EstuaryWatch Data Portal

A natural estuary opening at the 'new' wreck creek opening (i.e. further west of the original opening) exposed a large Amazon Ship Wreck, before ocean swells covered it over again with sand later in the afternoon.

In April 2020, a new mouth was established at Wreck Creek. Traditionally when flows in the creek increased over late winter / spring, water would flow out of the sand berm into the ocean at the most easterly extent of the creek. In April large ocean swells removed a large section of coastal vegetation and separated the creek into two (i.e. an east and west tributary). Recent high creek flows have been flowing out to the ocean through this section of the creek ever since this event.

Following a significant down poor (around 40mm) the mouth of Wreck Creek was artificially opened to alleviate the risk of inundating surrounding houses.

Wreck Creek Estuary is now closed again following the artificial opening that was required on the 23rd of January 2020. It is uncertain exactly how long the mouth has been closed for again.

After 40 mm of rainfall overnight, the estuary water levels increased rapidly from 1.4m AHD on the 22 nd of January, to 2.0m AHD on the morning of the 23 rd of January 2020. With steady inflows, consistent rainfall and a sand berm height of approximately 2.4m AHD, an opening was required to prevent the inundation of adjoining houses.

The estuary was completely fresh and the oxygen levels were good. 

After 30mm of rain the mouth of Wreck Creek opened naturally to the ocean. The sand berm was at 2.15m AHD on the afternoon of the 7th of November, and the water level was at 1.85m AHD on the same afternoon. The water levels must have risen more than 30mm overnight to break through the sand berm.

Estuary mouth naturally opened

Large ocean swells closed the mouth of Wreck again following an opening 2 days prior.

Being a very small catchment, creek flows were not significant enough to over power the ocean.

Wreck Creek was artificially opened @ 2.03m AHD. With the sand berm height at approximately 2.4m AHD (i.e. the height of the lowest house), and significant rainfall forecasted over the weekend, an opening was required. Given the lower dissolved oxygen levels in the bottom waters a shallow opening was completed.

Wreck was artificially opened at 2.0m AHD following a significant increase in water level height from 1.5m AHD on the 24th of May 2019 to 2.0m AHD @ 5:30pm on the 27th of May 2019.

The water level increase was a result of rainfall (~30mm) during this period on a previously wetted down catchment. 

Following the opening this area experienced 70mm of rain over the next 4 days.

Eel migration took place prior to the scheduled opening that occurred at 9:30pm the same night. This migration took place during a large tide and ocean swell that allowed for the crossing of the sand bar. 

Estuary opened naturally as a result of freshwater inflows

Estuary mouth closed again following low rainfall and consistent ocean swells over the past couple of weeks.

An artificial opening was performed @ 7:30 am to alleviate the risk of inundating surrounding houses. Water levels were above 2.10m AHD with the sand berm height approximately 30 cm above the water level height (i.e. the water levels had the potential to reach a height greater than 2.4m AHD, which would have inundated some of the lowest lying houses). Significant rainfall was also forecasted for the days following this opening.

An artificial estuary opening was performed at 6pm, with water levels at 2.18m AHD and the sand berm 0.50m above this height (i.e. water levels had the potential to reach 2.68m AHD, which would have inundated surrounding houses, which start at 2.4m AHD), if the forecasted rainfall transpired.

An artificial estuary mouth opening was performed to alleviate the risk of inundating surrounding houses. With water levels reaching 1.95m AHD and a significant amount of rainfall forecast to come it was decided an opening was required (lowest house at 2.4m AHD).

Natural Estuary Opening Occurred after 55mm of rainfall over a few hours in Inverloch, leading to flash flooding and the opening of Wreck Creek at approximately 2m AHD as predicted using EstuaryWatch mouth condition monitoring procedures.

An artificial estuary opening was performed @ 6pm at low tide to introduce some much needed saltwater into the estuary to improve the chances of survival for resident bream (of all age classes) that were experiencing a winter kill event. This event was caused by the introduction of very cold freshwater into the creek, which lowered their immune systems allowing a parasitic infection to infect their eyes and skin, causing many fatalities. The opening performed was very deep to allow for the introduction of a significant amount of warmer saltwater into the estuary, which also allowed for the migration of the Bream out to sea.  Given the urgency of this situation the opening was performed at low tide. 

Estuary mouth still closed, with water levels increasing from 1.8 to 2.08m AHD following 50mm of rainfall over the past couple of weeks. Increased water levels are providing access to additional fringing habitat for fish and birds. A few ducks and a Cormorant (fish eating) were sighted this morning making good use of the resting and feeding habitat. See attached image.

The Wreck Creek Estuary was artificially opened on the 26th of April @ 2.30pm (previous day) at a height of 1.9m AHD. This opening was completed following a 50mm rainfall event to reduce the risk of inundation to surrounding houses. Following the opening water levels only dropped by 0.15m to 1.75m AHD. Attached is some images of the estuary mouth taken on the 27th of April @ 9:20am.

Wreck Creek was artificially opened following a 50mm rainfall event which produced a substantial amount of flow in a short amount of time. The opening was performed to alleviate the risk of flooding to houses adjoining the creek.