Analyzing Uncertainty in Multibeam Bathymetric Data and the Impact on Derived Seafloor Attributes

ABSTRACT

Multibeam bathymetric data provide critical information for the modeling of seabed geology and benthic biodiversity. The accuracy of these models depends on the accuracy of the bathymetric data, which contain uncertainties that are stochastic at individual soundings but exhibit a distinct spatial distribution with increasing magnitude from nadir to the outer beams. A restricted spatial randomness method that simulates both the stochastic and spatial characteristics of the data uncertainty performed better than a complete spatial randomness method in analyzing the impact of bathymetric data uncertainty on derived seafloor attributes.

KEYWORDS:

• Multibeam bathymetry
• seabed mapping
• uncertainty

Acknowledgements

This work was undertaken for the Marine Biodiversity Hub, a collaborative partnership supported through funding from the Australian Government's National Environmental Research Program (NERP). NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub partners include the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania; CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Museum Victoria, Charles Darwin University and the University of Western Australia. Comments from the anonymous reviewers have improved the manuscript. This paper is published with permission of the Chief Executive Officer, Geoscience Australia.