Habitat preference forecasts

On the left: Maps showing average sea surface temperature (SST) for the Great Australian Bight (GAB) for the most recent week available as measured by satellite ("Nowcast"), and for the next fortnight through to 2 months in future as forecast by POAMA ("Forecasts"). The mean over the whole area shown is given in the top left corner of each map. The black line represents the 200 m contour.

On the right: Map showing corresponding areas of preferred juvenile SBT habitat (based on SST), as determined from historical archival tag data. For more details go to Estimating habitat preferences. Values > 1 indicate more preferred habitat, values < 1 indicate less preferred habitat.

Things to note:

• Even when temperatures within the SBT preferred range are not available anywhere in the GAB (i.e., there are no habitat preference values > 1), fish may still be present, however we expect them to be in lower abundance.
• It is important to consider how accurate the SST forecasts are when looking at the corresponding preferred habitat maps. Go to Forecast skill to see the expected skill of the below SST forecasts.

Nowcast

Forecasts