As part of the project Predicting the Coastal Marine Environment, the impacts of natural and human-induced factors on the status, evolution and physical degradation of coral reef ecosystems are assessed using observational studies and predictive models. The effects of physical processes such as waves, tides, turbulent flows and circulation around coral reefs, acting in concert with non-conservative chemical processes and active behaviours of marine larvae are taken into account to develop new understandings of their interactions and effects on the dispersal and evolution of coral reef organisms and structures. New elements in this project are the studies of the flow induced by waves and their impact on the flushing of the reef and mixing processes on the reef top. In situ data on physical factors (waves, currents, tidal levels) are acquired from deployments of oceanographic instruments and used to verify numerical modelling results. The aim of this study was to obtain a comprehensive data set on the physical oceanographic processes that influence the circulation and flushing of the reefs in this region. The data obtained will now be utilised to verify theoretical and numerical models of these oceanographic processes, such that these models can be generically applied to the Ningaloo Reef region as a whole.

The Victoria Moorings Sub-Facility is part of the National Mooring Network Facility. Victorian Moorings is responsible for a mooring deployed in the Bonney Coast region off Cape Bridgewater (Victoria). This region of the Victorian coastline has strong seasonal upwelling and supports one of the most productive regions of temperate Australian coastal waters. Not only does this region support large populations of migratory whales, fur seals, sharks, and bluefin tuna, it is also an important region from fisheries. Victorian Moorings fill a historical gap in the national backbone or coastal moorings, providing valuable information on the hydrodynamics of upwelling processes that underpin the productivity off the Bonney Coast.

The Southern Australia Moorings Sub-Facility is part of the National Mooring Network Facility. This sub-facility is establishing a national reference transect of moorings and measurements off South Australia, which includes all parameters measured by the IMOS National Reference Stations (NRS). The South Australia moorings sub-facility is based at the South Australian Research and Development Institute in Adelaide and is responsible for a total of five moorings. These moorings are deployed to continuously monitor the large seasonal coastal upwelling of water that occurs along the region's continental shelf during summer. This upwelling brings cold, nutrient rich waters onto the shelf which boosts primary productivity, creating one of the most productive coastal marine ecosystems in Australian waters. The five moorings measure an array of physical and biological properties and are a combination of four regional moorings and a National Reference Station (biological sampling at SAM5CB, SAM8SG, SAMGSV, SAMUSG and NRS). The regional moorings consist of one shelf mooring located on the same isobath as the NRS and in the path of the upwelled/downwelled exchange, a mooring located near the mouth of Spencer Gulf to measure possible winter outflow of saline rich water, and two moorings situated in Upper Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent. The NRS is located at a convergence point of isobaths and monitors upwelling and outflow events as well as long-term variations in the strength of the coastal current. There are six discontinued moorings that were once part of this sub-facility, for which data is still available: M1 Deep Slope Mooring (SAM1DS) and M6 Investigator Strait Mooring (SAM6IS) were both discontinued in 2009, M4 Canyon Mooring (SAM4CY) and M2 Cabbage Patch Mooring (SAM2CP) were both discontinued in 2010, and M4 Mid-Slope Mooring (SAM3MS) and M7 Deep-Slope Mooring (SAM7DS) which were discontinued in 2013-2014.

High resolution, three-dimensional numerical modelling of the tidally driven dynamics around Scott Reef. The purpose of the modelling was to capture the fine scale (~100 m) flow structures resulting from the tide interacting with the complex reef topography. Hourly data of approximately 20 million model grid points were created. 3 tidal cycles during spring-tide conditions were modelled with model output including currents (u, v, w), water level, temperature and density at model grid points. Vertical extent is from surface to 3000 metres

This dataset consists of underway data, including bathymetric data, collected aboard Australian Antarctic Division research vessels between 1985 and 2012. The data are available in csv format and the raw SIMRAD format. In the csv files bathymetric data is in the WTR_DEPTH_M column. Some voyages will not have bathymetric data associated with them. The csv data may have been quality checked. Most of the underway data was quality checked ('dot zapped') up to and including voyage 4 2003/04. Data quality reports are available by searching at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/voyages/ Other than on Marine Science voyages, the Aurora Australis bathymetric data gathering procedures prior to about 2000 were not checked during the voyage. The echo sounder was turned on in Hobart and if it stopped working during the voyage, then there was no one to get it going again. Bathymetric data from these voyages that has been processed by the Royal Australian Navy is available via other metadata records linked to the parent record with ID AAD_voyage_soundings.

Timeseries data from 'Nelson Lagoon (Inner) Wave Buoy' (nelson-lagoon-inner-wave-buoy)

Since its launch in 1998, Coastalwatch has become Australia's most popular water sports website, and is consistently ranked in the top eight sporting websites. The site displays live vision from over 90 coastal locations around Australia and overseas. It also provides daily surf reports, swell forecasting, weather information and news; as well as video, photographic and editorial content. Coastalwatch has also developed a Coastal Conditions Monitoring System, which utilises the camera network to make a significant contribution to safer coastal use and more efficient and cost effective coastal management. To this end, Coastalwatch has partnered with Surf Life Saving Australia and Surfing Australia; and supports Volunteer Rescue organisations, community groups, and charities such as SurfAid International and the Surfrider Foundation Australia. Coastalwatch is committed to bringing the coast to all Australians and overseas visitors, and becoming the premier reference site for all coastal user groups. With this in mind, Coastalwatch is dedicated to assisting with sound coastal zone research and management through the use of all its resources.

Manly Hydraulics Laboratory (MHL) (part of the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), which has assumed function of former NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH)) operates a system of Waverider buoys off the NSW coastline. The buoys measure wave height and other wave statistics such as wave period on a continuous real-time basis, and are also capable of measuring wave direction (wave data accessible via related metadata record: Waverider buoys Observations - Australia - delayed (National Wave Archive) - https://catalogue-imos.aodn.org.au:443/geonetwork/srv/api/records/2807f3aa-4db0-4924-b64b-354ae8c10b58) and sea surface temperature (SST). The data is gathered by the Waverider system developed by the Dutch company, Datawell, namely thermistors that are mounted inside the hull of the buoys, at the base of the buoy about 0.5m below the water surface. The SST data is stored on the receiving station PC before routine transfer to Manly Hydraulics Laboratory via email.

This dataset contains Sea Surface Temperature (SST) underway observations collected on trips of a merchant vessel (MV Portland - VNAH ) between Fremantle (Western Australia) and Melbourne (Victoria). The data have been quality controlled by the Bureau of Meteorology. Enhancement of Measurements on Ships of Opportunity (SOOP)-Sea Surface Temperature (SST) aims to supply near real-time SST data (within 24 hours) from SOOPs and research vessels in the Australian region.

Wave height, direction and sea surface temperature are recorded daily at 12 sites on the Coast of Queensland. Cairns, Weipa, Townsville, Mackay, Hay Point, Emu Park, Moreton Bay, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Tweed River, Caloundra, Mooloolaba are monitored daily by waverider buoys fitted with a accelerometer. This website also contains data from Storm surges from Mornington Island down to Caloundra.