Comparing eReefs (GBR4 temperature, current) to IMOS satellite temperature and ocean current
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Note: The near-real time GBR1 and GBR4 models (including hydro, river tracer and BGC) are currently paused at January 17th 2024 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 video compares the temperature and ocean current data of the eReefs Hydrodynamic model (4km resolution) with remotely sensed temperature and ocean current provided by Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS). For the ocean current data we use the IMOS - OceanCurrent - Gridded sea level anomaly - Near real time dataset and for the temperature the IMOS - SRS - SST - L3S - Single Sensor - 6 day - night time - Australia dataset. The 6 day period was chosen to reduce the chances of data gaps because of cloud coverage.
The comparison has some limitations that need to be considered. The IMOS satellite temperature data is created by layering the most recent readings over a 6-day period. This aggregation period helps to fill in areas that are covered by clouds in any one day. This does mean however that in some parts of the map the temperature can be up to 6 days old. The eReefs model will, however, always show a full map from a single day. Furthermore, the IMOS product estimates the temperature from nighttime readings while the eReefs temperature data is a 24-hour average (derived from hourly data). The eReefs ocean current data is also a 24-hour average. This reduces the tidal effects on the current vector, but doesn’t eliminate it, whereas the geostrophic velocities in the IMOS dataset are detided (see the metadata record for more information).