Aerial Survey of Giant Kelp Beds Along Tasmania's East Coast, 1999

A survey of Macrocystis pyrifera (giant kelp) stocks conducted via light aircraft along the Tasmanian east coast from Eddystone Point to South East Cape in 1999. The Australian Ocean Data Network provides this dataset, which was last updated in June 2026. Bed boundaries were mapped using a Trimble GPS unit and plotted onto 1:100,000 topographical maps.

Use Cases

• Mapping historical distribution of giant kelp beds based on the aerial survey methodology
• Analyzing changes in coastal marine habitats over time based on the 1999 survey date and geospatial boundaries
• Modeling kelp bed extent and connectivity using the GPS-tracked boundary data mentioned in the description
• Assessing the accuracy of aerial versus in-situ survey methods for marine vegetation based on the described mapping technique

Strengths

• Data collection method is explicitly described, involving aerial survey with GPS tracking
• Geographic scope is clearly defined as the east coast of Tasmania from Eddystone Point to South East Cape
• Survey year (1999) and mapping scale (1:100,000) are specified

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to a single survey year (1999)

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Aerial survey from a light aircraft using a Trimble GPS unit to track and mark kelp bed boundaries.

Time Range

1999

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 05:33:05.942471; freshness should be verified

Geography

East coast of Tasmania, from Eddystone Point to South East Cape