MODIS Chlorophyll a: Seasonal Variations in Australian Waters, 2002-2017

Long-term seasonal variations of chlorophyll a concentrations in ocean surface waters derived from MODIS (Aqua) satellite imagery. The dataset covers the entire Australian Exclusive Economic Zone and surrounding waters, including the southern ocean, from July 2002 to December 2017. It was produced by Geoscience Australia using NASA's SeaDAS software and supported by the National Environmental Science Program.

Use Cases

• Modeling phytoplankton bloom seasonality based on chlorophyll a concentration data.
• Analyzing long-term oceanographic trends in the Australian EEZ based on a 15-year time series.
• Studying the impact of seasonal cycles on marine ecosystems based on derived standard deviations for austral seasons.

Strengths

• Data spans over 15 years, from July 2002 to December 2017.
• Spatial coverage includes the entire Australian EEZ and surrounding waters.
• Derived from a consistent, well-established remote sensing source (MODIS Aqua).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and specific data granularity are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Derived from MODIS (Aqua) images using NASA's SeaDAS image processing software.

Time Range

July 2002 to December 2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:33:18.870436; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian Exclusive Economic Zone and surrounding waters, including the southern ocean.