Understanding how the combined influence of waves, tides and other ocean currents disturb the seabed is essential if the nature and processes of benthic habitats are to be understood.
Geoscience Australia is developing a computer model called GEOMACS that attempts to capture these disturbances for
Australia's continental shelf by:
generating estimates of the magnitude and frequency of physical disturbances on the seabed; and
testing the model outputs with available field data collected from marine surveys.
A key output of the GEOMACS model is expected to be a disturbance parameter, which can be used to assist in seabed characterisation.
Model outputs will also be crucial for assessing seabed stability to assist in defining suitable locations for pipelines and communication cables.