AHO Reference Surfaces: Bathymetry Survey for Sonar Calibration in Cairns

AHO Reference Surfaces Cairns 0.5m 2023 is a bathymetry dataset acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office on 27 May 2020. The surface was created from a contracted national reference survey in Cairns, Queensland, collected for calibrating multibeam echosounders. It was processed using Caris HIPS & SIPS and exported as 0.5m resolution, 32-bit floating point GeoTIFF grids.

Use Cases

• Calibrating multibeam echosounders based on the survey's stated purpose
• Analyzing seabed topography based on high-resolution bathymetry data
• Comparing vertical datums based on separate grids for MSL, LAT, and Ellipsoid
• Validating marine navigation charts based on reference bathymetry surfaces

Strengths

• High-resolution 0.5m grid resolution
• Separate grids provided for three surveyed sites
• Survey conducted using R2Sonic 2022 equipment
• Processed using industry-standard Caris HIPS & SIPS software

Limitations

• Dataset explicitly states it is not to be used for navigational purposes
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

Australian Hydrographic Office via the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program

Collection Method

Survey acquired using R2Sonic 2022 and processed using Caris HIPS & SIPS.

Time Range

Survey acquired on 27 May 2020.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-05 02:14:49.983555; freshness should be verified

Geography

Cairns, Queensland, Australia.