Coastal Upwelling Frequency Along South-eastern Australia from 14 Years of MODIS Data

14 years of monthly MODIS sea surface temperature data were used to generate this GIS layer mapping the frequency of coastal upwelling along the south-eastern coast of Australia. The data, produced by Geoscience Australia, distinguishes areas of persistent, semi-persistent, and seasonal upwelling. The methodology is detailed in the publication 'Huang, Z., & Wang, X.H. (2019). Mapping the spatial and temporal variability of the upwelling systems of the Australian south-eastern coast using 14-year of MODIS data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 227, 90-109'.

Use Cases

• Modeling marine ecosystem productivity based on upwelling frequency patterns.
• Analyzing long-term coastal oceanographic variability using 14 years of satellite-derived data.
• Identifying key upwelling zones for marine conservation planning based on spatial persistence data.
• Validating regional ocean circulation models against observed upwelling frequency.

Strengths

• Based on 14 years of consistent satellite observations (MODIS SST).
• Spatially maps upwelling frequency, distinguishing persistent, semi-persistent, and seasonal areas.
• Methodology is peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal (Remote Sensing of Environment).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specified Australian region.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Generated from 14 years of monthly MODIS sea surface temperature data using a published mapping method.

Time Range

14 years (specific years not stated in input).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 09:09:27.364596; freshness should be verified.

Geography

South-eastern coast of Australia.