National Reference Stations

Home / Facilities / National Mooring Network / National Reference Stations

National Reference Stations

National Reference Stations provide fundamental baseline information used to understand how large-scale, long-term climate change and variability is affecting Australian coastal seas. In addition to the continuous monitoring of physical oceanic properties of the moorings, these sensor-based observations are combined with vessel-based biogeochemical sampling on a monthly basis (for most locations).

Data

Salinity, Carbon, Alkalinity, Oxygen and Nutrients

Chlorophyll, Oxygen, Salinity, Temperature, Turbidity CTD Data

Current Velocity

Zooplankton Abundance

Zooplankton Biomass

Phytoplankton Abundance and Biovolume

Picoplankton Flow Cytometry

Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Secchi Depth

Meteorology and Oceanographical Data – Dawin and Yongala

Phytoplankton abundance and biovolume

Phytoplankton HPLC Pigment Composition Analysis

Zooplankton abundance and biovolume

Combined biogeochemical (BGC) parameters

Deployments

A current network of eight National Reference Stations are currently in operation in Australian coastal waters, of which three are long-term locations, Maria Island (Tasmania), Port Hacking (New South Wales) and Rottnest Island (Western Australia). The remaining four National Reference stations, including Darwin (Northern Territory), Yongala (Great Barrier Reef), Kangaroo Island (South Australia), North Stradbroke Island (Queensland), and Bonney Coast (Victoria) are newer additions to the network of National Reference Stations, increasing the ability to monitor Australian coastal waters.

Key data streams

Useful information

Instrumentation and data

The National Reference Stations collect observations of both physical and biogeochemical variables to characterise the ocean environment and to understand fundamental biological processes within the environment. Core physical variables observed include temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, turbidity, carbon, phytoplankton (both direct, and via an optical proxy for chlorophyll a), and zooplankton.

Understanding these variables necessitates observations at NRS sites being undertaken through the water column, from surface to seabed. Observations are sensor‐based and supplemented by vessel‐based biogeochemical sampling (and laboratory analysis) at minimum frequencies required to provide appropriate resolution for core variables.

As the resources required to sustain physical and biogeochemical observations over the long term are significant, the NRS Network consists of the minimum number of sites necessary to provide a national multi‐decadal baseline. At these timescales, ocean processes are operating at space scales in the thousands of square kilometres, and the IMOS NRS is hence a sparse network of well‐ instrumented, single‐point, reference sites, strategically positioned around Australia’s coastline.

Essential Ocean Variables / Essential Climate Variables

This sub-Facility contributes to 11 Essential Ocean Variables and 9 Essential Climate Variables.

EOVs: Inorganic carbon, Nutrients, Oxygen, Particulate matter, Phytoplankton biomass and diversity, Sea surface salinity, Sea surface salinity, Subsurface currents, Subsurface salinity, Subsurface temperature, Zooplankton biomass and diversity

ECVs: Inorganic carbon, Nutrients, Oxygen, Plankton, Sea surface salinity, Sea surface temperature, Subsurface currents, Subsurface salinity, Subsurface temperature

Contact

David Hughes
E: David.Hughes(at)csiro.au

Operating institution

CSIRO

Acknowledging IMOS

Users of IMOS data are required to clearly acknowledge the source material by including the following statement:
Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). It is operated by a consortium of institutions as an unincorporated joint venture, with the University of Tasmania as Lead Agent.