The IMOS national reference stations will extend the number of long term time series observations in Australian coastal waters in terms of variables recorded both in their temporal distribution and geographical extent. It will also provide for biological, physical and chemical sampling and for ‘ground truth’ of remotely sensed observations. Currently there are only 3 long term reference stations and these would be extended to 9 distributed around the continent.

At each coastal reference station a mooring will be deployed with sensors for conductivity, temperature, depth, fluorescence, dissolved oxygen, photo-synthetically available radiation (PAR), fluorescence and measurement of turbidity at three depths – the surface, seabed and an intermediate depth. At the seafloor Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) will be deployed. All reference stations will telemeter a reduced data set via Iridium satellite for real time monitoring.

Physical sampling will be undertaken at each of the reference stations on a monthly basis. The physical samples will be analysed for nutrients, plankton species, both visibly and genetically, and pCO2. Biological sampling will greatly improve Australia’s capability to meet its obligations for ecosystem based management and allow many researchers the opportunity to investigate possible long term changes in ecology that are likely to be linked to climate variability and wide scale validation of remotely sensed (satellite) observations of plant biomass.

Two reference sites will also be used to provide Australian and International Space Agencies and their international research teams with access to reliable calibration and validation data for the coastal and ocean colour satellite mission data sets. This will satisfy the need for reliable long term in situ calibration measurements relevant to optical satellite observing in the Southern Hemisphere. These reference sites will complement the existing calibration and validation stations in the Mediterranean, the Baltic and near Hawaii.

Three mooring sites will be used to co-locate passive acoustic listening station arrays equipped with data loggers. The stations will provide baseline data on ambient oceanic noise, detection of fish and mammal vocalizations linked to ocean productivity and whale migration patterns and detection of underwater events.

The regional moorings will monitor the interaction between boundary currents and water masses on the shelf and their consequent impact upon ocean productivity (e.g. Perth Canyon Upwelling; Kangaroo Island Upwelling) and ecosystem distribution and resilience (e.g. Coral Sea interaction with the Great Barrier Reef). No such capability currently exists.

Instrumentation will typically be selected from the following: ADCP, fluorometer, profiling CTD, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, PAR, nutrients, ppCO2, dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity; imaging flow cytometetry, spectroradiometry, laser In- situ scattering and transmissometry and other instrumentation dependent on location and application. These moorings will be permanent fixtures in some regions, but in others may be installed for periods of one or two years to acquire the higher density sets of observations associated with a process study.