Water Properties of Ashmore Reef, Australia, with Observations from 1991

Ashmore Reef, a tropical marine reserve on Australia's North-west Shelf, has water quality data observed from 1991, with a more intensive program since 1999. The dataset includes sea surface temperatures ranging from 25.48°C to 30.2°C, salinity from 34.51 to 34.75, and measurements from lagoons and a fresh water lens. It was published in The Beagle journal and is provided by Geoscience Australia Data.

Use Cases

• Modeling reef lagoon temperature dynamics based on satellite-derived temperature ranges from 25.4°C to 34.5°C
• Analyzing salinity gradients and their impact on biodiversity based on reported salinity ranges from 31.2 to 39.6
• Studying fresh water lens characteristics based on well water salinity (0.03 to 3.94), pH (7.64), and dissolved oxygen (27% to 51%)
• Investigating tidal influence on water exchange based on the 4.75 m semi-diurnal tide and spring tide volume (~7.5 km³)

Strengths

• Long-term observational record starting in 1991, with more intensive data collection since 1999
• Includes multiple water types: regional oceanic, lagoonal, and well water
• Reports specific measured ranges for temperature, salinity, pH, and dissolved oxygen

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 extraction for analysis

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Field observations and satellite-derived measurements

Time Range

Observations from 1991 onward

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 15:51:20.870727; freshness should be verified

Geography

Ashmore Reef, North-west Shelf, Australia