Vernon Islands bathymetry survey (B-1/GA4871)

Brief description

This resource includes bathymetry data acquired during the Vernon Islands bathymetry survey collected by University of Queensland during the period 21 – 26 May 2019 on the charter vessel Lauri-j using Bathyswath interferometric sonar system. The survey was undertaken as a project of the Australian Tidal Energy (AUSTEn; http://austen.org.au/) co-funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) for the Advancing Renewables Program. The purpose of the project was to map the country’s tidal energy resource in unprecedented detail and assess its economic feasibility and ability to contribute to Australia’s energy needs. It will aid the emerging tidal energy industry to develop commercial-scale tidal energy projects. This dataset contains a 4m resolution 32-bit floating point geotiff file of the bathymetry in study area and transits, derived from the processed Bathyswath interferometric data, using Fledermaus. A final report of the project is provided in: Penesis, I et al. 2020. Tidal Energy in Australia: Assessing Resource and Feasibility in Australia’s Future Energy Mix (https://tethys-engineering.pnnl.gov/sites/default/files/publications/tidal-energy-in-australia-2020.pdf). 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 based on the requirements stated in the AusSeabed multibeam guidelines (version 1, https://australian-multibeam-guidelines.github.io), 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. This dataset was produced using Fledermaus and CARIS HIPS and SIPS and the AusSeabed-recommended processing methodology as follows. 1. All necessary corrections were done in Fledermaus. The processing included: i) applying algorithms that corrected for tide and vessel pitch, roll and heave; and ii) applying filters and visually inspecting each swath line to remove any remaining artefacts and noisy data (e.g. nadir noise and outliers). 2. The observed and predicted tides were derived for predefined locations at mean sea level (MSL). 3. The bathymetry data were corrected for tide, reduced to MSL. 4. Geotiff was created from Fledermaus. 5. At Geoscience Australia, the received geotiff was shifted to EGM2008 using AusCoastVDT and CARIS HIPS and SIPS. 6. The final grid was exported as a 32-bit floating point Geotiff at 4m resolution, referenced to EGM2008.

Notes

Purpose
bathymetry survey