IMOS - ANMN National Reference Station (NRS) Sub-Facility

The IMOS National Reference Station Sub-Facility (NRS) comprises of a series of national reference stations designed to monitor particular oceanographic phenomena in Australian coastal ocean waters. The reference stations increase the number of long term time series observations available to researchers, both in terms of variables recorded, temporal distribution and geographical extent. Data is collected using moored sensors and in monthly water sampling field trips.

As the project progresses NRS moorings will be fitted for telemetry and data will become available in real time from each of the NRS sites around Australia.

There are 7 current NRS sites: Two in Queensland, one in the Northern Territory, one in Western Australia, one in Tasmania, one in New South Wales and one in South Australia. There is one former site at Esperance, the mooring was retrieved in December 2013 and not redeployed; and one former site at Ningaloo Reef, with the mooring retrieved in August 2014 and not redeployed. Operation of the NRS sub-facility is distributed between several operators and is coordinated nationally.