Surface sampling data from merchant vessels, Coral Sea 1955-1960 (published data)

Created 25/06/2025

Updated 25/06/2025

These data, reported in various volumes of CSIRO's "Oceanographic Station List" series between 1957 and 1962, comprise mainly measurements of surface temperature, salinity (as chlorinity), and (in later stages) phosphate from sea surface samples collected by the merchant ships MV "Tulagi" and MV "Malaita" on regular runs between Australia's east coast and New Caledonia via Norfolk Island ("Tulagi") and New Guinea ("Malaita"). Sampling began in 1955 and was still in progress December 1960, the last date for which data were published in this series. The merchant vessel sampling program was carried out at a time when the CSIRO Division of Fisheries had no dedicated ocean-going research vessel, as a means of acquiring information about offshore waters. In the volumes cited, similar data are also reported from the Tasman Sea, south-eastern Australian waters and Bass Strait, and the south-east Indian Ocean.

Files and APIs

Additional Info

Field Value
Title Surface sampling data from merchant vessels, Coral Sea 1955-1960 (published data)
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/82f77955-9edb-4e9d-941a-eb1e5785a0e4
Contact Point
CSIRO Marlin Data Catalogue
tsfo-dl@csiro.au
Reference Period 31/12/1954 - 31/12/1960
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        150.0,
        -33.0
      ],
      [
        170.0,
        -33.0
      ],
      [
        170.0,
        -11.0
      ],
      [
        150.0,
        -11.0
      ],
      [
        150.0,
        -33.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal CSIRO Marlin

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on CSIRO Marlin "Surface sampling data from merchant vessels, Coral Sea 1955-1960 (published data)". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://marlin.csiro.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/surface-sampling-data-from-merchant-vessels-coral-sea-1955-1960-published-data