Mapping and Classification of Darwin Harbour Seabed

This report presents the results of seabed mapping and habitat classification surveys completed in Darwin Harbour during 2011 and 2013 as part of the Northern Territory Government's marine habitat mapping program. This research aims to provide baseline data on the existing marine habitats and characteristics of the Darwin Harbour region. It is a collaboration between Geoscience Australia (GA), the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), the Department of Land Resource Management (DLRM) and the Darwin Port Corporation. Key objectives are to:

- Produce detailed maps of the bathymetry and derived parameters such as slope and rugosity,

- Classify the seabed into areas of hard and soft substrate, and,

- Produce seabed habitat maps (or seascapes).

Data collection was completed in two stages comprising a multibeam survey, undertaken on the MV Matthew Flinders in 2011 by DLRMs predecessor, the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport (NRETAS), GA, AIMS and the Darwin Port Corporation; and, a seabed sampling survey undertaken in 2013 on the MV John Hickman, by DLRM and GA. Data acquired from the surveys included continuous high-resolution multibeam sonar bathymetry and acoustic backscatter, video and still camera observations of seabed habitats and biological communities, and physical samples of seabed sediments.

Key outcomes from the surveys include:

1. Improved understanding of the seabed of Darwin Harbour. The main seabed geomorphic features identified in Darwin Harbour include banks, ridges, plains and scarps, and a deep central channel that divides into smaller and shallower channels. Acoustically hard substrates are found mostly on banks and are associated with rocky reef and sponge gardens, and are often overlain by a thin veneer of sandy sediment. In contrast, plains and channels are characterised by acoustically soft substrates and are associated with fine sediments (mud and sand).

2. Classification of physical seabed properties to produce a Seascape Map for Darwin Harbour. Six seascape classes (potential habitats) were derived using an Iterative Self Organising (ISO) unsupervised classification scheme. These six classes are related to statistically unique combinations of seabed substrate, relief, bedform and presence of sediment veneer (quite often inferred from presence of epibenthic biota).

The results presented in this report demonstrate the utility of multibeam acoustic data to broadly and objectively characterise the seabed to describe the spatial distribution of key benthic habitats. This is particularly important technique in high-turbidity settings such as Darwin Harbour where the application of satellite and aerial remote sensing techniques can be limited.

The results of this study will be used for the planning and analysis of data from upcoming benthic biodiversity studies as they:

- Provide robust near-continuous physical variables that can be used to predictive modelling of biodiversity;

- Provide high-resolution coverage of near-continuous variables that describe the key physical characteristic of the seabed of the harbour, and;

- Enhance survey sample design by providing indicative locations of likely similar biology communities.

Identification info

Date (Publication): 2015-01-01T00:00:00

Citation identifier: Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/79212

Citation identifier: Digital Object Identifier/http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/Record.2015.018

Cited responsible party

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Publisher	Geoscience Australia	Canberra
Author	Siwabessy, P.J.W.	1
Author	Tran, M.	2
Author	Huang, Z.	3
Author	Nichol, S.L.	4
Author	Atkinson, I.	5

Name: Record

Issue identification: 2015/018

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Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Custodian	EGD
Owner	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)	Voice

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Geoscientific information

Maintenance and update frequency: Unknown

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Title: Product data repository: Various Formats

Website: Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

Keywords

GA Publication
Record

Theme

marine environmental baselines

Theme

backscatter

Theme

bathymetry

Theme

mapping

Theme

marine

Keywords

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

Marine Geoscience

Keywords

Published_External

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Title: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title: CC-BY

Edition: 4.0

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints: License

Use constraints: License

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Title: Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date: 2018-11-01T00:00:00

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https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification: Unclassified

Language: English

Character encoding: UTF8

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Distributor contact

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Distributor	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)	Voice

OnLine resource: Download the Record (pdf)

Download the Record (pdf)

OnLine resource: Download the Record (docx)

Download the Record (docx)

OnLine resource: Link to p-rock (probability of rock) grids from the Darwin Harbour 2011 Marine Survey (GA0333)

Link to p-rock (probability of rock) grids from the Darwin Harbour 2011 Marine Survey (GA0333)

OnLine resource: Link to Seascape classification layer from the Darwin Harbour 2011 Marine Survey (GA0333)

Link to Seascape classification layer from the Darwin Harbour 2011 Marine Survey (GA0333)

OnLine resource: Link to Bathymetry Grid of Darwin Harbour From Survey Onboard the Matthew Flinders - 2011

Link to Bathymetry Grid of Darwin Harbour From Survey Onboard the Matthew Flinders - 2011

OnLine resource: Link to Topographic Slope Grid of Darwin Harbour

Link to Topographic Slope Grid of Darwin Harbour

OnLine resource: Link to Rugosity Grid of Darwin Harbour

Link to Rugosity Grid of Darwin Harbour

OnLine resource: Link to Backscatter Grid of Darwin Harbour From Survey Onboard the Matthew Flinders - 2011

Link to Backscatter Grid of Darwin Harbour From Survey Onboard the Matthew Flinders - 2011

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Statement: unknown

Hierarchy level: Non geographic dataset

Other: GA Publication

Description: Source data not available.

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Title: Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date: 2018-11-01T00:00:00

Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification: Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier

urn:uuid/f4878405-a569-0030-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Title: GeoNetwork UUID

Language: English

Character encoding: UTF8

Contact

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Point of contact	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)	Voice

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Resource scope: Document

Name: GA Record

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Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier: eCatId/79212

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https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/f4878405-a569-0030-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au:80/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/f4878405-a569-0030-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision): 2018-04-20T06:08:53

Date info (Creation): 2014-03-14T00:00:00

Metadata standard

Title: AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title: ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title: ISO 19115-3

Title: Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition: Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier: https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

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