South-west Corner Marine Park Bathymetry Survey, 5m Resolution

South-west Corner Marine Park bathymetry data covering 330 km^2 offshore from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin. The data was collected by Geoscience Australia in March 2020 and January-February 2021 using a Kongsberg EM2040C multibeam sonar system. The survey was a collaborative project with multiple universities, funded to build baseline information for benthic habitats as part of a 10-year marine park management plan.

Use Cases

• Modeling seafloor terrain and habitat suitability based on high-resolution bathymetry.
• Establishing environmental baselines for marine park monitoring as mentioned in the 10-year management plan.
• Integrating bathymetric data with separate underwater imagery collections for holistic benthic community analysis.

Strengths

• Covers a 330 km^2 survey area with 5-meter spatial resolution.
• Data was collected using a specified Kongsberg EM2040C multibeam sonar system and processed with CARIS HIPS and SIPS software.
• Funded and executed through a collaborative project involving Geoscience Australia and multiple research institutions.

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 explicitly not to be used for navigational purposes.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Multibeam bathymetry data collected via charter vessel Santosha using a Kongsberg EM2040C sonar system.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 01:59:53.408157; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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