Seabed Morphology Features Glossary, Version 2

A glossary of seabed morphology features provides standardized definitions and schematic diagrams for marine scientists. It is an update to a 2016 classification scheme, resulting from a collaboration between marine mapping programs in Norway, Ireland, the UK, and Australia. The report was published in 2020 and is hosted by Geoscience Australia.

Use Cases

• Standardizing seabed feature classification based on the provided glossary definitions.
• Training machine learning models for automated seabed morphology recognition using the feature catalogue.
• Supporting consistent annotation in marine geospatial datasets based on the defined feature terms.
• Integrating seabed classification schemes across international mapping programs using the collaborative framework.

Strengths

• Includes representative schematic diagrams for each glossary entry to support clear classification.
• Feature terms are drawn from the IHO guide for undersea feature names and modified to minimize ambiguity.
• Result of an international collaboration between marine mapping programs in four countries.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The data is presented as an HTML report, not a structured data file.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data, via data_gov_au.

Collection Method

Collaborative development and synthesis by marine geoscientists from programs including MAREANO (Norway), INFOMAR (Ireland), MAREMAP (UK), and Geoscience Australia (Australia).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 12:44:11.234310; freshness should be verified.