Arafura Marine Park Survey: Backscatter Mosaics for Benthic Habitat Mapping

Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science collected backscatter data for the Arafura Marine Park from November 2-15, 2020. The survey built baseline information for benthic habitats to support a 10-year environmental monitoring plan. The dataset contains two 32-bit geotiff backscatter mosaics for the Money Shoal and Pillar Bank areas.

Use Cases

• Map benthic habitat types based on backscatter intensity data.
• Establish environmental baselines for marine park management plans.
• Analyze seafloor composition and texture for geological studies.
• Support marine biodiversity monitoring by correlating backscatter with seabed samples and imagery.

Strengths

• Data collected by two authoritative national institutions, Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
• Survey conducted over a specific two-week period in November 2020.
• Includes a detailed, publicly available post-survey report documenting methodology.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science

Collection Method

Multibeam backscatter data acquired using an EM2040C Dual Head system on the RV Solander, processed with CMST-GA MB Process software.

Time Range

November 2-15, 2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 03:26:47.652520; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Arafura Marine Park, specifically Money Shoal and Pillar Bank areas in the Arafura Sea.