Australia's Northwest Shelf Maritime Jurisdiction Map with Bathymetry

Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction off the Northwest Shelf is a constituent map of the 27-map 'Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series' (GeoCat 71789). It depicts Australia's extended continental shelf approved by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in April 2008, along with treaties and various maritime zones. The background includes bathymetric imagery derived from a 2009 9 arc second grid and a 1997 grid by Smith and Sandwell, with land imagery from NASA's Blue Marble.

Use Cases

• Analyze maritime legal boundaries based on the depicted extended continental shelf and treaty lines.
• Study seafloor topography for the Northwest Shelf region based on the combined bathymetric background imagery.
• Reference jurisdictional zones for marine resource management and environmental regulation.
• Integrate as a base layer for regional marine spatial planning and mapping projects.

Strengths

• Part of a standardized series of 27 maps providing consistent jurisdictional coverage.
• Incorporates authoritative legal boundaries approved by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in April 2008.
• Background combines detailed bathymetric data from a 2009 9 arc second grid and a 1997 scientific source.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the specific sources and compilation date.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Derived from the 'Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series' (GeoCat 71789), incorporating legal decisions and scientific grids.

Time Range

The continental shelf approval date is April 2008; background bathymetry sources are from 1997 and 2009.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-16 19:51:47.285418; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northwest Shelf of Australia, including maritime zones and the extended continental shelf.