Great Barrier Reef Hydrodynamic Model Results At 1-Kilometer Resolution

Version 2.0 of the 1km-resolution shelf-scale hydrodynamic model provides detailed simulations for the Great Barrier Reef. The model ran in near-real-time mode, updating daily until January 2024, and was developed by the Australian Ocean Data Network. It nested within a coarser 4km model and incorporated atmospheric data from the Bureau of Meteorology and river flow data from Queensland gauging stations.

Use Cases

• Analyze current velocity and water temperature time-series data to model coral bleaching risk.
• Use salinity and river plume data from the model to assess terrestrial nutrient impacts on reef health.
• Validate the model's sea surface height predictions against satellite altimetry observations.
• Simulate pollutant or larval dispersal pathways using the 1km-resolution current fields.

Strengths

• Provides 1-kilometer spatial resolution hydrodynamic data for the entire Great Barrier Reef shelf.
• Model ran in near-real-time mode with daily updates until its operational end in January 2024.
• Incorporates multiple data sources: a parent 4km model, atmospheric forecasts, and measured river flow data.

Limitations

• Operational data collection ceased in January 2024 due to sensor damage, limiting temporal coverage for recent events.
• Specific data volume, row count, and column details are unknown from the provided description.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Output from version 2.0 of the 1km-resolution GBR1 hydrodynamic model, nested within a 4km model and forced with atmospheric and river flow data.

Time Range

Ran in near-real-time until January 2024.

Freshness

Data updates ceased in January 2024; the dataset itself was last updated on the platform in April 2026.

Geography

Great Barrier Reef shelf region.