Gifford Marine Park Bathymetry Grid at 30m Resolution

Australia's Commonwealth waters include a network of 58 marine parks covering 3.3 million square kilometres. This dataset provides a 30-meter resolution bathymetry grid for the Gifford Marine Park, compiled from Geoscience Australia's holdings and processed with a hillshade image. The data supports the development of 'eco-narrative' documents for park management.

Use Cases

• Seafloor habitat classification based on bathymetric slope categories (Plain, Slope, Escarpment)
• Generating hillshade visualizations for marine park management plans
• Supporting ecological interpretations by combining bathymetry with oceanographic data
• Analyzing seafloor geomorphology using the Dove et al. (2016) classification scheme

Strengths

• Data is derived from Geoscience Australia's authoritative bathymetry holdings
• Gridded at an optimum resolution based on vessel sonar systems
• Integrated with a hillshade image to illustrate the park's bathymetry
• Supports a national network covering 40% of Australia's exclusive economic zone

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• The dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes, limiting its application scope

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, via the Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Compiled and processed from existing bathymetry data holdings.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 07:30:07.296602; freshness should be verified

Geography

Gifford Marine Park within Australia's Commonwealth waters.