Beagle Marine Park Seabed Backscatter Grids at 1-Meter Resolution

11 backscatter grids cover 364 km2 of the Beagle Marine Park in Bass Strait. The data was collected by Geoscience Australia and the University of Tasmania using multibeam sonar from June 17-26, 2018, aboard the RV Bluefin. This Phase 1 survey establishes a baseline for benthic habitats to support a 10-year marine park management plan.

Use Cases

• Classifying benthic habitat types based on backscatter intensity values.
• Creating high-resolution seafloor maps for marine park management planning.
• Integrating with Phase 2 imagery and Phase 3 video data for multi-modal habitat analysis.
• Establishing a spatial baseline for detecting changes in seabed composition over time.

Strengths

• High spatial resolution of 1 meter per grid cell.
• Covers a combined area of 364 square kilometers.
• Data collection is documented in a detailed 2019 post-survey report.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and the Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies (University of Tasmania).

Collection Method

Collected via multibeam sonar during a dedicated marine survey voyage.

Time Range

June 17-26, 2018.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 15:51:29.719668; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Beagle Marine Park, Bass Strait, Australia.