AIMS eReefs
Temperature at 1.5m, 18m and 49m depth (GBR4)
Note: The near-real time GBR1 and GBR4 models (including hydro, river tracer and BGC) are currently paused at December 17th 2023 due to infrastructure damage from the recent flooding events around the Daintree River region (see here). These floods have damaged the real-time river temperature and flow sensors across surrounding catchments, and Queensland government is working to recover and restore these as quickly as possible. We will provide further updates when available.
This page shows temperature at different depths on the Great Barrier Reef based on the 4km eReefs Hydrodynamic model.
Temperature at different depths
This product highlights how the temperature varies with depth. The eReefs Hydrodynamic model contains over 40 depth slices allowing us to see how the water cools with depth and how cool water is mixed by extreme events such as cyclones. Note that most of the Great Barrier Reef has a depth of less than 100 m, so as the depth is increased, less of the reef area is visible on the map.
The shallowest depth (1.5m) represents the surface temperature in the model.
The middle depth (18m) is useful for investigating whether corals not at the surface were also subjected to high temperature conditions during bleaching events. We can see in the March 2016 video that the high temperature conditions leading to bleaching were also persistent at this depth.
The deeper water depth (49m) is useful for looking at the mixing effects of cyclones. Slow moving cyclones build up circular ocean currents that can mix the water down to 300 m. This can be seen with Cyclone Nathan in March 2015.