Huge congratulations to Courtney Smith, our former honours student, on the publication of her honours research. Courtney used RADWave to study the offshore wave climate over 4 sectors of the Great Barrier Reef from the North (R1) to the South (R4).

Smith, C., Vila-Concejo, A. & Salles, T. Offshore wave climate of the Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-023-02377-5

Our results indicate average significant wave heights of 1.6 m, 1.5 m, and 1.7 m for the northern, central, and southern GBR, respectively. The modal wave climate exhibits substantial seasonality, particularly in the northern region with dry season wave heights up to twofold larger than during the wet season. The northern and central wave climates show decreasing wave height and wave energy trends over the last 33 yrs, whilst the southern region remains stable.