Bathymetric Flythrough and Habitat Map of Carnarvon Shelf

A video flythrough and geospatial data product visualizes the bathymetry and benthic habitats of the Carnarvon Shelf off Western Australia. The dataset was created by Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science from a 2008 multibeam sonar survey. It highlights key seabed features like a prominent 60-meter ridge and complex areas of smaller ridges and mounds.

Use Cases

• Classifying benthic habitat types (e.g., coral/sponge communities) based on bathymetric features like ridge depth and mound complexity.
• Analyzing the relationship between water depth (e.g., 60m ridge) and the presence of hard substrate for marine communities.
• Visualizing and communicating seabed geomorphology, including ridge and mound structures, for research and education.
• Serving as a reference layer for spatial planning or ecological studies on the Carnarvon Shelf.

Strengths

• Derived from high-resolution 300 kHz multibeam sonar data.
• Highlights specific, mapped seabed features like a prominent ridge at 60m water depth.
• Produced through a collaboration between two authoritative Australian research agencies.

Limitations

• Primary data sample is a single video; underlying raw sonar data rows/columns are unknown.
• Temporal coverage is limited to a 2008 survey, potentially lacking recent changes.
• Detailed quantitative data (e.g., species counts, precise coordinates) may not be directly accessible from the video format.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Multibeam sonar collected in 2008 using a 300 kHz Simrad EM3002 system on RV Solander.

Time Range

2008

Freshness

Last updated in 2026, but underlying survey data is from 2008.

Geography

Carnarvon Shelf, specifically the Point Cloates area, Western Australia.