TropWATER and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
TropWATER and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2021 May;166:112243. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112243. Epub 2021 Mar 16.
There is a concern that the Fly River plume from Papua New Guinea (PNG) may be delivering mine-derived polluted mud along the southern PNG coast into the northern Torres Strait, which is the northernmost extent of the Great Barrier Reef. To quantify this threat, the mud transport dynamics along the southern PNG coast were studied using the SLIM model. The model was qualitatively verified using historical field data on sediment dynamics and compared with more recent satellite-derived turbidity data. During strong south east winds and spring tides, about 5.4% of the Fly River mud discharge enters the Torres Strait, in agreement with previous field-derived results. The annual net movement of mud is westward, thus polluted Fly River mud progressively intrudes into Torres Strait. This intrusion is slow and may take a century to reach in significant quantities at Saibai Island, the nearest Australian island to the Fly River. Field data are needed to fully validate the model and provide greater confidence in these results.
人们担心巴布亚新几内亚（PNG）的弗莱河羽流可能会将矿山衍生的污染泥浆沿着 PNG 南部海岸输送到托雷斯海峡北部，而托雷斯海峡是大堡礁的最北端。为了量化这种威胁，使用 SLIM 模型研究了沿 PNG 南部海岸的泥浆输送动态。该模型使用泥沙动力学的历史现场数据进行了定性验证，并与最近的卫星衍生浊度数据进行了比较。在强东南风和大潮期间，大约 5.4%的弗莱河泥浆排放量进入托雷斯海峡，这与以前的现场得出的结果一致。泥浆的年净移动方向是向西，因此污染的弗莱河泥浆逐渐侵入托雷斯海峡。这种入侵速度缓慢，可能需要一个世纪的时间才能在距离弗莱河最近的澳大利亚岛屿赛拜岛大量到达。需要现场数据来充分验证模型，并对这些结果更有信心。
