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

From February to March 2010, Geoscience Australia (GA) conducted a multibeam sonar survey of the coastal waters of the Vestfold Hills in the Australian Antarctic Territory. The survey was conducted jointly with Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) and the Deployable Geospatial Survey Team (DGST) of the Royal Australian Navy. The survey was aimed primarily at understanding the character of the sea floor around Davis Station to better inform studies of the benthic biota and the possible impacts of the Davis sewage outfall. DGST were involved to ensure that the bathymetric data could be used to update and extend the nautical charts of the Davis area.

The survey was conducted using GA's Kongsberg EM3002D multibeam echo sounder and C-Nav Differential GPS system mounted on the AAD work boat Howard Burton. Sixteen under water videos were also collected using the GA Raytech camera system and 3 grabs were also collected to compliment an intensive sampling program by AAD divers and a sampling program conducted in the 1990's by University of Tasmania (Franklin, 1996).

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.

2010年2月至3月，澳大利亚地球科学局（Geoscience Australia，GA）针对澳大利亚南极领地的维斯特福尔德丘陵（Vestfold Hills）近岸海域开展了多波束声呐勘测工作。本次勘测由澳大利亚南极局（Australian Antarctic Division，AAD）与澳大利亚皇家海军可部署地理测绘小队（Deployable Geospatial Survey Team，DGST）联合实施。勘测的核心目标是解析戴维斯站周边海床特征，以更好地支撑底栖生物群落研究，以及评估戴维斯站排污口可能带来的环境影响。DGST参与本次工作的目的在于确保水深测量数据可用于更新并扩充戴维斯海域的航海图。

本次勘测使用搭载于AAD工作船“霍华德·伯顿号”（Howard Burton）的GA产Kongsberg EM3002D多波束测深仪与C-Nav差分GPS系统。勘测期间还通过GA Raytech摄像系统采集了16段水下视频，同时获取了3份海底抓取样品，以补充AAD潜水员开展的密集采样计划，以及塔斯马尼亚大学1990年代实施的采样项目（Franklin, 1996）。

本次勘测对戴维斯站紧邻海域开展了42平方千米的密集扫测，并额外布设测线至北部的朗峡（Long Fjord），以及南部的克罗克峡（Crooked Fjord）与索斯达尔冰川（Sorsdal Glacier）。由于采用双向测角方式对海床进行声呐扫描，主勘测区域的覆盖覆盖率达150%至200%，可清晰分辨并详细刻画海床的各类地貌特征，包括岩礁、冰山擦痕、巨砾、锚链拖拽痕迹以及搁浅冰山。这套全新的高分辨率数据可为海床地貌与纹理分类提供精细化制图成果，进而与采样数据形成互补。本次采集了16段视频样带，并在AAD潜水作业无法抵达的深水区获取了3份抓取样品。

目前已针对科研用途生成了高分辨率水深栅格数据，同时针对海图绘制的后续处理工作仍在进行中。研究团队还利用多波束勘测数据、初步视频与采样数据编制了全新的海床地貌图。

本项目是澳大利亚南极科学（Australian Antarctic Science，AAS）项目2201——“南极近岸海洋底栖群落的自然变异与人为诱导变化”的组成部分。

2011年，菲尔·奥布莱恩博士向澳大利亚南极数据中心提交了以下中期数据：
1. 格式为CARIS的75厘米分辨率多波束数据；
2. 基于上述75厘米多波束数据生成的4米分辨率水深栅格数据，以及一幅海床影像。
上述中期数据可通过本元数据记录页面下载获取。

2013年8月，澳大利亚地球科学局对多波束数据完成进一步处理后，发布了2米分辨率的水深与反向散射栅格数据。目前该套水深与反向散射数据已完成全部处理、核查与验证工作，替代了此前的中期数据。中期数据已由澳大利亚南极数据中心归档。2米分辨率栅格数据与最终报告可从澳大利亚地球科学局官网下载获取。