ROT HF Ocean Radar: Real-Time Sea Water Velocity Off Rottnest Shelf

The Rottnest Shelf HF ocean radar system monitors a region with the highest marine biodiversity in Western Australia, including the Perth Canyon. Data from two 16-element receive arrays operating at 8.512 MHz measure surface currents, wind direction, and significant wave height up to 200 km offshore. This dataset is provided by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in July 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal current dynamics based on real-time sea water velocity measurements.
• Studying the influence of topographic upwelling on primary and secondary productivity mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing the impact of river outflow and submarine groundwater discharges on oceanographic conditions.
• Integrating radar data with biological observations to understand whale and fish aggregations in the Perth Canyon.

Strengths

• Covers a maximum range of 200 km from the coast with two radar receive arrays.
• Operates at a specific frequency of 8.512 MHz with a 33 KHz bandwidth.
• Provides continuous monitoring in an area of high marine biodiversity and complex oceanographic processes.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified despite the 2026 update timestamp.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data_gov_au.

Collection Method

Measured by a WERA phased array HF ocean radar system with receive arrays at Fremantle and Guilderton.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 20:56:04.373731; real-time data stream implied.

Geography

Rottnest Shelf region, Western Australia, including Rottnest Island and the Perth Canyon.