Geomorphic Features of the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean at 1:1-2 Million Scale

Twenty-seven geomorphic units were identified and hand-digitized for the Antarctic continental margin and adjoining ocean basins. The map is based on public bathymetry data like GEBCO08 and ETOPO2, updated since original publications in 2009 and 2014. This dataset has been used for benthic bioregionalisation and planning Marine Protected Areas in East Antarctica.

Use Cases

• Modeling benthic habitat suitability based on interpreted geomorphic features and substrate types.
• Planning marine protected area networks based on seafloor feature classification and bioregionalisation.
• Analyzing the influence of seafloor geomorphy on oceanographic conditions.
• Digitizing and updating feature polygons for GIS-based environmental studies in the Antarctic region.

Strengths

• Defines 27 distinct geomorphic units based on an international classification scheme.
• Integrates multiple public bathymetry datasets, including GEBCO08 and ETOPO2.
• Features have been updated and refined since the original 2009 and 2014 publications.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au sources.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Interpretation of seafloor bathymetry and geophysical data, with polygons digitized by hand in ArcGIS.

Time Range

2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 05:07:11.197560; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Antarctic continental margin and adjoining Southern Ocean basins.