Forster NSW Seabed Bathymetry and Backscatter Survey, 2019-2020

A bathymetry survey conducted from 27 Feb 2019 to 14 Oct 2020 by the NSW government's Department of Planning and Environment. It provides 5m resolution geotiff files of seabed depth and backscatter for the Forster, Cape Hawke to Black Head area, processed from multibeam sonar data. The dataset was created as part of the SeabedNSW program funded by NSW Coastal Reforms and the HabMap Program.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal erosion and sediment transport based on detailed seabed topography.
• Mapping benthic habitats and seabed types using the 5m resolution backscatter data.
• Creating baseline environmental assessments for marine park management using the spatial distribution of seabed types.
• Supporting marine infrastructure planning with high-resolution bathymetric depth data.

Strengths

• Data collection spanned over 19 months from February 2019 to October 2020.
• Provides 5-meter resolution for both bathymetry and backscatter data.
• Processing details and standard operating procedures are documented in a publicly available report.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and total file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

NSW government (Department of Planning and Environment – DPE)

Collection Method

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

Time Range

27 Feb 2019 – 14 Oct 2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 05:25:32.121110; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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