In Western Australia (WA), the Environmental Impact Assessment process requires dredging proponents to make scientifically sound predictions of the likely extent, severity, and persistence of environmental impacts of the proposed activity under a spatially defined zoning pattern. This is achieved by using coupled hydrodynamic, wave and sediment transport models in conjunction with water quality (ecological) thresholds for sensitive receptors such as corals, filter feeders, or seagrasses/macroalgae. These predictions guide the scale and scope of associated monitoring programs, providing assistance to proponents as to where to establish environmental monitoring and reference sites. Increasingly, modelling is also being used by dredging programs to forecast a few days in advance, so as to understand the potential consequence of various dredging scenarios and optimize the dredging programs to minimize environmental damage. The overall objective of Project 2/3.4 was to improve the predictive capabilities of sediment dispersion modelling that incorporate dynamic plume and passive plume processes through assessing model sensitivity to key forcing and parameter values, such as met-ocean condition, particle settling velocity distribution, critical shear stress, sediment erosion and deposition, provide frequency and duration of biological stressor fields including suspended sediment concentration, sediment accretion and erosion, and available light; and provide guidance on developing best practice algorithms and parametrizations for dredge plume modelling. Based on the outcome Project 2/3.1, an appropriate modelling suite that includes hydrodynamics, waves, and sediment transport was chosen (Delft3D) to model the far-field passive plume. The model was set up and validated using the bathymetry and baseline data collected as part of the Chevron Australia Wheatstone Project, located near Onslow, Western Australia. The model outputs were assessed against monitoring data from Chevron Australia's Wheatstone Dredging program, including, remote sensing and in-situ data collected in Project 2/3.2. A 20 month hindcast of passive plume dispersal from the dredging project to the furthest extent of the passive plume were compared with the field data and MODIS images (where available). Spatial and temporal variability of plume dispersal under different forcing scenarios and sediment release rates were investigated and reported. This metadata record provides a description of the model input data (and where appropriate its location) and a short description of the software and model set-up. The simulation data files are located in the CSIRO DAP.

Daily rainfall data was collect by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). This dataset contains data collected from 1950 to 2009. The stations that are represented in this data set are Carnarvon Airport, Exmouth Gulf, Gnaraloo, Learmonth Airport, Ningaloo, Quobba, Vlaming Head and Warroora. This data was downloaded from the Bureau of Meteorology's Climate Data Online website as separate csv files for each year, they were then collated into one MS Excel spreadsheet per station. A text file containing notes on the data was also downloaded at the same time. This data was obtained for the Ningaloo Project.

Temperature, linearly interpolated from CARS2000 mean and seasonal fields to 0.1 degree spaced grid, at depths of 0, 150, 500, 1000 and 2000 metres. The loess filter used to create CARS2000 resolves at each point a mean value and a sinusoid with 1 year period (and in some cases a 6 month period sinusoid - the "semi-annual cycle".) The provided "annual amplitude" is simply the magnitude of that annual sinusoid. CARS is a set of seasonal maps of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, phosphate and silicate, generated using Loess mapping from all available oceanographic data in the region. It covers the region 100-200E, 50-0S, on a 0.5 degree grid, and on 56 standard depth levels. Higher resolution versions are also available for the Australian continental shelf. The data was obtained from the World Ocean Atlas 98 and CSIRO Marine and NIWA archives. It was designed to improve on the Levitus WOA98 Atlas, in the Australian region. CARS2000 is derived from ocean cast data, which is always measured above the seafloor. However, for properties which do not change rapidly near the seafloor, this would not lead to a significant error. All the limitations of CARS2000 also apply here.

This data set contains Simrad EK500 single beam echosounder data at 38 and 120 kHz and Simrad EA500 single beam echosounder data at 12 kHz from the Southern Surveyor. The EK500 data is primarily for water column characterisation (fish stocks, microplankton distribution) and on occasions for seabed classification (particularly prior to the EM300 swath mapper being installed), while the EA500 data is primarily for bathymetric readings.

Primary Productivity point data from northern Australian waters that has been mapped using MapInfo. Data collected from oceanographic surveys 1959-1964 onboard the vessels "Gascoyne" and "Diamantina". Zooplankton biomass, milligrams per cubic metre. This GIS layer has been produced by CSIRO for the National Oceans Office, as part of an ongoing commitment to natural resource planning and management through the 'National Marine Bioregionalisation' project. Variations in onscreen colour representation or printed reproduction may affect perception of the contained data.