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Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi: Impacts on Nearshore Reefs of the Central-Northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia

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Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi: Impacts on Nearshore Reefs of the Central-Northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi: impacts on nearshore reefs of the central-northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia 1. Cyclone Yasi: storm chronology and landfall path Cyclone Yasi was a very large (~700 km wide) Category 5 cyclone that impacted the central-northern region of Queensland and large areas of the Great Barrier Reef shelf in early February 2011. It was among the most powerful recorded cyclones to have hit the Queensland coast. Previous cyclones of a comparable intensity include Cyclone Mahina (1899) in Princess Charlotte Bay ~350 km to the north, and the 1918 cyclones at Mackay and Innisfail. Cyclone Yasi began developing as a tropical low northwest of Fiji on 29th January 2011 and started tracking in a general westward direction (see: http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/yasi.shtml). The system intensifying to a cyclone and was named Yasi on the 30th January, maintaining a westward track and rapidly intensifying before being upgraded to Category 4 at 7pm on 1st February. During this time, Yasi started to take a more west to southwest path and began to accelerate towards the Queensland coast (Fig. 1). Yasi further intensified and at 4am on 2nd February was upgraded to a Category 5 system. The eye of the storm (~35 km wide) passed over the area between Mission Beach and Tully, some 140 km south of Cairns (Fig. 1) between midnight and 1am on Thursday 3rd February. Instrumentation that survived the event recorded a central pressure of 929hPa. In Mission Beach, close to where Yasi made landfall, wind gusts were estimated to have reached 290 km/h. The peak storm surge in this area was estimated at ~ 7 m and to have inundated ~ 300 m inland. Fortunately the storm surge coincided with a low tide, but nonetheless water levels rose ~2.3 m above the Highest Astronomical Tide (HAT) level. Very high rainfall also occurred during the event, the largest rainfall totals were near to, and to the south of, the cyclone and were generally in the order of 200-300 mm in the 24 hours up to the landfall period. Fig. 1. Satellite image of Cyclone Yasi over the Fig. 2. Map showing the path of Cyclone Yasi and cyclone Queensland coast (http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/ intensity (scale 1-5, numbered circles) as it approached the history/yasi.shtml) Queensland coast (based on maps at: http://www.bom. gov.au/cyclone/ history/yasi.shtml) This fact sheet summarises the key impacts of Cyclone Yasi on four nearshore reefs along the Queensland coast of Australia. Three of these reefs are located close to (within 5-10 km) of the landfall path – these reefs are King Reef, Dunk Island and Lugger Shoal. A fourth reef, more distal (~150 km south) was also examined (Fig. 3). Each of these reefs differs not only in terms of geographic position with respect to Yasi’s path, but also in terms of their geomorphology, their evolutionary state, and in terms of their pre-Yasi ecological condition (in terms of live coral cover and coral distribution across the reefs). 1 Fig. 3. Map showing the location of the four reef sites discussed in this fact sheet. 2. Impacts on selected inner-shelf reefs within the Great Barrier Reef 2.1 King Reef 2.1.1 Location and Pre-Yasi Characteristics King Reef (17° 46.2’ S, 146° 072’ E) is the largest mainland-attached fringing reef on the Queensland coast and covers an area of ~ 3 km2 (Fig. 4). The reef structure is relatively old (senescent) – significant vertical and lateral accretion ceased at this site by ~4500 yBP (Roche et al. 2010) – and is characterised by an expansive, relatively planar reef flat surface. The substrate across the main areas of the reef flat were, pre-Cyclone Yasi, dominated by a mixed carbonate- terrigenoclastic sediment veneer with abundant abraded coral rubble clasts and rhodoliths. Isolated Goniastrea colonies colonised this surface (Fig. 5). In contrast, along the seaward edge of the reef an expansive field of Porites microatolls was present, with inter- microatoll substrates exhibiting high live coral cover (~30%) and dominated by Montipora digitata, Porites rus and Porites lobata, Echinopora sp. and Acropora pulchra (Fig. 6). Fig. 4. Location of King Reef and aerial shot looking landward across King Reef towards Kurramine Beach 2 Fig. 5. Views across the expansive, planar reef flat at King Reef pre-Yasi (Aug 2009) showing sediment infilled relict reef flat surface and isolated Goniastrea colonies. Fig. 6. View across the seaward margins of King Reef pre-Yasi (August 2009) showing extensive live Porites microatolls and high live coral cover on the inter-microatoll reef surface. 