Environmetrics Australia has announced the development of a suite of models for the prediction of water column turbidity and benthic photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) for time periods of hours to months into the future.
This unique capability is the result of years of extensive R&D in support of improved environmental decision-making for major dredging projects in Australia.
For the first time, managers of dredging projects have the ability to ascertain likely turbidity and light levels in affected areas from 1 day ahead to months ahead, allowing operations to be planned to minimise environmental harm and costly shut-downs.
A semi-automated system is currently being used to assist operational staff on one of Australia’s biggest dredging projects to anticipate critical periods of high turbidity and low light.
Baseline forecasts of background light and turbidity conditions are updated every day by integrating the outputs of regional weather models as well as calibrating against recent field measurements. Graphical and numerical summaries, together with a prognosis for the next 48 hours form the basis of a daily bulletin which is emailed to key dredging staff.
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Press Release, November 28, 2012