Southeast Tasmanian Shelf Reef Bathymetry from 2008-2009 Multibeam Sonar

A flythrough video showing the bathymetry of the southeast Tasmanian shelf, derived from multibeam sonar data collected in 2008 and 2009. The data highlights rock reefs as benthic habitats, including low-relief reefs near Freycinet and Tasman Peninsulas and high-relief reefs around Hippolyte Rocks. The work was a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies, funded under the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities programme.

Use Cases

• Visualizing seafloor topography based on the 3-4 meter resolution bathymetric grid
• Identifying hard substrate habitats for kelp and sponge communities based on reef features described
• Comparing geomorphological structures like low-relief (<5m) and high-relief (50-90m) reefs mentioned in the description

Strengths

• Bathymetric data gridded at 3-4 meter resolution from multibeam sonar
• Specific geomorphic features are quantified, such as reef relief heights of <5m and 50-90m
• Data collection involved collaboration between Geoscience Australia and a university research institute

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/temporal bias inherent to data_gov_au

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and University of Tasmania (Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies)

Collection Method

Multibeam sonar collected using a 300 kHz Simrad EM3002 system on RV Challenger

Time Range

2008, 2009

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 20:39:29.619143; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southeast Tasmanian shelf, including Freycinet Peninsula, Tasman Peninsula, Hippolyte Rocks, and The Friars south of Bruny Island