GA0358/GA0359: Benthic Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen Flux in Darwin and Bynoe Harbours

Geoscience Australia's dataset provides area-based rates of total carbon dioxide production and oxygen uptake measured in marine sediments. Data collection occurred between May 29 and June 19, 2017, in Inner Darwin Harbour and shallow waters around Bynoe Harbour. This work supports a four-year science program (2014-2018) aimed at creating baseline habitat maps for marine resource management.

Use Cases

• Modeling benthic carbon cycling based on sediment incubation experiments.
• Assessing baseline environmental conditions for marine resource management decisions.
• Creating thematic habitat maps for Darwin and Bynoe Harbour regions.
• Studying the impact of sediment geochemistry on coastal marine ecosystems.

Strengths

• Data collection involved a multi-institutional partnership including Geoscience Australia, AIMS, and the NT Government.
• Surveys are part of a defined four-year science program (2014-2018) with a clear management objective.
• Specific temporal coverage is provided (May 29 to June 19, 2017).

Limitations

• Column names and data structure are not specified in the provided metadata.
• Dataset size, row count, and license information are not available.
• The 'last updated' metadata field shows a future date (2026-04-30), indicating potential platform data entry errors.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), and the Northern Territory Government Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Collection Method

Benthic sediment sampling and core incubation experiments.

Time Range

2017-05-29 to 2017-06-19 (fieldwork); part of a program spanning 2014-2018.

Freshness

Last updated metadata shows 2026-04-30, but this appears to be an administrative artifact; the underlying data is from 2017.

Geography

Inner Darwin Harbour (GA0358) and shallow water areas in and around Bynoe Harbour (GA0359), Northern Territory, Australia.