Coastal seabed mapping survey, Vestfold Hills, Antarctica, February-March 2010

An area of 42 km2 was surveyed intensively immediately off Davis and additional survey lines were run to Long Fjord in the north and to Crooked Fjord and the Sorsdal Glacier in the south. The main survey area had between 150% and 200% coverage as the seabed was esonified from opposing angles to resolve and provide detail to the numerous features of the seafloor such as rocky reefs, iceberg scours, boulders, anchor chain drag marks and grounded icebergs.

The new high resolution data provided detailed maps of sea bed morphology and texture classification to complement sample data. Sixteen video transects were collected and 3 grab samples collected in water too deep for the Australian Antarctic Division Diving program. New high resolution bathymetric grids have been prepared for scientific use and further processing for hydrographic charting is ongoing.

A new sea floor geomorphic map has been prepared using the multibeam data, preliminary video and sampling data. The project was a component of Australian Antarctic Science (AAS) Project 2201 - Natural Variability and Human Induced Change on Antarctic Nearshore Marine Benthic Communities. In 2011, Dr Phil O'Brien provided to the Australian Antarctic Data Centre the following interim data: 75 cm multibeam data in CARIS format; and a 4 metre resolution bathymetric grid and an image of the sea floor, both derived from the 75 cm multibeam data.

This data was made available for download from this metadata record. In August 2013, Geoscience Australia released 2 metre resolution bathymetric and backscatter grids after further processing of the multibeam data. The bathymetry and backscatter data have now been fully processed checked and validated by Geoscience Australia and supersede the interim data.

The interim data has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre. The 2 metre resolution grids and final report are available for download from the Geoscience Australia website.