Antarctic Benthic Community Survey with 1800 Seafloor Images, 2011

January 2011 survey of the Mertz Glacier region seafloor following a major calving event. Geoscience Australia and the Australian Antarctic Division collected over 1800 high-resolution still images across 75 successful camera deployments. The data provides a benchmark for monitoring physical, chemical, and biological changes in the Antarctic marine environment.

Use Cases

• Classifying benthic community composition based on high-resolution seafloor imagery.
• Mapping substrate type and iceberg scour patterns from image analysis.
• Monitoring the lateral extent of hydrocoral communities along the shelf break.
• Establishing a baseline for tracking environmental change after a glacier calving event.

Strengths

• Over 1800 high-resolution seafloor images provide detailed visual data.
• Data collected shortly after the 2010 Mertz Glacier calving event offers a temporal benchmark.
• Survey conducted by Geoscience Australia and the Australian Antarctic Division, suggesting institutional rigor.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• 7 of the 82 stations produced images of poor quality, which may affect analysis for those locations.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Benthic survey using a camera deployed from the RSV Aurora Australis during a Marine Science Voyage.

Time Range

January - February 2011

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-16 08:17:01.448357; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Mertz Glacier Region, East Antarctica, continental shelf and slope.