Skip to content

MIKE SHE Public Data Catalog – Basin Supplement

Murray-Darling Basin

Version: 0.1 test template
Purpose: Basin-wide data sources and hydrological context for MIKE SHE models in the Murray-Darling Basin
Complements: MIKE SHE Public Data Catalog – Australia and the state supplements for NSW/ACT, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia

1. Hydrological Context

1.1 Overview

  • about 1 million km², roughly one-seventh of Australia
  • spans Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and South Australia
  • Australia's most important agricultural region, with extensive irrigation
  • highly regulated river system with major storages, weirs and inter-state sharing arrangements

1.2 Climate

  • summer-dominant rainfall in the northern Basin
  • winter-dominant rainfall in the southern Basin
  • semi-arid lowlands with very high potential evapotranspiration
  • extreme variability (Millennium Drought 2001–2009, floods in 2010–2011, 2016 and 2022)

1.3 Key Modelling Challenges

  • historical over-allocation and the Basin Plan's Sustainable Diversion Limits
  • groundwater-surface water connectivity along regulated rivers
  • river and land salinity
  • floodplain wetlands and environmental watering (e.g. Macquarie Marshes, Barmah-Millewa, Coorong)
  • very flat terrain with anabranches and floodplain storage
  • cross-border differences in data formats, monitoring and licensing

2. Major Groundwater Systems

System Type Modelling Relevance
Murray Basin (Renmark Group, Murray Group limestone, Calivil and Shepparton formations) Sedimentary Salinity, irrigation, shallow water tables
NSW alluvial systems (Namoi, Gwydir, Macquarie, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee) Alluvial Irrigation pumping, river connectivity
Condamine Alluvium Alluvial Irrigation depletion, CSG proximity
Great Artesian Basin (beneath the northern Basin) Confined sandstone Deep regional flow
Upland fractured rock Fractured rock Baseflow

3. Basin-Wide Data Sources

Component Source Content MIKE SHE Use
Basin Plan and SDL units Murray-Darling Basin Authority Surface water and groundwater SDL resource units, water resource plan areas, salinity management Zonation, scenarios
River operations MDBA Live River Data Flows and storage levels on the River Murray system River boundaries, calibration
Environmental water Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder Environmental watering actions Floodplain and wetland scenarios
Historical assessment CSIRO Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields Regional water balances, groundwater and surface water assessments Water balance comparison
Floodplain LiDAR ELVIS High-resolution LiDAR of major floodplains Floodplain terrain
Inundation DEA Water Observations Observed inundation since 1987 Floodplain validation
Water markets BoM Water Markets Dashboard Allocation and entitlement trade Water-use context

4. Where to Find State Data

Data Need QLD NSW / ACT VIC SA
Streamflow and groundwater levels WMIP WaterNSW Real-Time Data WMIS WaterConnect
Bores and aquifer framework Queensland Globe Water Insights VVG WaterConnect
Licensing and use Business Queensland NSW Water Register Victorian Water Register WaterConnect
Geology GSQ MinView Earth Resources SARIG

5. Modelling Notes

  • harmonize datums, units and time zones before merging data from different states
  • use SDL resource units as zonation and reporting units for groundwater and surface water
  • couple MIKE SHE with MIKE+ Rivers for regulated rivers, anabranches and floodplain exchange
  • represent irrigation return flows and drainage explicitly
  • use LiDAR on floodplains, since SRTM-based DEMs are unreliable on very flat terrain
  • include both the Millennium Drought and a major flood period in calibration and validation

6. Checklist

  • SDL resource units in the model domain identified
  • state portals for all affected jurisdictions checked
  • data harmonized across state borders
  • floodplain LiDAR obtained
  • environmental watering events identified for validation