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Extreme Weather Events and Marine Predators Data

This dataset contains processed weather variables, extreme weather indices, to examine the influence of extreme weather events (EWEs) on the reproductive output of three marine predator species in Tasmania: Australian fur seals, short-tailed shearwaters, and shy albatross. The biological data themselves are not included in this submission, as they are owned and managed by the Marine Conservation Program (MCP), Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, and the Friends of Maatsuyker Island (FOMI, Wildcare Inc.).


Weather information was compiled from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), the BARRA2 atmospheric reanalysis dataset, and the CAWCR wave hindcast model. Daily summaries and synoptic observations were used to derive meteorological variables relevant to species’ breeding seasons, including temperature, rainfall, wind, solar radiation, wave energy, and derived measures such as wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and apparent temperature (AT). Extreme weather indices were calculated following BOM definitions, using ≥30-year climatological baselines where available. Percentile-based indices were produced in both binary (occurrence) and continuous (magnitude) forms to characterise heatwaves, rainfall extremes, and other EWEs.


The purpose of assembling these weather datasets and code is to provide a transparent, reproducible foundation for analysing environmental drivers of reproductive variability across marine predator species in Tasmania. This resource enables users to replicate the workflow used in the associated publication, and statistical analyses linking environmental extremes to breeding outcomes.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Publication)
2025-11-19T00:00:00

Identifier

Title
Information and documentation - Digital object identifier system
Citation identifier
ISO 26324:2012

Code
10.25959/N2XB-PR19
Codespace
doi.org
Description
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Author

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies - Sojitra, Milan
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Author

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies - Corney, Stuart
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Author

CSIRO Environment - Hemer, Mark
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Author

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies - Bestley, Sophie
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Author

Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania - Hamilton, Sheryl
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Author

Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania - Thalmann, Sam
ROR ID >

Author

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies - Lea, Mary-Anne
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Credit
IMAS HDR Research Support Scheme
Status
Completed

Author

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies - Sojitra, Milan
Tasmania
Australia
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Topic category
  • Biota
  • Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

Extent

N
S
E
W


Temporal extent

Time period
2024-06-01
Maintenance and update frequency
Unknown
Keywords (Taxon)
  • Australian fur seal
  • Shy albatross
  • Short-tailed shearwater
  • Seabirds
  • Pinnipeds
  • Marine mammals
Global Change Master Directory Earth Science Keywords, Version 8.5
  • EXTREME WEATHER
  • WEATHER EVENTS
  • MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
  • ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS
  • BREEDING PRODUCTIVITY
AODN Geographic Extents Vocabulary
  • States, Territories (Australia) | States, Territories (Australia) | Tasmania

Resource constraints

Use limitation
Data, products and services from IMAS are provided "as is" without any warranty as to fitness for a particular purpose.

Resource constraints

Other constraints
This dataset is the intellectual property of the University of Tasmania (UTAS) through the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).

Resource constraints

Linkage
https://licensebuttons.net/l/by/4.0/88x31.png

License Graphic

Title
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Alternate title
CC-BY
Edition
4.0


>

Website
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

License Text

Other constraints
Cite data as: Sojitra, M., Corney, S., Hemer, M., Bestley, S., Hamilton, S., Thalmann, S., & Lea, M.-A. (2025). Extreme Weather Events and Marine Predators Data [Data set]. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. https://doi.org/10.25959/N2XB-PR19
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Content Information

Content type
Physical measurement

Distribution Information

OnLine resource
DATA ACCESS - R-code and data

Resource lineage

Statement
Weather data were sourced from three primary datasets: (1) the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), (2) the BARRA2 atmospheric reanalysis, and (3) the CAWCR wave hindcast model. For each study location, the nearest long-term BOM station was selected based on proximity and data completeness. Daily weather variables were derived by aggregating both daily observations and synoptic (1–24 observations per day) BOM records into daily summarie. Wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) was calculated using the HeatStress package, which integrates BOM meteorological records with solar radiation extracted from the corresponding BARRA2 grid cell (12-km resolution). Apparent temperature (AT) was computed using the standard Bureau of Meteorology formula, incorporating temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. Oceanographic variables, including wave energy and wave direction, were obtained from the nearest CAWCR wave hindcast grid point (~10-km resolution) and summarised as daily maximum wave energy and daily mean wave direction. Extreme weather indices were calculated using percentile-based thresholds consistent with Bureau of Meteorology definitions. Thresholds were derived using a 5-day moving window across the annual cycle and based on ≥30 years of daily data where available. Climatology periods were chosen to maximise temporal coverage and ensure robust baselines for each variable, excluding early years with substantial gaps and retaining only years with ≤10% missing data (≥330 days), except in rare cases where individual years with slightly higher missingness were needed to maintain continuity. Percentile calculations were performed using the heatwaveR package. For each extreme weather type (excluding mean wave direction), two outputs were generated: (1) a binary indicator of threshold exceedance and (2) a continuous index in which only values above (or below) the threshold were retained and all others set to zero. All data processing and index generation were conducted in R, with reproducible scripts included in this submission.
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Hierarchy level
Dataset

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/8060b48b-308d-43a6-8fed-7a9d0f0bbd9c

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distributor

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies - (IMAS Data Manager)
IMAS website >

Type of resource

Resource scope
Dataset
Name
IMAS Dataset level record
Metadata linkage
https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/8060b48b-308d-43a6-8fed-7a9d0f0bbd9c

Point of truth URL of this metadata record

Date info (Creation)
2025-11-11T00:00:00
Date info (Revision)
2025-11-20T00:27:22

Metadata standard

Title
ISO 19115-3:2018
 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

Global Change Master Directory Earth Science Keywords, Version 8.5
BREEDING PRODUCTIVITY ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS EXTREME WEATHER MARINE ECOSYSTEMS WEATHER EVENTS

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Access to the record in catalogue
Read here the full details and access to the data.

Associated resources

Not available


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