CRC-SI Project 114: Reconciling Bathymetric Height Datums in Australia

A research report from the Co-operative Research Centre for Spatial Information focuses on reconciling vertical height datums for bathymetric data in Australia. It presents a methodology to calculate uncertainty for short-span Mean Sea Level observations relative to a long-term reference epoch. The work aims to facilitate the joining of bathymetry datasets by addressing datum disparities between terrestrial and marine height references.

Use Cases

• Develop uncertainty models for coastal Mean Sea Level observations based on the described methodology.
• Integrate bathymetric datasets referenced to different tidal datums (e.g., Chart Datum, Lowest Astronomical Tide) based on the reconciliation framework.
• Create an ellipsoidal Mean Sea Level surface with associated uncertainties for satellite-based data applications.
• Evaluate alternative options for defining the intertidal zone with high and low water tidal planes and their uncertainties.

Strengths

• Report presents a specific methodology for calculating uncertainty for Mean Sea Level observations.
• Focuses on a defined geographic region (Australia) and a concrete problem of datum reconciliation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The report notes that methodologies for computing uncertainties of Lowest Astronomical Tide and Highest Astronomical Tide were not developed.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Research project report from the Co-operative Research Centre for Spatial Information.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-17 01:48:57.939350; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia