Forster Seabed Bathymetry and Backscatter Survey, NSW 2019-2020

The Forster, Cape Hawke to Black Head bathymetry survey was acquired by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment onboard the RV Bombora from 27 February 2019 to 14 October 2020. It provides 32-bit floating point geotiff files of bathymetry and backscatter data at 5-meter resolution for seabed mapping. This dataset is part of the SeabedNSW program funded by NSW government coastal reforms.

Use Cases

• Map seabed type spatial distribution based on bathymetry and backscatter data.
• Create baseline coastal geospatial datasets for environmental monitoring.
• Analyze underwater terrain for marine park management planning.
• Integrate high-resolution sonar data with other marine spatial datasets.

Strengths

• Survey conducted over a 20-month period from February 2019 to October 2020.
• Data processed through multiple specialized software suites (Hypack, R2Sonic GUI, POSView, POSPac, Qimera, FMGT).
• Standard operating procedures and a survey report are referenced for methodological details.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific NSW coastal region surveyed.

Provenance

Source

NSW Department of Planning and Environment (DPE)

Collection Method

Acquired using a R2Sonic 2022 multibeam sonar onboard the RV Bombora.

Time Range

27 February 2019 to 14 October 2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-16 15:54:10.356566; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Forster, Cape Hawke to Black Head, New South Wales, Australia