The Newcastle HF ocean radar system provides real-time sea water velocity data for the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It consists of two SeaSonde stations at Sea Rocks and Red Head, operating at 5.2625 MHz with a maximum range of 200 km. The data is managed by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in May 2026.
Use Cases
- Modeling the East Australian Current's separation from the coast based on surface current measurements.
- Studying larval species distribution and foraging ecosystems based on current variability.
- Analyzing the coupling of coastal winds, tides, and waves with ocean currents.
- Monitoring real-time surface currents for coastal management and navigation.
Strengths
- Data is collected from two precisely located stations (Sea Rocks: 32.441575 S 152.539022 E, Red Head: 33.010245 S 151.727059 E).
- System operates at a defined frequency of 5.2625 MHz with a bandwidth of 25 KHz and a range resolution of 6 km.
- Last updated on 2026-05-06, indicating recent maintenance.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- File formats include PDF, WCM, PNG, HTML; the primary data format is unclear.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Measured by a high-frequency radar system consisting of two SeaSonde crossed loop direction finding stations.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-05-06 02:05:32.703790; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia, within a maximum radar range of 200 km.