RV Investigator Seafloor Bathymetry and Watercolumn Data from Tasmania

12.2 GB of raw multibeam echosounder data was collected during a November 2021 voyage to calibrate shipboard equipment. The Kongsberg EM710 MKII system acquired seafloor bathymetry, backscatter, and watercolumn backscatter information east of Tasmania and around Freycinet Marine Park. Processed data includes corrected bathymetry grids and watercolumn data stored by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Calibrate multibeam echosounder systems based on the described acquisition and processing methodology.
• Map seafloor bathymetry around eastern Tasmania using the processed geotiff grids.
• Analyze watercolumn backscatter patterns from the 39.7 GB of *.wcd format data.
• Study the application of sound velocity profiles and tidal corrections in marine data processing.

Strengths

• Data includes 12.2 GB of raw bathymetry/backscatter and 39.7 GB of watercolumn data across 62 files.
• Processed data has been corrected for motion, position, and tides using RTK/GPS and the EGM2008 geoid model.
• The echosounder provides high angular resolution (0.5° by 1°) across a 40-100 kHz frequency range.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Freshness should be verified; the last metadata update was 2026-06-16.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Collected via Kongsberg EM710 MKII multibeam echosounder aboard RV Investigator voyage IN2021_E02.

Time Range

November 20-28, 2021

Freshness

Data collected November 20-28, 2021; metadata last updated 2026-06-16.

Geography

Waters east of Tasmania and around Freycinet Marine Park.