A raft of detailed new bathymetry datasets have recently been published on the AusSeabed Marine Discovery Portal.

Dr. Adam Lewis, head of the National Earth and Marine Observations branch, said that one of the new published datasets, 50 metre Multibeam Bathymetry, contains all bathymetry data held by Geoscience Australia as of June 2018.

“The latest update to the 50 metre Multibeam Bathymetry dataset is a significant improvement. It has 34 per cent more coverage than the previous version released in 2012, and fewer artefacts-features that arise due to poor or missing data,” he said.

“We’ve included data collected from more than 160 new surveys, carried out by multiple external providers around the country from 2012 to 2018 in areas that had not been previously mapped.”

Other new data additions to the portal include a 30 metre Northern Australia bathymetry grid and a 30 metre Great Barrier Reef bathymetry grid, courtesy of a collaboration between the CSIRO, James Cook University and the Australian Hydrographic Office.

The CSIRO also recently published their 5 metre bathymetry grid on the portal.

Dr. Lewis said that the team is working on tools to automate the processing of bathymetric data to improve quality assurance and reduce manual effort in future.

“Currently, only around 20 per cent of the seafloor within the Australian Marine Jurisdiction is mapped to a level that can inform decision making,” he said.

“The more we map the seafloor, the more data we can provide to the public to support safe navigation, environmental monitoring, hazard modelling, resource management and other policy decisions.”

The new data is available to explore via a web map interface on the portal before download.

Stay up to date by getting stories like this delivered to your mailbox.
Sign up to receive our free weekly Spatial Source newsletter.