AUSTREA-2: Seafloor Mapping Survey of South-east Tasmania and Macquarie Ridge

140,000 km² of seabed was mapped during a 25-day survey in January/February 2000 by the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO). The survey collected swath bathymetry, backscatter, seismic, sub-bottom, gravity, magnetic, and oceanographic data to support continental shelf definition and marine resource assessment. Data quality was reported as generally excellent despite occasional rough weather.

Use Cases

• Define the foot-of-slope position for legal continental shelf claims based on high-resolution bathymetric data.
• Assess seabed living and non-living resources for marine zone planning based on geophysical and oceanographic profiles.
• Analyze tectonic features like the Hjort Trench and seafloor spreading fabric based on swath-mapping data.
• Study slope canyon development along the eastern Tasmanian margin based on detailed seabed mapping.

Strengths

• Covers approximately 140,000 km² of seabed, providing a large spatial dataset.
• Includes a multi-instrument suite: swath bathymetry, backscatter, seismic, sub-bottom, gravity, magnetic, and oceanographic data.
• Survey was conducted over 25 days with generally excellent data quality reported.

Limitations

• Data is from a single survey in early 2000; temporal coverage is limited.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and specific file sizes are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO), now Geoscience Australia, and the National Oceans Office.

Collection Method

Ship-based survey using the N/O L'Atalante vessel, employing Simrad EM12D swath systems, GI-gun seismic, 3.5 kHz sub-bottom profiler, and gravity/magnetic sensors.

Time Range

January to February 2000.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 13:03:44.613001; freshness should be verified.

Geography

South and south-east Tasmania, south of Macquarie Island, and the Southern Macquarie Ridge Complex.