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

Seabed backscatter data covering 330 km^2 offshore from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin was collected by Geoscience Australia in March 2020 and January-February 2021. The survey was a collaborative project with multiple universities and funded by the National Environmental Science Program Marine Biodiversity Hub. The dataset is a 4 m resolution 32-bit geotiff file processed from Kongsberg EM2040C multibeam sonar data.

Use Cases

• Map seabed substrate types based on backscatter intensity values.
• Establish baseline habitat maps for environmental monitoring within the marine park network.
• Support the 10-year management plan (2018-2028) for the South-west Marine Park Network.
• Integrate with underwater imagery data for comprehensive benthic community analysis.

Strengths

• Data covers a specific area of 330 km^2.
• Provides high-resolution (4 m) backscatter information.
• Survey was conducted by a national authority (Geoscience Australia) with academic partners.
• Data acquisition used a specific multibeam sonar system (Kongsberg EM2040C).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Freshness should be verified; last metadata update was 2026-05-05.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data acquisition on charter vessel Santosha.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Data collected in 2020 and 2021; metadata last updated 2026-05-05.

Geography

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