For almost 20 years, Australian oceanographers have had a role in this hallmark sporting event. Dr George Cresswell of CSIRO Marine Research heads this activity. He explains the oceanographic features that influence the outcome of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in;

• Australian Ocean Currents: a schematic diagram
• Oceanography and the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race,
• Anticlockwise Eddies of the East Australian Current and.
• East Australian Current (by Craig Macaulay).

The images on these web pages come from measurements by infrared sensors aboard American NOAA satellites of the heat emitted by the earth's surface. The sensor data are broadcast via radio which are received at Hobart and converted to sea surface temperature and corrected for geometrical distortion.

The images use colour to describe sea surface temperature. A rainbow scale of colours (colour table) is used: red is warm and blue is cold; clouds are white. The images have a latitude-longitude grid and the 200m depth contour (shelf edge) is marked.

Satellite sea surface temperature images

With assistance from CSIRO's Remote Sensing Unit, based in Hobart, regular satellites images are being uploaded to this site until the conclusion of the race.

Ocean conditions are also of broader interest to industry and authorities concerned with maritime safety, environmental protection, shipping and navigation, commercial fishing and sportsfishing, and defence. Ocean mapping of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone to meet business, industry and defence needs began in 1997.

For more information contact Glenelg Smith
Phone: 03 6232 5398
Fax: 03 6232 5123
Email: marine-remote-sensing@csiro.au