Upwelling Frequency Along South-eastern Australian Coast

Fourteen years of monthly MODIS sea surface temperature data were used to map coastal upwelling frequency. The GIS layer distinguishes areas of persistent, semi-persistent, and seasonal upwelling along the south-eastern Australian coast. The data was generated by researchers Huang and Wang and is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Identify persistent_upwelling_zones using higher data values for marine protected area planning.
• Analyze seasonal_upwelling patterns indicated by medium data values for fisheries management.
• Validate regional ocean models by comparing simulated upwelling_frequency against this 14-year observational dataset.
• Study long-term changes in coastal_upwelling systems by using this layer as a baseline for temporal comparison.

Strengths

• Based on 14 years of continuous satellite observations from MODIS.
• Provides a spatially explicit GIS layer covering the entire south-eastern Australian coastline.
• Peer-reviewed methodology published in Remote Sensing of Environment.

Limitations

• Specific spatial resolution, row count, and data file size are unknown.
• Temporal coverage ends with the MODIS data used, potentially creating a recency gap.
• Limited to a single region (south-eastern Australia), reducing global applicability.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

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

Time Range

14-year period (specific years not provided in description).

Freshness

Dataset metadata was last updated in April 2026.

Geography

South-eastern coast of Australia.