Murujuga rock art monitoring program posts rain record

Air quality monitoring stations across Murujuga in north west WA withstood strong winds and record rainfall during the passing of Tropical Cyclone Sean last week.

Rock Art Monitoring Program Research Lead, Professor Ben Mullins, said the highest five-minute average wind speed logged by the stations was 103kmh, on a hill on the Burrup, which compares to the maximum wind gust recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology at Karratha Airport of 104kmh.

Two of the stations near Dampier recorded 303mm of rain in 24 hours – considerably more than Karratha Airport’s all-time record of 274mm, logged over the same period.

While the rain has left pools of water across Murujuga and eroded some tracks, this did not stop the team from getting out to conduct culturally-approved pH and permeability measurements on selected land.

Senior Ranger Glen Aubrey observes as Curtin University Geology Professor Katy Evans conducts pH measurements.