AUSTREA-1: Seafloor Mapping of Southeast Australia and Lord Howe Island

The AUSTREA-1 survey, conducted by the Australian Geological Survey Organisation in January 2000, mapped approximately 120,000 km² of seabed off southeast Australia. Data collected includes swath-bathymetry, backscatter imagery, seismic profiles, magnetics, gravity, and oceanographic measurements. The work was done for marine zone planning, resource assessment, and geological and biological research.

Use Cases

• Modeling seabed terrain and canyon morphology based on swath-bathymetry data.
• Assessing potential petroleum basins based on seismic profile data.
• Studying benthic community habitats based on mapped volcanic and carbonate terrain.
• Analyzing oceanographic conditions based on underway ADCP and XBT data.

Strengths

• Covers a large area of approximately 120,000 km² of seabed.
• Data quality is described as 'mostly excellent' in the report.
• Includes multiple complementary data types: bathymetry, seismic, magnetics, gravity, and oceanography.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is from a single survey in 2000; freshness should be verified for contemporary applications.

Provenance

Source

Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO), via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

25-day seabed swath-mapping and geophysical survey using the research vessel L'Atalante.

Time Range

Survey conducted from 18 December 1999 to 11 January 2000.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 05:45:39.432437; freshness should be verified

Geography

Lord Howe Island, southeast Australian margin, central Great Australian Bight, and adjacent waters.