared to data in Lab_data_this_study.csv inLivsey et al (2022). Further details of the data collection effort and interpretation of the data are published in Livsey et al (2022) athttps://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017988. Additional data from the24 February to 5 March 2021 field campaign, funded by CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere,are available from Crosswell et al (2022) athttps://doi.org/10.25919/2vbh-cx08. References: Crosswell, Joey; Carlin, Geoff; Daniel, Livsey; Hillyer, Katie; Steven, Andy (2022): FNQ_2021_V01 Voyage dataset: Feb - March 2021; Biogeochemical and hydrodynamic obervations along the river-reef continuum of estuaries in eastern Cape York, Australia. v1. CSIRO. Data Collection. 10.25919/2vbh-cx08 Livsey, D. L., Crosswell, J. R., Turner, R. R., Steven, A. D. L., Grace, P. R. (2022) Flocculation of riverine sediment draining to the Great Barrier Reef, implications for monitoring and modelling of sediment dispersal across continental shelves.Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017988 Turner. R, Huggins. R, Wallace. R, Smith. R, Vardy. S, Warne. M St. J. (2013). Total suspended solids, nutrient, and pesticide loads (2010-2011) for rivers that discharge to the Great Barrier Reef Great Barrier Reef Catchment Loads Monitoring 2010-2011 Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Brisbane.