IMOS - Coastal Wave Buoys Facility

Updated: 2026-06-22

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. The facility platform is the ‘Spotter’, a small format (0.42m diameter) Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) wave buoy manufactured by Sofar Ocean Technologies. The 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). The facility currently consists of 60 sites – 23 National (IMOS-supported) and 37 regional co-invest. Sites span 10m-70m depth around Australia. Core 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. The 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.