IMOS - Ocean Radar: Turquoise Coast Real-Time Sea Water Velocity

Two SeaSonde HF ocean radar stations, operating at 5.211 MHz with a 200 km range, measure surface currents along the Western Australian shelf. The system monitors the Leeuwin Current System's variability, eddies, and interactions with coastal waters from 2012 onward. Data is provided by the Australian Ocean Data Network via the data_gov_au platform.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the variability of the Leeuwin Current and its response to the ENSO cycle based on real-time velocity measurements.
• Studying Leeuwin Current eddies and their interaction with shelf waters using the radar's spatial coverage.
• Investigating the interaction between the Leeuwin Current, Capes Current, and coastal currents during summer seasons.
• Modeling the influence of warm current meanders on Western Rock lobster recruitment ecology.
• Monitoring coastally trapped waves generated by winter weather systems and tropical cyclones.

Strengths

• Provides continuous monitoring of a key oceanographic system with a maximum radar range of 200 km and 3 km resolution.
• Covers a specific, ecologically important region along the Western Australian shelf between Fremantle and Jurien Bay.
• Data collection began in 2012, offering a multi-year time series for studying temporal variability.

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 the specific coastal monitoring site.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Measured by HF ocean radar (SeaSonde) stations.

Time Range

Data collection from at least 2012 onward.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 20:59:07.512892; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Turquoise Coast, Western Australia shelf between Seabird/Jurien Bay and Fremantle.