AHO Reference Surfaces Cairns: Bathymetry Survey for Echosounder Calibration

A contracted national reference survey in Cairns, Queensland, acquired on 27 May 2020 for the Australian Hydrographic Office. The surface was created from data collected to calibrate multibeam echosounders and processed using Caris HIPS & SIPS. Separate 0.5m resolution grids are provided for three surveyed sites in MSL, LAT, and Ellipsoid vertical datums.

Use Cases

• Calibrating multibeam echosounders based on the high-resolution reference surfaces.
• Analyzing seafloor topography based on the 0.5m resolution bathymetry grids.
• Comparing vertical datums based on the separate MSL, LAT, and Ellipsoid grids.
• Supporting hydrographic research in the Cairns region based on the surveyed sites.

Strengths

• High-resolution 0.5m grid derived from a national reference survey.
• Data processed using professional hydrographic software Caris HIPS & SIPS.
• Provides separate grids for three vertical datums (MSL, LAT, Ellipsoid).

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is explicitly not to be used for navigational purposes.

Provenance

Source

Australian Hydrographic Office via the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program.

Collection Method

Acquired using R2Sonic 2022 multibeam echosounder and processed using Caris HIPS & SIPS.

Time Range

Survey acquired on 27 May 2020.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 05:42:53.016184; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Cairns, Queensland, Australia, covering three specific surveyed sites.