SOFS: Southern Ocean Surface Properties from a Deep Water Mooring

Hourly averages of sea surface observations from the Southern Ocean Flux Station mooring, delivered in near real-time. The mooring, located approximately 350 nautical miles south-west of Tasmania, measures meteorological parameters, radiation, and water properties to study heat and carbon exchange. It was first deployed at 46.7°S, 142°E in March 2010.

Use Cases

• Modeling air-sea heat flux based on meteorological and radiation parameters.
• Analyzing upper ocean carbon cycle processes based on sea water temperature and salinity data.
• Studying climate variability in the Sub-Antarctic Zone based on long-term, high-frequency time-series observations.
• Validating satellite-derived ocean surface data based on in-situ mooring measurements.

Strengths

• Provides near real-time hourly averaged data, enabling timely analysis.
• Collects data from a fixed location (46.7°S, 142°E) in a critical climate region, the Sub-Antarctic Zone.
• Has been operational since March 2010, offering a multi-year time series.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to a single mooring location.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Observations from the Southern Ocean Flux Station (SOFS) deep water mooring.

Time Range

Data collection began in March 2010; temporal coverage is ongoing.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-16 04:21:37.390679; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Sub-Antarctic Zone, approximately 350 nautical miles south-west of Tasmania (46.7°S, 142°E).