Arafura Marine Park Backscatter Mosaics from 2020 Survey

Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science collected backscatter data for the Arafura Marine Park from November 2-15, 2020 aboard the RV Solander. The dataset consists of two 32-bit geotiff files of backscatter mosaics for the Money Shoal and Pillar Bank areas, processed using the CMST-GA MB Process toolbox. This work builds baseline benthic habitat information to support a 10-year environmental monitoring plan for the North Marine Park Network.

Use Cases

• Map seafloor hardness and texture for benthic habitat classification based on the backscatter data.
• Establish baseline environmental conditions for monitoring within the North Marine Park Network based on the survey's stated purpose.
• Integrate backscatter with multibeam bathymetry, seabed samples, and underwater imagery mentioned in the description for holistic seabed analysis.

Strengths

• Data collected by authoritative institutions Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
• Includes a detailed, publicly available post-survey report (Picard et al., 2021).
• Covers two specific survey areas (Money Shoal and Pillar Bank) within the Arafura Marine Park.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific analytical methods.
• Data is from a single survey in 2020; temporal coverage is limited.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, funded by the National Environmental Science Program Marine Biodiversity Hub.

Collection Method

Collected via multibeam sonar (EM2040C Dual Head system) from the RV Solander and processed with the CMST-GA MB Process software.

Time Range

November 2-15, 2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 19:26:15.705555; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Arafura Marine Park (Arafura Sea), specifically Money Shoal and Pillar Bank.