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This province contains the highest precipitation value recorded in Queensland. The values for the driest quarter mean precipitation throughout the province are patchy.
Annual mean precipitation is high.
Rainfall erosivity is on average very high.
Cold to moderate annual mean temperatures.
Seasonality in temperature is not pronounced.
The annual mean temperature for the Wet Tropics FBP ranges from cold to moderate, with the lowest temperatures recorded from the areas of the province at higher altitude.
Mean Annual Runoff in the province is high (7.24 mm).
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Generally steep relief and high stream slopes.
Most of the Wet Tropics FBP has a high relief ratio, with a mean for the province of 0.06 . Low relief ratio values are confined to small patches within the province .
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Groundwater ecosystem significance – 30% of flow is base flow, 70% flood flow from rainfall.
Modelled pre-development data from 8 gauges within the Wet Tropics FBP were used for these analyses.
Magnitude of spates averaged 3 to 4 Ml km2 day-1, but larger and smaller average values occur within the province at particular sites.
Flow can generally be considered to be perennial in the province. The longest recorded no-flow spell was over 5 months.
For both the mean rate and greatest rate variables, the rate of rise is approximately double the rate of fall.
The wet season is January to April and the dry season May to December.
Seasonal patterns are relatively consistent and predictable: wet and dry periods follow long term trends.
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Turbidity within the Wet Tropics province is generally very low.
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Convex and concave shaped banks are the most often present and most often dominant bank shape categories. All bank slope categories are present and all are the predominant category at some sites .
The riparian zone is primarily dominated by medium and small trees, woody shrubs and grasses . Trees over 30 m tall, vines, herbs and forbs, rushes and sedges, tree ferns, mosses, palms, and ferns typically form minor components of riparian cover but all are typically present.
The number of substrate classes recorded from sites in the Wet Tropics province is high with respect to most other provinces in Queensland. Pool and edge habitats primarily consist of sand, whilst riffles mainly have cobble subtrates.
Large Woody Debris (LWD) and snags are conspicuous components of many rivers in the province. Bed coverage by woody debris and leaf litter tends to be quite low (5.5 and 6.5% respectively).
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— Department of Environment and Resource Management
