Benthic Habitat Distribution in Esperance Bay, Western Australia

A dataset mapping seabed environments in Esperance Bay, part of the Recherche Archipelago in temperate southwestern Australia. It was created by the Australian Ocean Data Network and last updated on 2026-06-17. The data integrates multibeam sonar, underwater video, predicted wave energy, and sediment samples to examine relationships between geomorphology and habitat distribution.

Use Cases

• Modeling rhodolith bed distribution based on sediment composition (gravel, mud, CaCO3 percentages).
• Predicting seagrass habitat locations based on regional-scale wave energy exposure.
• Assessing the role of limestone reefs as habitat for sessile organisms in high-energy wave environments.
• Analyzing the impact of wave abrasion and sediment transport on inner shelf benthic habitat diversity.

Strengths

• Integrates multiple data sources: multibeam sonar, underwater video, predicted wave energy, and sediment data.
• Focuses on a specific, well-defined shallow-water (<50 m) environment in Esperance Bay.
• Analysis identifies wave energy as a key regional-scale predictor for specific habitats.

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 update was 2026-06-17.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data_gov_au

Collection Method

Data gathered from field studies using multibeam sonar, underwater video, and sediment sampling.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-17 02:15:04.217013

Geography

Esperance Bay, Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia