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

South-west Corner Marine Park offshore from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin. This dataset contains 5-meter resolution bathymetry data covering 330 square kilometers, collected by Geoscience Australia in March 2020 and January-February 2021. The survey was a collaborative project with several Australian universities, funded by the National Environmental Science Program Marine Biodiversity Hub to build baseline information for benthic habitats.

Use Cases

• Modeling seafloor topography and habitat suitability based on high-resolution bathymetry.
• Establishing environmental baselines for the 10-year marine park management plan (2018-2028).
• Integrating bathymetric data with separate benthic imagery for holistic habitat analysis.
• Supporting ongoing monitoring within the South-West Marine Park Network.

Strengths

• High-resolution 5-meter grid produced from processed multibeam sonar data.
• Covers a defined area of 330 square kilometers within the marine park.
• Data collection involved multiple reputable institutions including Geoscience Australia and several universities.

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

Collection Method

Multibeam bathymetry data collected via Kongsberg EM2040C sonar system on the charter vessel Santosha and processed using CARIS HIPS and SIPS software.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 18:38:45.095787; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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