Imagery courtesy of the Schmidt Ocean Institute

Exploration & Discovery of Australia’s Oceans

Deepreef Explorer is the website for Dr Robin Beaman and the scientists working to reveal the underwater landscape and seabed habitats of Australia’s regional seas, from the warm tropical Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea, to the icy polar waters of Antarctica.

Projects

Showcases the latest ocean mapping research and discoveries.

Halimeda bioherms on the Great Barrier Reef

Halimeda bioherms on the Great Barrier Reef

The calcareous green alga Halimeda is a major contributor to inter-reef carbonate sediments and is found along the northern Great Barrier Reef shelf as extensive build-ups of sediment, called bioherms. Halimeda algae meadow (credit Emma Kennedy)These Halimeda bioherms...

Crowdsourced bathymetry on the Great Barrier Reef

Crowdsourced bathymetry on the Great Barrier Reef

Crowdsourced bathymetry is the collection of depth measurements from vessels using standard navigation instruments. Many vessels on the Great Barrier Reef - from dive boats to fishing boats - use some type of echo sounder to measure the depth of water. Combined with...

Submarine canyons of north-eastern Australia

Submarine canyons of north-eastern Australia

Submarine canyons are among the largest undersea landscape features on Earth, and act as pathways for most of the terrigenous and carbonate sediment transported from the continents to the deep-sea. Canyons are typically associated with large submarine fans and gravity...

Rob’s Blog

Recent ocean mapping events within Australia’s marine region.

Crowdsourced bathy data from Spoilsport

Crowdsourced bathy data from Spoilsport

Another successful batch of crowdsourced bathymetry data from adventure dive vessel MV Spoilsport, collected over 100s of line km on the northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Next steps: remove tidal component and 'no bottom detection' soundings, then revise 3D...

20 years of ocean mapping

20 years of ocean mapping

Reflecting on 20 years of ocean mapping, strategically targeting the deep Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea marine parks. I have been involved with some 40 expeditions, many at sea but also remotely, resulting in 305 thousand sq km of new map data within Australia's...

Report for expedition: Pinging in the New Year

Report for expedition: Pinging in the New Year

What does one month of continuous mapping with Schmidt Ocean Institute’s RV Falkor look like? Try 40,000 sq km of new map data in Australia’s Tasman and Coral seas, and contributing to the global Seabed 2030 Project. Link to final report below.3D view of map in Tasman...

Bathymetry

To view and download seafloor depth data in a range of media formats.

Williams Ridge bathymetry

Williams Ridge bathymetry

This dataset provides the high-resolution bathymetry model for Williams Ridge, called the wr100 grid. The ~100 metre-resolution gridded bathymetry dataset covers an area of about 660,000 km2, which also includes parts of the Kerguelen Plateau. This page provides the...

Bass Strait bathymetry

Bass Strait bathymetry

This dataset provides the new high-resolution bathymetry model for the Bass Strait, called the bs100 grid. The ~100 metre-resolution gridded bathymetry dataset covers an area of about 334,000 km2, from King Island in the west of Bass Strait to Flinders Island in the...

Northern Australia bathymetry

Northern Australia bathymetry

This dataset provides the new high-resolution bathymetry model for the Northern Australia, called the nthaus100 grid. The ~100 metre-resolution gridded bathymetry dataset covers an area of about 1,442,000 km, from Broome in Western Australia to Arnhem Land in the...

Publications

For a range of published literature, including in-depth scientific articles, reports and conference papers

Peer-reviewed Literature

Conference Papers

Book Sections

Reports

Magazine Articles

Dr Robin Beaman

Marine geologist and ocean mapping scientist revealing the underwater landscape.

Gallery

View and download images and maps from our various projects and expeditions.

Technology

Learn about the variety of tools used to study the ocean floor and water.

View Technology