Aquatic Substrate Spectral Library From Rottnest, Marmion, and Shoalwater Bays

Spectral data records for marine benthic habitats are hosted in the National Spectral Database. The library was developed from research by Murdoch University for classifying habitats in oligotrophic, temperate waters. The underlying data was collected during field campaigns in 2006 and 2007.

Use Cases

• Classifying benthic habitat types using spectral reflectance signatures from the library.
• Training supervised classification algorithms for hyperspectral imagery with known substrate labels.
• Comparing spectral profiles of different aquatic substrates like sand, seagrass, or coral.
• Validating habitat maps derived from airborne or satellite hyperspectral sensors against ground-truth spectra.

Strengths

• Data is part of the authoritative National Spectral Database managed by Geoscience Australia.
• Spectral library is focused on oligotrophic, temperate waters, a specific environmental context.
• Based on a PhD thesis providing detailed methodological background for the collection.

Limitations

• The exact number of spectral samples, rows, and columns is not specified in the available metadata.
• Data collection occurred in 2006-2007, which may limit applicability to current environmental conditions.
• Geographic coverage is limited to three specific bay areas in Western Australia.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, hosted in the National Spectral Database (NSD).

Collection Method

Developed from hyperspectral imagery and field data for PhD research on benthic habitat classification.

Time Range

2006-2007

Freshness

The metadata record was last updated in April 2026, but the underlying data is from 2006-2007.

Geography

Rottnest, Marmion, and Shoalwater bays in Western Australia, Australia.