Varzin Passage to Merkara Shoal Bathymetry Survey, 2023-2024

A 30-meter resolution bathymetric grid of the Varzin Passage to Merkara Shoal area, acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office between September 2023 and April 2024. Fugro Australia conducted the survey using a LADS HD+ system, with data processed in CARIS HIPS and SIPS and QIMERA software. The final product is a 32-bit floating point GeoTIFF, though it is explicitly not for navigational use.

Use Cases

• Modeling seafloor topography based on the 30-meter resolution bathymetric grid.
• Analyzing underwater geomorphology in the specified survey area.
• Integrating bathymetric data with other marine environmental datasets for regional studies.

Strengths

• Data was acquired using a LADS HD+ system, a specific high-density airborne laser bathymetry instrument.
• The final grid has a defined 30-meter resolution and 32-bit floating point precision.
• Survey was conducted under a formal contract for the Australian Hydrographic Office as part of the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program.

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 carries a specific warning that it is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Provenance

Source

Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO), via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Contracted survey conducted by Fugro Australia using a LADS HD+ system, processed with CARIS HIPS and SIPS and QIMERA.

Time Range

4 Sep 2023 – 12 Apr 2024

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 07:22:08.341345; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Varzin Passage to Merkara Shoal area, Australia.