Four pairs of long-term oceanographic moorings have been installed north to south along the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) with one of each pair located on the continental shelf slope notionally in ~200 metres depth (70-400m) and the other on the outer continental shelf complex in 30-70 metres.The design allows water moving along and onto the GBR to be measured by monitoring the poleward East Australian and the equatorward Hiri western boundary currents.

Northern GBR - Lizard Island MooringsThe moorings in the northern area around Lizard Island are designed to detect two phenomena. The first is to measure the northern arm of the bifurcation where the westward South Equatorial Current impacts the reef and splits into two streams, one traveling north and one travelling south along the outer GBR. The bifurcation point varies latitudinally seasonally and so the variability is to be monitored. The slope mooring is located near Jewel Reef (GBRLSL).The other process being measured is the cross shelf movement of water onto the GBR shelf. As the outer ribbon reef is well defined in this area most of the exchange is confined to narrow reef passages and the entrance of Cormorant Passage has been occupied (GBRLSH).Central GBR - Palm Passage Moorings off TownsvilleThe set of moorings off Townsville are designed to measure the flow of water onto and across the GBR shelf. The channeling and more open reef matrix allows incursions of the warm surface waters of the East Australian Current but also intrusions of cold nutrient rich water that on occasion reach coastal waters. The slope mooring is located near Myrmidon Reef (GBRMYR) and the shelf mooring is in Palm Passage (GBRPPS).Southern GBR - Swains MooringsThe outer mooring is in deep water eastward of the main reef complex near Elusive Reef (GBRELR), the inner one is located in the Capricorn Channel (GBRCCH) where water that has travelled south through the GBR lagoon exits toward the southeast and has complex interactions with intrusions associated with the Capricorn Eddy, that is a recirculation of the East Australian Current.Southern GBR - Heron and One Tree Island MooringsIn the southern Capricorn region, the mooring pair is located around Heron Island with the mooring to the seaward side of One Tree Island (GBROTE) being located on the shelf break, while the one on the shelf south of Heron Island (GBRHIS) is on the outer shelf. The aim is to look at how the East Australian Current interacts with the outer shelf reefs and to better understand the complex intrusions and mixing processes occurring in this region. An additional mooring is located on the shelf to the north of Heron Island (GBRHIN).National Reference StationA National Reference Station mooring (NRSYON) is located near the Yongala Wreck near Cape Bowling Green in the central Great Barrier Reef. It is one of a network of 9 National Reference Stations.

The Mooring array is part of the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) Great Barrier Reef Ocean Observing System (GBROOS) node and a sub-facility of the Australian National Mooring Network (ANMN).