Southeast Tasmania Shelf Reef Bathymetry and Habitats from 2008-2009 Sonar

Geoscience Australia and the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies produced a flythrough movie showing bathymetry of the southeast Tasmanian shelf. The video highlights rock reef habitats, derived from multibeam sonar data collected in 2008 and 2009 using a 300 kHz Simrad EM3002 system on RV Challenger, gridded at 3-4 meter resolution. The southeast Tasmanian shelf is a study site for the Marine Biodiversity Research Hub, funded through the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities programme.

Use Cases

• Visualizing seafloor geomorphology based on high-resolution bathymetric data
• Studying the distribution of hard substrate habitats for kelp and sponge communities based on described reef features
• Comparing low-relief and high-relief reef structures around specific locations like Freycinet Peninsula and Hippolyte Rocks

Strengths

• Bathymetric data gridded at a high 3-4 meter resolution.
• Describes specific reef features, including low relief (<5 m) and high relief (50-90 m) structures.
• Data collection involved a specific 300 kHz Simrad EM3002 sonar system on a research vessel.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Primary data formats are HTML and VIDEO/X-FLV, which may require specific tools for analysis.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Multibeam sonar survey from RV Challenger.

Time Range

2008, 2009

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:00:55.028498; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Shelf along the coast of southeast Tasmania, including Freycinet Peninsula, Tasman Peninsula, Hippolyte Rocks, and The Friars south of Bruny Island.