Carnarvon Shelf Bathymetry and Benthic Habitats from 2008 Survey

The Carnarvon Shelf off Western Australia is visualized in a flythrough movie derived from multibeam sonar data. The bathymetric image highlights features like a prominent ridge at 60 meters and smaller ridges and mounds that provide hard substrate for coral and sponge communities. Data was collected in 2008 by Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science as part of the Marine Biodiversity Research Hub.

Use Cases

• Visualizing seafloor topography based on the multibeam sonar-derived bathymetry.
• Identifying potential hard substrate habitats for corals and sponges based on the described ridges and mounds.
• Supporting marine spatial planning for the Carnarvon Shelf region based on the geomorphological features.

Strengths

• Bathymetric data was collected using a specific 300 kHz Simrad EM3002 sonar system in 2008.
• Data highlights specific geomorphic features like a ridge at 60 m water depth and complex inner-shelf topography.
• Produced through a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, with further details in GA Record 2009/02.

Limitations

• The primary data format is a video flythrough, which may limit quantitative analysis compared to raw point cloud or raster data.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for statistical modeling.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, via data_gov_au.

Collection Method

Multibeam sonar survey conducted from RV Solander.

Time Range

2008

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 07:20:48.500431; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Carnarvon Shelf, Point Cloates, Australia.