Seabed areas were derived by aggregating and dissolving the boundaries of the 1 degree S57 file series for the Australian continental shelf and Lord Howe Island shelf (200 m). These areas were defined by the Australian Hydrographic Service (AHS).

Voyage IN2019_V04 contributed an additional 29,000 kms2 of seafloor survey data to the Coral Sea knowledge base. From this new bathymetric data individual seamounts have been extracted and have been classified to the Geoscience Australia Geomorphology Classification Scheme. This dataset contains two layers representing the classification layers- 1) Surface (Plain, Slope, Escarpment) and 2) fine scale Geomorphology of the seamount for the Mellish Seamount. Ongoing research with this survey data will provide new insights into the detailed geomorphic shape and spatial relationships between adjacent seabed features. This information will be released in future publications to show the potential of how the scale of such seafloor data can be used for predictive habitat modelling when analysed with the biological data overlays.

Voyage IN2019_V04 contributed an additional 29,000 kms2 of seafloor survey data to the Coral Sea knowledge base. From this new bathymetric data individual seamounts have been extracted and have been classified to the Geoscience Australia Geomorphology Classification Scheme. This dataset contains two layers representing the classification layers- 1) Surface (Plain, Slope, Escarpment) and 2) fine scale Geomorphology of the seamount for the Fregetta Seamount. Ongoing research with this survey data will provide new insights into the detailed geomorphic shape and spatial relationships between adjacent seabed features. This information will be released in future publications to show the potential of how the scale of such seafloor data can be used for predictive habitat modelling when analysed with the biological data overlays.

This resource includes backscatter data for Arafura Marine Park (Arafura Sea) collected by Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science during the period 2 – 15 November 2020 on the RV Solander. The survey was undertaken as a collaborative project funded through the National Environmental Science Program Marine Biodiversity Hub, with co-investment by GA and AIMS. The purpose of the project was to build baseline information for benthic habitats in Arafura Marine Park that will support ongoing environmental monitoring within the North Marine Park Network as part of the 10-year management plan (2018-2028). Data acquisition for the project included multibeam bathymetry and backscatter for two areas (Money Shoal and Pillar Bank), seabed samples and underwater imagery of benthic communities and demersal fish. This backscatter dataset contains two 32-bit geotiff files of the backscatter mosaic for two survey areas produced from the processed EM2040C Dual Head system using the CMST-GA MB Process v15.04.04.0 (x64) toolbox software co-developed by the Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University and Geoscience Australia. A detailed report on the survey is provided in: Picard, K. Stowar, M., Roberts, N., Siwabessy, J., Abdul Wahab, M.A., Galaiduk, R., Miller, K., Nichol, S. 2021. Arafura Marine Park Post Survey Report. Report to the National Environmental Science Program, Marine Biodiversity Hub (https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/node/4505).

Voyage IN2019_V04 contributed an additional 29,000 kms2 of seafloor survey data to the Coral Sea knowledge base. From this new bathymetric data individual seamounts have been extracted and have been classified to the Geoscience Australia Geomorphology Classification Scheme. This dataset contains two layers representing the classification layers- 1) Surface (Plain, Slope, Escarpment) and 2) fine scale Geomorphology of the seamount for the Calder Seamount. Ongoing research with this survey data will provide new insights into the detailed geomorphic shape and spatial relationships between adjacent seabed features. This information will be released in future publications to show the potential of how the scale of such seafloor data can be used for predictive habitat modelling when analysed with the biological data overlays.

Australia has established a network of 58 marine parks within Commonwealth waters covering a total of 3.3 million square kilometres, or 40 per cent of our exclusive economic zone (excluding Australian Antarctic Territory). These parks span a range of settings, from near coastal and shelf habitats to abyssal plains. Parks Australia manages the park network through management plans that came into effect for all parks on 1 July 2018. Geoscience Australia is contributing to their management by collating and interpreting existing environmental data, and through the collection of new marine data. “Eco-narrative” documents are being developed for those parks, where sufficient information is available, delivering collations and interpretations of seafloor geomorphology, oceanography and ecology. Many of these interpretations rely on bathymetric grids and their derived products, including those in this data release. Bathymetry grids The bathymetry of the marine parks was created by compiling and processing Geoscience Australia’s bathymetry data holding gridded at the optimum resolution depending of the vessel’s sonar system. The bathymetry of the park is illustrated by a panchromatic geotiff image, developed by combining the bathymetric data with a hillshade image. Morphological Surfaces Geoscience Australia has developed a new marine seafloor classification scheme, which uses the two-part seafloor mapping morphology approach of Dove et al (2016). This new scheme is semi-hierarchical and the first step divides the slope of the seafloor into three Morphological Surface categories (Plain, <2°; Slope, 2-10°; Escarpment, >10°). Dove, D., Bradwell, T., Carter, G., Cotterill, C., Gafeira, J., Green, S., Krabbendam, M., Mellet, C., Stevenson, A., Stewart, H., Westhead, K., Scott, G., Guinan, J., Judge, M. Monteys, X., Elvenes, S., Baeten, N., Dolan, M., Thorsnes, T., Bjarnadóttir, L., Ottesen, D. (2016). Seabed geomorphology: a twopart classification system. British Geological Survey, Open Report OR/16/001. 13 pages. This research is supported by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub through Project D1.

Land features were derived by aggregating and dissolving the boundaries of the 1 degree S57 file (lndare_a layer) series for the Australian continent (+ Lord Howe Island). This represents land the area defined at Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) by the Australian Hydrographic Office. The Great Australian Bight was missing from this series, and was replaced by Geoscience Australia's 1:100k coastline. This data has been made available through the data collation process conducted by the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Project D3 (Reefs on the Australian Continental Shelf).

Time Series video to support Project C3 of the Marine Biodiversity Hub NESP programme. The video illustrates coastal change at the Murray Mouth and Lower Lakes, SA using 104 Landsat observations from within the Australian Geoscience Data Cube (AGDC) from 1988-2013.