Motueka River plume in Tasman Bay revealed
Date: 29/01/2010
The aim of this investigation was to estimate and visually demonstrate the area of seabed strongly influenced by the river outwelling plume in order to contribute to development of a river plume ecosystem concept for management of the coastal resources of Tasman Bay.
The figure in the exec summary shows the spatial extent of river plume effects based on multiple seabed indicators. Note that the affected area has now been shown to be ~180 km2, ie twice the size previously reported.
Cawthron ICM researchers were fortunate to have the use of a robotic submarine (through US colleagues) to provide a detailed snapshot of the Motueka plume, which was shown on TV3 news on 22 January 2010