Predicted Sand Content Grid for Darwin Harbour Seabed

A predicted seabed sand content grid for the Darwin and Bynoe Harbour regions in northern Australia. The dataset was created by Geoscience Australia, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and the Northern Territory Government's Department of Environment and Natural Resources, based on surveys conducted between 2011 and 2017. Predictions are derived from 395 samples and seven environmental variables, presented as 10-meter resolution raster grids.

Use Cases

• Modeling seabed habitat types by correlating predicted sand content with other environmental variables like bathymetry and backscatter.
• Assessing sediment transport and stability in harbour regions using the continuous 10-meter resolution grid of percent sand.
• Validating and improving spatial interpolation methods by comparing the model's predictive accuracy (VEcv = 39%) against common techniques like IDW.
• Supporting marine spatial planning decisions by identifying areas of high or low sand content as a proxy for specific benthic communities.
• Analyzing the impact of predictive variable availability on model coverage by examining absences in the predicted grid.

Strengths

• High predictive accuracy demonstrated by a VEcv of 39% for sand, an 84.8% improvement over the commonly used IDW method.
• Spatially continuous predictions at a fine 10-meter resolution for the greater Darwin Harbour region.
• Based on a compilation of multiple scientific surveys from 2011 to 2017, incorporating 395 ground-truth samples.

Limitations

• Predictions contain absences where data was unavailable for the seven key environmental predictor variables.
• The sample size of 395 may limit the model's granularity or confidence in predictions for certain sub-regions.
• Temporal coverage is from 2011-2017, which may not reflect recent changes in seabed composition.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, Australian Institute of Marine Science, and the Northern Territory Government's Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Collection Method

Predictions derived from a compilation of multibeam sonar surveys and 395 samples, using seven environmental variables.

Time Range

Surveys conducted between 2011 and 2017.

Freshness

Dataset was last updated in April 2026, but the underlying survey data is from 2011-2017.

Geography

Darwin Harbour and Bynoe Harbour regions, northern Australian marine margin.