Benthic Habitat Video Surveys from Jervis Bay, 2008-2009

Between 2008 and 2009, Geoscience Australia conducted multiple surveys in Jervis Bay, NSW, to trial new equipment and characterize benthic habitats. Two video surveys in June and August 2008 captured footage along 10 transects totaling 42 km in water depths of 5-30 meters. A drop-camera survey in November 2009 collected still photographs at 24 stations throughout the bay.

Use Cases

• Map spatial distributions of benthic habitats based on video transect data.
• Characterize marine biota based on visual observations from seabed footage.
• Analyze seabed composition and backscatter data collected during the surveys.
• Validate bathymetry models using concurrent video and multibeam data collection.

Strengths

• Surveys conducted over two years (2008-2009) providing temporal context.
• Video transects cover a total of 42 km (4 x 6 km and 6 x 3 km).
• Surveys targeted specific water depth ranges (5-30 meters).
• Includes a drop-camera survey with 24 distinct sampling stations.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The description notes 'MISSING Tara's main video files', indicating potential data gaps.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Surveys conducted using multibeam and video equipment, with video recorded to mini DV tapes and copied to digital format.

Time Range

2008-2009

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 03:11:40.663331; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Jervis Bay, NSW, Australia (bounding coordinates 35.0045°S, 150.6884°E to -35.1262°S, 150.7868°E)