The Sensors on Tropical Research Vessels sub-facility maintains set of automated sensors specifically designed for taking observations from research vessels that operate in Australia’s tropical waters.  The instruments obtain underway observations of temperature, salinity, chlorophyll fluorescence, light absorption and irradiance.  Two research vessels currently instrumented are the RV Cape Ferguson and RV Solander, which collect observations along the Great Barrier Reef and in the Western Coral Sea within repeated transects and individual voyage tracks.  The tropical research vessels sub-facility compliments the Wireless Sensor Networks facility of IMOS as the high spatial resolution of the data collected will enhance the high temporal resolution of the sensor network.