Kimberley Marine Park 30 m Bathymetry and Derived Morphological Surfaces

Geoscience Australia applied a two-part seafloor morphology classification scheme to a 30-meter resolution bathymetric grid within the Kimberley Marine Park. This classification divides the seafloor slope into three Morphological Surface categories: Plain (<2°), Slope (2-10°), and Escarpment (>10°). The data supports the management of Australia's network of 58 marine parks, which cover 3.3 million square kilometres.

Use Cases

• Classifying seafloor geomorphology based on the three Morphological Surface categories (Plain, Slope, Escarpment).
• Supporting marine park management plans by providing interpreted environmental data for eco-narratives.
• Analyzing seafloor slope characteristics within a specific marine protected area.
• Integrating high-resolution bathymetry with other oceanographic and ecological data for habitat studies.

Strengths

• Derived from a high-resolution 30-meter bathymetric grid for the Northern Australia region.
• Applies a published, semi-hierarchical seafloor classification scheme (Dove et al., 2016).
• Supports the management of a specific park within a national network covering 3.3 million square kilometres.

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 bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing solely on the Kimberley Marine Park.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Classification applied to the Beaman and Spinoccia (2018) 30 m bathymetry grid.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:04:47.329735; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Kimberley Marine Park, Australia