140,000 km² of seabed was mapped during a 25-day survey in January/February 2000 by the Australian Geological Survey Organisation. The AUSTREA-2 cruise collected swath bathymetry, seismic profiles, and oceanographic data to support Australia's Continental Shelf definition and marine resource assessment. Work highlighted features like slope canyons off Tasmania and tectonic fabric on the southern Macquarie Ridge.
Use Cases
- Mapping foot-of-slope positions for legal Continental Shelf definition based on swath bathymetry data.
- Assessing seabed living and non-living resources for marine zone planning based on geophysical and oceanographic profiles.
- Analyzing tectonic features like seafloor spreading fabric on the Hjort Ridge based on seismic and magnetic data.
- Studying slope canyon development along the eastern Tasmanian margin based on detailed bathymetry maps.
- Modeling oceanographic conditions in southern latitudes based on seawater temperature and salinity depth profiles.
Strengths
- Survey covered 10,200 km and mapped 140,000 km² of seabed, providing extensive coverage.
- Data quality was generally excellent, with favourable weather conditions minimizing acquisition issues.
- Multiple geophysical data types were collected, including swath bathymetry, seismic, sub-bottom profiling, gravity, and magnetic profiles.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Data was collected in 2000; freshness should be verified for current applications.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific analytical tasks.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO) and National Oceans Office.
- Collection Method
- Swath-mapping and geophysical survey using the N/O L'Atalante research vessel.
- Time Range
- January/February 2000.
- Geography
- South and south-east Tasmania, south of Macquarie Island, Southern Macquarie Ridge.