IMOS Ships of Opportunity: Tropical Research Vessel Sensor Data for the Great Barrier Reef

The IMOS Ships of Opportunity - Sensors on Tropical Research Vessels sub-Facility dataset contains underway measurements from Australian Institute of Marine Science research vessels. It includes near-surface water temperature, salinity, chlorophyll fluorescence, and turbidity recorded at 10-second intervals in tropical northern Australian waters, particularly the Great Barrier Reef. The sub-facility was discontinued in June 2022, with sea surface temperature data continuing via a separate IMOS facility.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial patchiness of water quality parameters based on along-track measurements.
• Validating satellite ocean temperature products based on in-situ sea surface temperature data.
• Validating satellite ocean color products based on in-situ chlorophyll fluorescence measurements.
• Studying temporal variability of near-surface marine properties based on high-frequency time-series data.

Strengths

• Data recorded at high temporal resolution (10-second intervals).
• Includes precise positional and temporal metadata (latitude, longitude, UTC time, water depth).
• Describes specific sensor models used (Seabird SBE38, SBE21, Wetlabs ECO-FLNTU-RT).
• Specifies sampling intake depths (1.9m for RV Cape Ferguson, 2.5m for RV Solander).

Limitations

• Turbidity data is provisional due to potential bubble contamination, as noted in the description.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) research vessels, provided via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Routine along-track measurements during scientific operations using shipboard sensors.

Time Range

Data collection occurred until the sub-facility was discontinued in June 2022.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 16:19:00.165330; freshness should be verified as the sub-facility was discontinued in 2022.

Geography

Tropical waters of northern Australia, particularly the Great Barrier Reef.