Sydney Harbour Sediment Samples for Benthic Habitat Mapping, 2003

Sediment sample analysis results from a 2003 survey of Sydney Harbour, collected by Geoscience Australia and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. The data was used to ground-truth multibeam sonar mapping for the Coastal CRC's Coastal Water Habitat Mapping Project. The report documents the physical character and distribution of sediments to classify benthic habitats.

Use Cases

• Ground-truthing acoustic backscatter data from multibeam sonar systems based on the description of sediment physical properties.
• Mapping the spatial distribution of sediment types for coastal geomorphology studies as mentioned in the project description.
• Classifying benthic habitats by analyzing the relationship between sediment properties and acoustic waveforms as described in the report.

Strengths

• Data is associated with a specific milestone report (CG1-03) from a defined research project (Coastal CRC Coastal Water Habitat Mapping Project).
• Samples were collected by authoritative organizations (Geoscience Australia and Defence Science and Technology Organisation).
• Explicitly linked to a planned second survey in September/October 2004, suggesting a structured research program.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified; the last metadata update is 2026-04-28 12:32:14.784255.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data.gov.au, originating from the Coastal CRC project.

Collection Method

Sediment samples collected during a survey, with analysis documented in a milestone report.

Time Range

Primary sample collection in August 2003.

Freshness

Data collection occurred in August 2003, with a related survey planned for 2004.

Geography

Sydney Harbour, Australia.