Williams Ridge 100 m Bathymetry grid compilation (20220005C)

Brief description

This dataset contains a bathymetry (depth) grid of the Williams Ridge region, southeast Indian Ocean, at 100 metre resolution produced from the compilation of all available source data. These data include single beam echo sounder bathymetry data supplied by the Australian Hydrographic Office to generate the general depth model, and deep-water multibeam bathymetry data to reveal the complexity of the seafloor on Williams Ridge, Kerguelen Plateau and the surrounding abyssal plains and basins. Multibeam bathymetry data were collected during systematic surveys over Williams Ridge by Research Vessel (RV) Investigator in 2020 and RV Sonne, and on vessel transits that crossed through the region. The RV Investigator survey also collected seismic, magnetic and gravity data, and rock samples to provide new knowledge of the geological and tectonic evolution of the region (see www.mnf.csiro.au/en/voyages/IN2020_V01). Austral Fisheries also provided crowdsourced bathymetry (CSB) data from fishing vessels collected using single beam echo sounders. These fishing vessels operate within the Kerguelen Plateau and Williams Ridge region licenced under the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. Austral Fisheries CSB data were provided to the Australian Antarctic Division for restricted use in this compilation product. All source multibeam and single beam bathymetry data were edited as 3D point clouds to remove anomalous noise, and given a consistent WGS84 horizontal datum, and where possible, an approximate MSL vertical datum prior to the grid interpolation process. This dataset was developed to support the management of Australia’s marine jurisdiction and is published with permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia. This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes

Lineage

Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded

Statement: eCat: 147484
GRID RESOLUTION: 0.001° (~100 m).
TOTAL SURFACE COVERAGE: 567,000 km2.
HORIZONTAL DATUM: WGS84.
VERTICAL DATUM: Approximates mean sea level.
USE LIMITATION: Not to be used for navigation.
DATA LINEAGE: This dataset is an output of the collaboration between James Cook University and Australian Government agencies, to process and compile all available digital bathymetry data and develop a regional-scale, 100 m-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM).
MBES SOURCE DATA: Geoscience Australia (GA) provided most of the foreign research vessel multibeam echo sounder (MBES) data which have been collected across the Kerguelen Plateau since 2004. CSIRO provided data from Australia’s Marine National Facility RV Investigator, which had conducted extensive systematic surveys in 2016 and 2020. The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) also conducted a survey in coordination with the RV Investigator 2020 survey. Extensive noise editing on the multibeam data were conducted using QPS Fledermaus and Caris HIPS&SIPS software and by applying sound velocity corrections where necessary, prior to bathymetry surface processing.
SBES SOURCE DATA: The Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) supplied singlebeam echo sounder (SBES) data from a hydrographic survey conducted in 1998. The Australian commercial fishing company Austral Fisheries conducts numerous fishing voyages over the Kerguelen Plateau and Williams Ridge, authorised by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Austral Fisheries vessels collect automatically logged, crowdsourced bathymetry (CSB) data from their GPS navigation sensors and depth sounders. The numerous track lines of Austral Fisheries’ CSB data reveal improved detail of the seafloor geomorphology over the plateau, ridge and adjacent basins. Extensive noise editing was conducted on SBES data using 3D point clouds generated within QPS Fledermaus software, prior to bathymetry surface processing.
GRID DEVELOPMENT 1: The grid development phase was conducted using Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software (Wessel and Smith, 1991), following the methodology used in Becker et al. (2009). GMT is a Unix-based gridding and plotting software package that can deal with large datasets. This grid development phase is a ‘repair and replace’ method that is widely used for aggregating source bathymetry data for regional-scale and global-scale DEMs, e.g. SRTM30_PLUS.
GRID DEVELOPMENT 2: The ASCII xyz source data were first decimated using GMT blockmedian into individual xyz data files representing single node points at 50 m-resolution. The decimated data files were then concatenated into one large xyz file. Next, GMT blockmedian was conducted on the single large file to decimate the combined data to 100 m-resolution in order to produce one valid depth point for each pixel location to be used in the interpolated bathymetry surface at that same 100 m-resolution. GRID DEVELOPMENT 3: The 100 m xyz data were then compared with co-located depths from an underlying base grid, in this case a ~500 m-resolution unpublished bathymetry grid developed by Geoscience Australia in 2005, supplemented by SRTM30_PLUS grid data (Becker et al., 2009) resampled to ~500 m to cover the entire Williams Ridge project area. The purpose of using a base grid was to flag any new data that may be greatly in error and thus be rejected, and also to provide underlying bathymetry data for pixels that lack coverage by the new source data. The ‘repair and replace’ method repairs the GA 2005 grid, replacing pixels with newer, higher-resolution data.
GRID DEVELOPMENT 4: A model was made with GMT surface using the difference values between the co-located new data and the underlying base data. GMT surface was used to resample the GA 2005 grid to 100 m-resolution. The difference grid and the resampled base grid were then added together with GMT grdmath. This netCDF file was converted into an ESRI raster grid. This ESRI raster grid was then clipped to the project area to produce the final wr100 depth model.
PROCESSING SCHEME: Please refer to the "Processing_scheme_wr100.jpg" image in the metadata that shows the steps used to develop the wr100 depth model.
DATA SOURCES: Refer to the metadata spreadsheet of source data used in compiling the kerg100 depth model: Datasources_wr100_V3_DEM.xlsx.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The following people are gratefully acknowledged for their assistance during the development of the Kerguelen Plateau depth model: Anne Worden (Australian Hydrographic Office) Michael Andrew (Australian Hydrographic Service) Mark Alcock (Geoscience Australia) Mike Sexton (Geoscience Australia) Phil O'Brien (Geoscience Australia) Michele Spinoccia (Geoscience Australia) Robert Parums (Geoscience Australia) Kim Picard (Geoscience Australia) Cisco Navidad (CSIRO) Stewart Edwards (CSIRO) Nelson Kuna (CSIRO) Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben (Alfred Wegener Institute) Simon Dreutter (Alfred Wegener Institute) Mike Coffin (IMAS, University of Tasmania) Austral Fisheries Henk Brolsma (Australian Antarctic Division)

Notes

Purpose
This project aimed to develop a new high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) for the Williams Ridge region at a grid pixel resolution of 0.001-arc degree (about 100 m). A high-resolution DEM is a critical spatial dataset used to develop new knowledge of the tectonic and geological evolution of the region and to support the management of Australia’s marine jurisdiction.