Australian Bathymetry and Topography Grid with Hillshading, 2009

Australian waters and territories between 92°E to 172°E and 8°S to 60°S are covered by a 9 arc second (~250m) resolution grid. The dataset, produced by Geoscience Australia in 2009, contains a Digital Elevation Model and derived hillshading, integrating bathymetric observations, satellite data, and topographic grids. It includes areas surrounding the Australian continent, Tasmania, Macquarie Island, Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Use Cases

• Visualizing seafloor terrain for marine navigation planning based on the bathymetric grid.
• Modeling coastal erosion and flood risks based on integrated topography and bathymetry data.
• Creating shaded relief maps for geological studies using the provided hillshading layer.
• Analyzing seabed morphology for habitat mapping based on high-resolution bathymetric observations.

Strengths

• Grid resolution of 9 arc seconds (~250 meters at the equator) for detailed terrain modeling.
• Integrates multiple high-quality data sources, including swath bathymetry, digitized charts, and SRTM DEM.
• Covers a defined jurisdictional area spanning 80 degrees of longitude and 52 degrees of latitude.
• Includes both the original DEM and a processed hillshading layer derived using the gdaldem tool.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• The 0.0025 decimal degree resolution is only supported where direct bathymetric observations are sufficiently dense.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale statistical analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, Australian Ocean Data Network (eAtlas)

Collection Method

Produced from a joint project between Geoscience Australia and the National Oceans Office, integrating bathymetric surveys, satellite-derived bathymetry, and topographic grids.

Time Range

2009 (version 4, updated from a 2005 base grid)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 13:51:44.804443; freshness should be verified

Geography

Australian water column jurisdiction (92°E to 172°E, 8°S to 60°S), including adjacent waters, Tasmania, Macquarie Island, Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.