Great Barrier Reef Spectral Light Attenuation Coefficients, 2002-2019

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Coral Sea contain daily estimates of the diffuse attenuation coefficient (Kd) at 10 wavelengths from July 2002 to December 2019. This data, provided on a nominal 1km grid, was developed by NESP TWQ projects 2.3.1 and 5.3 to model benthic irradiance. It uses a semi-analytical model applied to MODIS satellite ocean color observations.

Use Cases

• Modeling benthic irradiance for coral reef health based on spectral Kd values and water depth.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in water clarity across the Great Barrier Reef based on daily 1km grid data.
• Studying the relationship between light penetration and benthic organism distribution using the spectrally-resolved attenuation estimates.
• Validating or improving satellite-derived water quality indicators for coastal management using the Kd parameter.

Strengths

• Provides data at 10 specific spectral wavelengths (412, 443, 469, 488, 531, 547, 555, 645, 667, 678 nm).
• Covers a long temporal range from July 2002 through December 2019.
• Spatial coverage is focused on the ecologically significant Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Coral Sea.
• Data is provided on a consistent nominal 1km grid.

Limitations

• Contains gaps due to cloud cover and sensor degradation affecting daily MODIS observations.
• The model assumes homogeneous water column properties, which may not reflect local vertical variability.
• The dataset description states the Kd data has not been validated against in-situ measurements.

Provenance

Source

NESP TWQ projects 2.3.1 and 5.3 (AIMS and JCU), via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Derived using a semi-analytical model (Lee et al., 2005) applied to MODIS satellite imagery and inherent optical properties from the SWIM algorithm.

Time Range

July 2002 to December 2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-19 23:27:18.949685; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Coral Sea