Gap-filled sub-surface mooring dataset off Western Australia during 2010–2023

Abstract

Abstract. Coastal moorings allow scientists to collect long-term datasets that are valuable in understanding shelf dynamics, detecting climate variability and changes, and evaluating shelf dynamics and climate variability and change impacts on marine ecosystems. However, we often cannot obtain continuous time series data from moorings due to mooring losses or instrument failures. Here, we present an updated version of the 14-year sub-surface mooring dataset off the south-western coast of Western Australia (WA) during 2010–2023 (https://doi.org/10.25919/myac-yx60, Bui and Feng, 2024). This updated dataset offers continuous daily temperature and current data with a 5 m vertical resolution, collected from six coastal Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) moorings at depths between 48 and 500 m. The self-organizing map (SOM) machine learning technique is applied to fill in the data gaps in the previous version. The data capture the Leeuwin Current variability on the shelf from intraseasonal to interannual timescales. The data also capture the variability of the Capes Current, a wind-driven northward current on the middle shelf. The usage of the in-filled data product is demonstrated by detecting extreme temperature events on the Rottnest Shelf. The data products can be used to characterize sub-surface features of extreme events such as marine heat waves and marine cold spells, which are influenced by the Leeuwin Current and the wind-driven Capes Current, and to detect decadal change signals along the WA coast.