AHO Reference Surfaces: Darwin Bathymetry Survey for Echosounder Calibration, 2023

The Darwin Reference Surfaces bathymetry survey was acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office on 8 July 2020. It consists of separate 0.5-meter resolution grids for two surveyed sites in Darwin, NT, provided in MSL, LAT, and Ellipsoid vertical datums. The dataset was processed using QPS Qimera and exported as a 32-bit floating point GeoTIFF.

Use Cases

• Calibrating multibeam echosounders based on the high-resolution reference surfaces.
• Analyzing seafloor topography in Darwin Harbour based on the 0.5m resolution bathymetric grids.
• Comparing vertical datums (MSL, LAT, Ellipsoid) for marine charting applications based on the provided separate grids.

Strengths

• High-resolution 0.5-meter grid data for precise bathymetric modeling.
• Data provided in three vertical datums (MSL, LAT, Ellipsoid) for flexibility in applications.
• Survey was conducted under the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program, suggesting a formal acquisition process.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is explicitly not to be used for navigational purposes, restricting its primary use case.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Acquired using R2Sonic 2026 and R2Sonic 2024 multibeam echosounders and processed using QPS Qimera.

Time Range

Survey acquired on 8 July 2020; dataset reference year is 2023.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 12:29:26.206830; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.