Northern Great Barrier Reef Bathymetry Survey

FK200930 Northern Great Barrier Reef Bathymetry Acquisition contains fifteen geotiff files of processed multibeam sonar data from a 47-day survey aboard the RV Falkor in 2020. The data, published by Geoscience Australia via the Australian Ocean Data Network, provides 4m to 32m resolution bathymetry of the seabed. It covers the Cape York Peninsula region, Swain slide landslide, and reefs in the eastern Coral Sea Marine Park.

Use Cases

• Mapping submarine canyons and drowned reefs using 4m-32m resolution bathymetry grids.
• Analyzing the extent and morphology of the Swain slide underwater landslide from high-resolution seabed elevation data.
• Filling data gaps between LIDAR and existing multibeam surveys around steep reef slopes like Saumarez and Cato Reefs.
• Studying seabed features in the frontier marine region north of Cape Weymouth using newly collected multibeam data.

Strengths

• Data collected over a 47-day dedicated survey voyage.
• Fifteen individual high-resolution geotiff files at multiple scales (4m, 9m, 10m, 16m, 32m).
• Covers a frontier region with previously very little multibeam data.

Limitations

• Dataset excludes EM710 multibeam sonar data, which will be released separately.
• Specific row/column counts and file sizes are unknown.
• Data is from a single survey in late 2020, providing a snapshot rather than time-series.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, published with permission of Geoscience Australia.

Collection Method

Data acquired using Kongsberg EM302 multibeam sonar system aboard RV Falkor, with backscatter and water column data also collected.

Time Range

Survey conducted from September 30, 2020 to November 17, 2020.

Freshness

Survey conducted September-November 2020; metadata last updated April 2026.

Geography

Northern Great Barrier Reef, including Cape York Peninsula shelf edge, Swain Reefs slope, and eastern Coral Sea Marine Park reefs (e.g., Saumarez, Frederick, Kenn, Wreck, Cato).