South-west Corner Marine Park Seabed Backscatter at 4m Resolution

Geoscience Australia collected seabed backscatter data covering 330 km^2 offshore from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin. The data was acquired in March 2020 and January-February 2021 using a Kongsberg EM2040C multibeam sonar system and processed into a 4 m resolution geotiff. This project was a collaboration with several Australian universities and funded by the National Environmental Science Program to build baseline habitat information.

Use Cases

• Map seabed hardness and texture based on backscatter intensity data.
• Model benthic habitat distribution based on acoustic seabed properties.
• Establish environmental baselines for the South-west Marine Park Network as mentioned in the 10-year management plan.
• Integrate with underwater imagery data collected separately to validate acoustic interpretations.

Strengths

• Covers a specific 330 km^2 area within a marine park.
• High-resolution 4 m grid cell size for detailed analysis.
• Data collection is documented across two specific survey periods in 2020 and 2021.
• Produced using a specified Kongsberg EM2040C system and CMST-GA MB Process software.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is a single backscatter layer; other survey data (bathymetry, imagery) are separate files.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with the University of Western Australia, University of Tasmania, and the Australian Centre for Field Robotics.

Collection Method

Collected via multibeam sonar from the charter vessel Santosha and processed with the CMST-GA MB Process toolbox.

Time Range

Survey periods: 9–12 March 2020 and 27 January – 16 February 2021.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 15:31:57.512220; freshness should be verified.

Geography

South-west Corner Marine Park, offshore from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia.