GMRT-AusSeabed

The Challenge

The GMRT-AusSeabed project will enable users to create their own seamless seabed maps using AusSeabed datasets.

It will address the cost associated with processing, merging and reformatting of bathymetric data in marine modelling and management by adopting and expanding the Global Multi-Resolution Topography Synthesis (GMRT) and becoming a local platform node focused on Australia’s region of marine responsibility.

The GMRT is operated by Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory and funded by the US National Science Foundation.

The Response

The GMRT-AusSeabed platform will provide seamless, high-quality elevation and bathymetry data to the consistent standards required for oceanographic models and predictions, accelerating research by reducing manual effort, avoiding duplication and removing the barrier of specialised skills needed for accurate bathymetry data. 

The outputs, suitable for high-performance computing or desktop environments, ensure the service is scalable and accessible to the wider research community while the consistency, resolution, and processing capability delivered by this platform improve the accuracy, validity and reliability of modelling.

GMRT-AusSeabed will integrate with the AusSeabed Data Hub, a cloud-hosted federated platform for open seabed mapping data. This integration will leverage off an already established platform to amplify the benefits to Australian marine science and the broader community.

The project involves the following elements:

• Baseline bathymetry data collection – Deakin University, James Cook University and CSIRO will collate, process and publish a range of bathymetry datasets from various sources and with different horizontal resolutions (e.g. multibeam sonar, bathymetric LIDAR, single-beam sonar and 3D seismic data), and in doing so will contribute to establishing best-practices for collating bathymetry data.
• User needs analysis – A series of surveys and workshops led by the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia will engage the ocean and coastal modelling community from universities, public and private sectors to ensure the solutions are fit-for-purpose.
• Global Multi-Resolution Topography (GMRT) synthesis platform – Geoscience Australia and Lamont Doherty Earth Observation (LDEO) will adopt and enhance the GMRT synthesis platform, which enables users to generate custom maps and grids from a compilation dataset, and run hydrodynamic models in high performance computing environments (AWS/NCI).
• Training of the end-user community – Training materials will be created for the end-user community and a webinar delivered.

Who Will Benefit

Fisheries management staff, environmental and conservation management staff, researchers, including ocean and coastal modellers, local councils, emergency management staff, state government, coastal planning sector resource industry, marine surveying sector and recreational ocean stakeholders will all benefit from the project’s core features:

• National Data Asset – The development of seamless, high-quality elevation and bathymetry data to the consistent standards required for oceanographic models and predictions
• High-performance Compute – The capacity to create user-specified high-quality, custom-resolution, integrated elevation and bathymetry grids that are fit for purpose.
• Environmental Management – Accurate and reliable modelling will benefit coastal communities nationally by informing environmental and fisheries management, and risk mitigation

The Partners

Our partners are:

• AusSeabed:
  • Geoscience Australia
  • Australian Antarctic Division
  • CSIRO
  • Australian Hydrographic Office
  • Australian Institute of Marine Science
• Bureau of Meteorology
• Deakin University
• James Cook University
• Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Target Outcomes

This project will enable a nationally consistent and best-practice approach for synthesising various datasets into a seamless coastal and marine elevation framework, with the capacity to create user-specified high-quality, custom-resolution, integrated elevation and bathymetry grids that are fit for purpose.