Environmental flows for northern Australian river and estuaries, Coast 2 Coast Conference, Darwin 2008

The challenge in environmental flows science is formulating flow prescriptions for rivers in the short term in the absence of site-specific ecological data; this challenge is magnified in tropical Australia due to the relative paucity of research on rivers and estuaries in this region. Australia’s tropical rivers and estuaries are characterised by their strongly seasonal flows, with almost all their runoff occurring during the wet season from November to April. While there is some variation in this flow regime across the region, the hydrology of these systems is likely to strongly influence hydraulic connectivity of rivers and estuaries, floodplain wetlands, food web structure, carbon and nutrient budgets, and biodiversity. The Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) research hub is addressing this knowledge gap and conducting research focusing on understanding the biophysical function of rivers and their importance to local communities. In particular, a major output of the TRaCK research is to provide the tools and guidelines for prescribing environmental flows for northern rivers.