To assist in interpreting the hydrodynamics of a complex coastal environment, a Self Organizing Map (SOM) has been constructed using output from a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the Huon-D'Entrecasteaux region in South-East Tasmania, over a one-year period. Interpretation of the SOM enabled nine characteristic or prototype states to be identified. As expected, the dominant forcing mechanisms were freshwater input via riverine discharge and input from oceanic waters. While these mechanisms are well understood, subtle features associated with the interaction of the two forcing mechanisms and the transitions between meta-stable states, were revealed by visualizing the SOM output. Further investigation was undertaken to determine how effective the SOM would be in identifying these prototype states given sensor data from a sensor network being designed for future deployment within the region. This research has demonstrated that SOM analysis can be a useful tool for identifying and interpreting patterns in large oceanographic datasets.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	pattern recognition, self-organizing maps, ocean modelling, data mining
Research Division:	Information and Computing Sciences
Research Group:	Computer vision and multimedia computation
Research Field:	Pattern recognition
Objective Division:	Information and Communication Services
Objective Group:	Information systems, technologies and services
Objective Field:	Application software packages
UTAS Author:	Williams, RN (Dr Ray Williams)
ID Code:	95008
Year Published:	2014
Web of Science® Times Cited:	15
Deposited By:	Information and Communication Technology
Deposited On:	2014-09-22
Last Modified:	2015-04-27
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