14 years of monthly MODIS sea surface temperature data were used to map upwelling systems along 4500 km of Australia's south-eastern coast. The dataset, produced by Geoscience Australia and published in 2019, reveals significant spatial and temporal variability in upwelling characteristics. It identifies two persistent systems: the New South Wales system and the western Victoria/South Australia system.
Use Cases
- Analyzing spatial variability of upwelling areas based on mapped monthly data
- Studying temporal (seasonal and inter-annual) variability of upwelling intensity based on SST anomaly and chlorophyll-a concentrations
- Comparing the characteristics of wind-driven versus current-driven upwelling systems based on the identified NSW and WVIC/SA systems
- Investigating the impact of ENSO events on coastal upwelling intensity based on the described moderate correlation
Strengths
- Covers a 14-year time series, enabling analysis of long-term and inter-annual variability
- Spatial coverage spans approximately 4500 km of coastline, capturing two distinct upwelling systems
- Derived from MODIS satellite data, providing consistent, large-scale observations
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
- Data may reflect geographic/temporal bias inherent to the MODIS sensor and processing technique
Provenance
- Source
- Geoscience Australia Data
- Collection Method
- Developed using a scale-independent, semi-automatic image processing technique on MODIS SST data.
- Time Range
- 14 years (specific start/end years not provided)
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-03-25 18:18:20.608433; freshness should be verified
- Geography
- South-eastern coast of Australia (4500 km), including New South Wales, western Victoria, and South Australia