Forster, NSW Seabed Bathymetry and Backscatter at 5m Resolution

Forster, Cape Hawke to Black Head in New South Wales seabed was surveyed by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment between 27 February 2019 and 14 October 2020. The dataset contains 32-bit floating point geotiff files of bathymetry and backscatter data in 5-meter resolution, derived from multibeam sonar and processed with Hypack, Qimera, and FMGT software. It was created to provide a baseline dataset and map the spatial distribution of seabed types under the SeabedNSW program.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal erosion and sediment transport based on high-resolution bathymetry.
• Classifying seabed habitats and substrate types based on backscatter data.
• Creating baseline maps for marine park management and conservation planning.
• Integrating bathymetric data with other marine datasets for spatial analysis.

Strengths

• Data collection spanned from 27 February 2019 to 14 October 2020, providing a temporal snapshot.
• High-resolution 5-meter bathymetry and backscatter grids derived from multibeam sonar.
• Processing followed documented standard operating procedures from the NSW government.
• Survey was conducted as part of a funded government program (SeabedNSW).

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is explicitly not to be used for navigational purposes, limiting its application.

Provenance

Source

NSW Department of Planning and Environment (DPE), Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Acquired using a R2Sonic 2022 multibeam sonar onboard the RV Bombora, processed with Hypack, R2Sonic GUI, POSView, POSPac, Qimera, and FMGT software.

Time Range

27 February 2019 to 14 October 2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 01:51:40.389333; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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