MV Spirit of Tasmania II Ferry Sea Surface Temperature Data

Hourly sea surface temperature data collected by a hull-contact sensor on the MV Spirit of Tasmania II ferry during its regular trips between Melbourne and Devonport. Meteorological data from a ship AWS are also available at the same resolution. The data are quality controlled by the Bureau of Meteorology and made available daily by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal sea surface temperature variability based on hourly ferry measurements.
• Correlating meteorological conditions with ocean temperature based on concurrent AWS data.
• Validating satellite-derived SST products with in-situ ferry-based observations.
• Studying the ROPAX ferry platform as a vessel of opportunity for ocean data collection.

Strengths

• Hourly temporal resolution for both SST and meteorological data.
• Data undergoes quality control by the Bureau of Meteorology.
• Sensor is installed at a known depth of 1.5-2 meters below the waterline.
• Daily availability via the AODN shortly after 0000 UTC.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Geographic coverage is limited to the ferry route between Melbourne and Devonport.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Data collected from SBE48 hull-contact sensor and Vaisala Milos 500 AWS on the MV Spirit of Tasmania II ferry.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-06 03:20:58.169669; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Route between Melbourne, Victoria and Devonport, Tasmania.