Satellite-Derived Secchi Depth on the Great Barrier Reef, 2002-2015

NERP TE and eReefs projects produced daily estimates of photic depth (secchi depth) for the Great Barrier Reef from MODIS satellite imagery between 2002 and 2015. The algorithm, developed by UQ, NASA, and the Bureau of Meteorology, uses a quasi-analytical method and regional tuning with in-situ measurements. The data are available as aggregated NetCDF rasters from the Bureau of Meteorology's THREDDS server.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term water clarity trends on the Great Barrier Reef based on daily satellite estimates from 2002-2015.
• Modeling light availability for coral reef ecosystems based on derived photic depth (Z10%) data.
• Validating regional water quality models using satellite-derived secchi depth estimates tuned with in-situ measurements.

Strengths

• Algorithm validated with in-situ measurements from AIMS and QDPI, showing a reported r2 of 0.83.
• Data covers a substantial time period from 2002 to 2015.
• Available at multiple temporal aggregations (daily, weekly, monthly, 6-monthly, annual).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-07-13 17:21:59.350473; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, aggregating data from UQ, NASA, and the Bureau of Meteorology.

Collection Method

Derived from MODIS satellite imagery using a quasi-analytical algorithm, regionally tuned with in-situ secchi depth measurements.

Time Range

2002 to 2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 17:21:59.350473

Geography

Great Barrier Reef