Geomorphic Features of the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean, 2012

Twenty-seven geomorphic units were identified by interpreting seafloor bathymetry at scales of 1:1-2 million. The map, created by the Australian Ocean Data Network, is based on public bathymetry data like GEBCO08 and ETOPO2, with modifications made since original publications in 2009 and 2014. This geomorphic data has been applied to develop benthic bioregionalisations and Marine Protected Area proposals for East Antarctica.

Use Cases

• Predicting physical seafloor conditions for habitat modeling based on classified geomorphic features.
• Supporting marine spatial planning for conservation based on the benthic bioregionalisation developed from this map.
• Analyzing the relationship between seafloor geomorphology and oceanography based on the expanded feature classification.
• Digitizing and analyzing seafloor feature polygons for GIS-based geological studies.

Strengths

• Based on two key public bathymetry datasets: GEBCO08 and ETOPO2.
• Contains 27 distinct, hand-digitized geomorphic units.
• Classification follows and expands the International Hydrographic Organisation (2001) standard.
• Has been used for developing a benthic bioregionalisation and Marine Protected Area proposals.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-06-27 16:51:02.937247; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 16:51:02.937247

Geography

Antarctic continental margin and adjoining Southern Ocean basins