Tasman and Coral Seas bathymetry survey (FK201228/GA4868)

Brief description

This resource includes bathymetry data acquired during the Tasman and Coral Seas survey using Kongsberg EM302 and EM710 multibeam sonar systems. The Tasman and Coral Seas bathymetry survey (FK201228/GA4868); also known as Pinging in the New Year: Mapping the Tasman and Coral Seas survey; was led by James Cook University and University of Queensland aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor from the 28th of December to the 25th of January 2021. The primary objective of the expedition was to map the seabed of the target area in the Tasman and Coral Seas that will support ocean research, management and sustainable economic development. Bathymetric maps are especially valuable for geoscience research, as the shape of the seafloor holds information about the tectonic movement and the formation of the Australian continent. Another objective was to survey seabirds, which are important indicators of ocean health and the data collected from the expedition are vital for informing management of the Coral Sea Marine Park. This V1 dataset contains one 64m resolution 32-bit floating point geotiff files of the Tasman and Coral Seas bathymetry survey area, derived from the processed EM302 and EM710 bathymetry data, using CARIS HIPS and SIPS software. This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes. This dataset is published with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia.

Lineage

Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded

Statement: While AusSeabed aims to publish data to the level of adherence based on the requirements stated in the AusSeabed multibeam guidelines (version 1), we will also publish interim products (version 0) that are currently available, but have not yet been standardised (version 1). Users should be aware that V1 products will always supersede V0 products. The Chief scientist onboard was Dr. Rob Beaman (James Cook University) and Dr. Helen Bostock (University of Queensland). This dataset was produced using CARIS HIPS/SIPS version 11.3.7 For any metadata questions, please download the Metadata.txt file located with the dataset. Processing methodology: This dataset was produced using CARIS HIPS/SIPS v.11.3.7 1. A vessel configuration file was created where the co-ordinates of the motion sensor, DGPS antenna and patch test offsets were recorded.. 2. A new project was created and the vessel configuration file attached to the project file. 3. The raw swath sonar data files, in raw.all format, for each line was imported into the project and the vessel information assigned to the data.EGM2008 model/vertical reference system is our first preference and when not available or possible to do so, a tidal zone data is the next preference to be applied to the data 4. The motion sensor, DGPS and heading data were cleaned using a filter that averaged adjacent data to remove artefacts. 5. Sound velocity profiles data for each block of the data were attached to the corresponding raw swath sonar data files. 6. A new blank fieldsheet area was defined that specified the geographic area of study and the co-ordinate system used. 7. The data was cleaned by applying several filters that removed any spikes in the data using user defined threshold values. 8. Data were inspected visually for each line where artifacts and noisy data had not removed by the filtering process. 9. Remaining spikes were removed manually using the swath and subset editor modules. 10. All the data, i.e. bathymetric sounding and ancillary data, were merged to produce the final processed data file 11. A weighted grid of the processed data was then created. 12. Independent velocity corrections were performed where velocity artefacts were observed. 13. The final processed grid was exported as a 32 bit floating point Geotif format at 64 m resolution referenced to egm2008 (~to mean sea level).

Notes

Purpose
Bathymetry Survey