Water quality observations from the Ashmore Reef marine reserve on Australia's North-west Shelf, collected from 1991 with an intensive program since 1999. The dataset includes regional, lagoonal, and well water chemistry, sea surface temperatures ranging from 25.48°C to 30.2°C, and salinity measurements from 34.51 to 34.75. Data originates from the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in June 2026.
Use Cases
- Modeling the relationship between water chemistry and marine biodiversity based on long-term monitoring data.
- Analyzing seasonal and spatial variations in sea surface temperature and salinity within a reef lagoon system.
- Studying the characteristics and sustainability of freshwater lenses on vegetated cays in a tropical marine environment.
- Investigating the impact of semi-diurnal tides and large water volume exchange on reef water properties.
Strengths
- Long-term monitoring program with observations starting in 1991 and an intensive phase since 1999.
- Includes multiple measurement types: temperature, salinity, pH, and dissolved oxygen from regional, lagoonal, and well sources.
- Specific quantitative ranges are provided for key parameters, such as well water salinity ranging from 0.03 to 3.94.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data is presented in HTML format, which may require parsing to be used for analysis.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Field observations and satellite-derived measurements.
- Time Range
- 1991 to present
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-05 06:13:12.884156; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Ashmore Reef, North-west Shelf, Australia