North Wollongong Seabed Bathymetry and Backscatter Survey (2017-2022)

A bathymetry survey of the seabed from Bellambi Point to Stanwell Park in North Wollongong, NSW, was conducted by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment onboard the RV Bombora between 13 August 2017 and 4 March 2022. The dataset contains 32-bit floating point geotiff files of bathymetry and backscatter data at a 5-meter resolution, processed from multibeam sonar readings. It was funded by NSW government programs including SeabedNSW and HabMap.

Use Cases

• Model coastal erosion and sediment transport based on detailed seabed topography.
• Map habitats for marine conservation planning based on seabed type distribution.
• Create baseline maps for coastal infrastructure projects based on bathymetric data.
• Analyze changes in seabed characteristics over time using the multi-year survey period.

Strengths

• Survey conducted over a multi-year period (13 Aug 2017 – 4 Mar 2022), providing temporal depth.
• Data resolution is specified as 5 meters.
• Standard operating procedures and a survey report are referenced, indicating documented methodology.

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 explicitly not to be used for navigational purposes, limiting its application scope.

Provenance

Source

NSW government (Department of Planning and Environment – DPE)

Collection Method

Multibeam sonar survey onboard the RV Bombora using a R2Sonic 2022 system.

Time Range

13 August 2017 to 4 March 2022

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-05 00:18:58.967451; freshness should be verified.

Geography

North Wollongong, NSW, Australia (Bellambi Point to Stanwell Park)