Great Barrier Reef Hydrodynamic Model Results at 4km Resolution

Version 2.0 of a 4km-resolution regional-scale hydrodynamic model for the Great Barrier Reef. The model ran in near-real-time mode, updating daily until January 2024, and was produced by the eReefs initiative. It incorporated atmospheric data from ACCESS-R, ocean boundary data from OceanMAPS, and river flow data from Queensland gauging stations.

Use Cases

• Analyze sea surface temperature and salinity time-series data to study coral bleaching events.
• Model pollutant dispersion from river boundaries using flow and load estimates for 71 rivers.
• Validate tidal predictions using the 22 tidal constituents derived from the global CSR tide model.
• Assess near-real-time ocean current patterns from the daily-updated model outputs.
• Study the impact of atmospheric forcing from the ACCESS-R model on reef-scale hydrodynamics.

Strengths

• 4km spatial resolution provides detailed regional coverage of the Great Barrier Reef.
• Incorporates measured stream flow and temperature data from 22 Queensland rivers.
• Model updated daily in near-real-time mode until January 2024.

Limitations

• Data collection halted in January 2024 due to sensor damage, creating a temporal gap.
• Specific row count, column names, and sample data are unavailable for review.
• River forcing includes estimated flows for 49 rivers, introducing potential uncertainty.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via eReefs initiative.

Collection Method

Output from version 2.0 of the GBR4 hydrodynamic model, forced with OceanMAPS and ACCESS-R data.

Time Range

Ran in near-real-time until January 2024.

Freshness

Daily updates until January 2024; last metadata update recorded April 2026.

Geography

Great Barrier Reef region.