Annual and Seasonal Benthic Light Index for Great Barrier Reef Waterbodies, 2003-2019

2003 to 2019 water years of annual and seasonal benthic photosynthetically active radiation (bPAR) index values for the Great Barrier Reef. The dataset, produced by NESP TWQ Project 5.3 and hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network, aggregates daily remote sensing observations into an index scaled from 0 to 1 for different Natural Resource Management regions and waterbody types.

Use Cases

• Modeling coral reef resilience based on annual benthic light index values.
• Analyzing seasonal light stress patterns for different waterbody types like Open Coastal and Offshore.
• Assessing regional water quality trends across NRM Regions such as Cape York and Wet Tropics.
• Validating remote sensing algorithms for benthic light penetration using the published methodology.

Strengths

• Index values are scaled from 0 to 1, providing a standardized measure of light penetration.
• Covers 17 water years from 2003 to 2019, offering a multi-year time series.
• Spatial aggregation is provided for five NRM regions and four waterbody types.
• Methods are peer-reviewed and published in Marine Pollution Bulletin.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Freshness should be verified as the last metadata update is listed as 2026-07-10.

Provenance

Source

NESP TWQ Project 5.3, AIMS, JCU, via Australian Ocean Data Network (data_gov_au).

Collection Method

Daily benthic PAR derived from 1km² resolution remote sensing ocean colour observations, aggregated and scaled to produce seasonal and annual indices.

Time Range

Water years from 2003 through 2019.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 18:48:53.954769; freshness should be verified

Geography

Great Barrier Reef, Australia, segmented into NRM Regions (Cape York, Wet Tropics, Dry Tropics, Fitzroy, Burnett-Mary) and waterbodies (Closed Coastal, Open Coastal, Midshelf, Offshore).