IMOS - Coastal Wave Buoys - Data Quality Control Manual
Updated: 2026-10-12
This document outlines the data management and quality control steps that are used to post-process raw data collected by the wave buoys and to archive it on Australia’s Ocean Data Network (AODN). The IMOS Coastal Wave Buoys Facility supports both Near real-time (NRT) and Delayed Mode (DM) data streams, each of which undergoes quality control and assessment in accordance with best-practice guidelines outlined by the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) before being archived on AODN. To facilitate wider use of these data processing workflows by other organisations in Australia and globally, the Facility code repository is publicly available on GitHub (https://github.com/caminhathiago/imos_cwb_wavebuoys).
Data
- Coastal Wave Buoys QC Manual - Version 1.0
- Coastal Wave Buoys Facility page on IMOS website
- Full metadata link
- https://licensebuttons.net/l/by/4.0/88x31.png
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- {"title":"IMOS - Coastal Wave Buoys Facility","recordAbstract":"The national IMOS Coastal Wave Buoys Facility provides data essential for understanding the processes and changes driven by waves and temperature in coastal zones. The moored wave buoys will deliver near-real-time wave and temperature observations around the Australian coast. The data will be used in the development and improvement of models used to predict and forecast hazards which threaten coastal populations, and to understand the impacts of environmental disturbances (such as extreme storm events and marine heat waves) on coastal ecosystems.\n\nThe facility platform is the ‘Spotter’, a small format (0.42m diameter) Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) wave buoy manufactured by Sofar Ocean Technologies. \n\nThe facility is based at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the regional buoy management are led by: Deakin University (VIC); the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) and Flinders University in South Australia (SA); the New South Wales Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCEEW) - Water Wetlands and Coastal Science Branch, the University of Newcastle and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, in New South Wales (NSW); the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in the Northern Territory (NT); AIMS and the Queensland Department of Science and Innovation in Queensland (QLD); and UWA in Western Australia (WA).\n\nThe facility currently consists of 60 sites – 23 National (IMOS-supported) and 37 regional co-invest. Sites span 10m-70m depth around Australia. \n\nCore variables measured by the facility include integrated (e.g., wave height, wave period, wave direction) and spectral (e.g., 1D energy density) wave parameters as well as sea surface temperature.\n\nThe data from these buoys will be available in in real time (https://imos.aodn.org.au/imos123/home?uuid=b299cdcd-3dee-48aa-abdd-e0fcdbb9cadc) and delayed mode as part of the National Wave Archive (https://portal.aodn.org.au/search?uuid=2807f3aa-4db0-4924-b64b-354ae8c10b58), as well as via AusWaves."}
