GEOMACS: Hindcast Bed Shear Stress on Australian Continental Shelf, 1997-2008

Geoscience Australia's GEOMACS model produced hindcast hourly time series of bed shear stress on the Australian continental shelf from March 1997 to February 2008. The data represents the combined contribution of waves, tides, wind, and density-driven circulation on a 0.1-degree grid for depths between approximately 20 and 300 meters. The dataset includes geometric and trimmed mean calculations to provide a robust representation of sediment transport conditions.

Use Cases

• Classifying seabed exposure based on the statistical distribution of sediment transport rate mentioned in the description.
• Modeling sediment mobility induced by tidal currents and gravity waves as described for the GEOMAT classification.
• Analyzing long-term trends in combined wave-current bed shear stress over the 11-year hindcast period.
• Calibrating bottom boundary layer models using the integrated wave, tide, and current data referenced in the methodology.

Strengths

• Covers an 11-year period from March 1997 to February 2008, providing a long-term climatic view.
• Spatial coverage is the Australian continental shelf on a 0.1-degree grid for depths between ~20m and 300m.
• Uses geometric and trimmed means (excluding highest/lowest 25%) to provide a robust central tendency.
• Integrates multiple physical processes: waves, tides, wind, and density-driven circulation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-07-10 17:49:11.824910; freshness should be verified as the underlying model period ended in 2008.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Hindcast modeling using the GEOMACS (GEOMAT v.2) model, which integrated outputs from wave (AUSWAM), tidal (Egbert et al., 1994), and oceanic current (OCCAM) models via the SEDTRANS bottom boundary layer model.

Time Range

March 1997 to February 2008

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 17:49:11.824910

Geography

Australian continental shelf