AHO Reference Surfaces: Bathymetry Survey of Cairns Sites at 0.5m Resolution

Three separate 0.5m resolution bathymetric grids for surveyed sites in Cairns, Queensland, exported as 32-bit floating point GeoTIFFs. The Australian Hydrographic Office acquired this data on 27 May 2020 for calibrating multibeam echosounders. Data was processed using Caris HIPS & SIPS and is provided in MSL, LAT, and Ellipsoid vertical datums.

Use Cases

• Calibrating multibeam echosounder systems based on the described reference survey purpose.
• Modeling high-resolution seafloor topography based on the 0.5m grid resolution.
• Comparing bathymetric measurements across different vertical datums (MSL, LAT, Ellipsoid) based on the separate provided grids.
• Supporting marine spatial planning and research with precise bathymetric data from a contracted national survey.

Strengths

• Data provides three separate high-resolution (0.5m) grids for different vertical datums, allowing for comparative analysis.
• Survey was conducted for the Australian Hydrographic Office under the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program, indicating an official purpose.
• Processing pipeline using R2Sonic 2022 and Caris HIPS & SIPS is specified, suggesting a standardized workflow.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality and coverage require manual inspection after download.
• Row count and dataset scale are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale projects.
• The dataset is explicitly not for navigational purposes, restricting its primary use case.

Provenance

Source

Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO), via Geoscience Australia Data.

Collection Method

Acquired via contracted national reference survey using R2Sonic 2022, processed with Caris HIPS & SIPS.

Time Range

Survey acquired on 27 May 2020.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 09:26:04.982666; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Cairns, Queensland, Australia.