Australian Bathymetric Height Datum Reconciliation Report

Australia's coastal and marine zones use different vertical height datums for topography and bathymetry, creating integration challenges. This research report by the Australian Ocean Data Network presents methodologies to reconcile bathymetric datums like Chart Datum and Lowest Astronomical Tide with terrestrial references. The work aims to facilitate the joining of adjacent land and sea datasets by addressing datum disparities.

Use Cases

• Modeling uncertainty for short-span Mean Sea Level observations relative to a long-term reference epoch.
• Creating an ellipsoidal Mean Sea Level surface with quantified uncertainties for coastal regions.
• Evaluating alternative options for high water and low water tidal planes to define Australia's intertidal zone.
• Analyzing methodologies for reconciling Chart Datum and Lowest Astronomical Tide with the Australian Height Datum.

Strengths

• Report focuses on a specific, documented problem of datum disparity in Australian spatial data.
• Presents concrete methodological options for defining tidal planes and their uncertainties.
• Authored by a recognized national data organization, the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Limitations

• Methodologies for computing uncertainties of Lowest Astronomical Tide and Highest Astronomical Tide were not developed, as noted in the report.
• The primary data format is an HTML report, not a structured dataset with rows and columns for direct analysis.
• Sample data, row counts, and specific implementation data are unavailable.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, from CRC-SI Project 114.

Collection Method

Research report presenting methodologies and analysis.

Freshness

Last updated metadata indicates 2026-04-04, suggesting ongoing relevance.

Geography

Australia, specifically its coastal and marine zones.