2.1.2 Ecological Impacts of Cyclone Yasi at King Reef Across the main reef flat Cyclone Yasi had little apparent effect on the ecology of the reef (live coral cover was already very low i.e., <5%). Goniastrea and Turbinaria corals that colonised this surface remained mostly intact (Fig. 7), and impacts were restricted to isolated broken or over-turned corals. Along the seaward reef flat margins more extensive ecological impacts occurred. Most Porites microatolls/bommies survived intact (despite evidence of isolated breakage/titling), but high in-situ mortality of Acropora sp., Montipora sp. and Echinopora sp. occurred (Figs. 8, 9). These dead substrates are now largely covered with filamentous and turf algae and the inferred cause of mortality was freshwater bleaching during the extensive rainfall that accompanied Yasi’s track. Fig. 7. View post-Yasi (Aug. 2011) showing unaltered structure of the main reef flat and Goniastrea colonies still in-situ. 3 Fig. 8. Left - View across Acropora stands pre-Yasi (Aug 2009) and, right, same areas of the reef post-Yasi (Aug. 2011). Fig. 9. Dead in-situ coral substrate along the seaward margin of King Reef, mostly in-situ and covered with filamentous algae. 2.1.3 Geomorphic Impacts of Cyclone Yasi at King Reef Cyclone Yasi had little or no impact on the large scale geomorphology of King Reef. There is little evidence for major reworking of the reef flat and no evidence for major scouring or erosion. The only clear evidence of the cyclones passage at this site are occasional coral blocks thrown up onto the reef flat (Fig. 10), but these are not abundant and there is no storm rubble ridge produced in this locality. Most of the numerous Porites microatolls also remain undamaged and alive, although some have been fractured in-situ and/or have been partly tilted (Fig. 10). Fig. 10. Isolated coral blocks deposited on the seaward reef flat and rare examples of fractured microatolls. 2.2 Lugger Shoal 2.2.1 Location and Pre-Yasi Characteristics Lugger Shoal (17°57.5′ S, 146°6.5′ E) is a small (~450m by 150m) ‘L-shaped’ shoal reef located close to shore within a muddy, headland protected, embayment (Fig. 11). It is a young reef, have started accreting only ~ 800 yBP and has reached sea level quickly and is already in a ‘late mature’ evolutionary state (Perry et al. 2009). 4 Fig. 11. Location of Lugger Shoal and aerial shot looking south across Lugger Shoal towards Tam O’Shanter Point. Prior to Cyclone Yasi the dominant feature of the reef flat were large Porites bommies, with the inter-bommie areas infilled with a mixed sediment-coral rubble matrix. This substrate was veneered by fine-grained (mixed carbonate- terrigenoclastic) sediment and colonised by a wide range of coral species, including: Acropora sp. Turbinaria frondens, Goniastrea aspera, Favia sp., Favites sp. Galaxea fascicularis and Platgyra sp (Fig. 12). Fig. 12. Left - view landwards across Lugger Shoal (pre-Yasi) showing the dominant Porites bommies that provide much of the basic structure of the reef. Right – Goniastrea colonies colonising the reef flat surface. 2.2.2 Ecological and Geomorphic Impacts of Cyclone Yasi at Lugger Shoal Post-Yasi investigations at this site were hampered somewhat by tide state and wave conditions, but based on the observations that could be made there had been little major impact on the reef – either ecologically or geomorphologically. The basic structure of the reef – dominated by large Porites colonies – was mostly intact, although a few large bommies, especially towards the rear of the reef flat, had been either partially fractured or toppled (Fig. 13). The living tissue cover of these colonies remains, however, intact. There was also no obvious change in the topographic relief on the reef flat in terms of the depth to substrate surface in the intra-bommie areas, and no storm ridge or coral block deposition was found either on the reef flat or as onshore deposits. Colonies of Goniastrea and Galaxea that previously colonised the inter-bommie substrates also seem to have survived largely intact (Fig. 13), with limited evidence of any fracturing or toppling, although other previously common taxa, such as Turbinaria frondens were noticeably absent and are assumed to have been removed during the cyclone. 5 Fig. 13. Tilted Porites bommie towards the rear of Lugger Shoal, and (right) Goniastrea colonies that survived intact 2.3 Dunk Island 2.3.1 Location and Pre-Yasi Characteristics Dunk Island (146° 09’ E, 17° 56’ S; Fig. 1) is an inner-shelf high island located ~5 km offshore from the mainland Queensland coast. Our datasets derive from a fringing reef developed within an embayment on the north-west corner of Dunk Island, termed ‘Resort Reef’ (Perry and Smithers 2010) (Fig. 14). Reef development in the embayment occurred over two discrete phases, the first between ~ 7000-4500 yBP and the second since ~1500 yBP. Both are in ‘senile’ evolutionary states. The north east reef flat is at ~0.8-1.0 m above LAT and is a ‘relict’ (non accretionary) structure) and covered in siliciclastic intertidal sands/muds and lithic clasts.
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