<div>The Abbot Point to Hydrographers Passage bathymetry survey was acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) onboard the RV Escape during the period 6 Oct 2020 – 16 Mar 2021. This was a contracted survey conducted for the Australian Hydrographic Office by iXblue Pty Ltd as part of the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program. The survey area encompases a section of Two-Way Route from Abbot Point through Hydrographers Passage QLD. Bathymetry data was acquired using a Kongsberg EM 2040, and processed using QPS QINSy. The dataset was then exported as a 30m resolution, 32 bit floating point GeoTIFF grid of the survey area.</div><div>This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.</div>

This service has been created specifically for display in the National Map and the chosen symbology may not suit other mapping applications. The Australian Topographic web map service is seamless national dataset coverage for the whole of Australia. These data are best suited to graphical applications. These data may vary greatly in quality depending on the method of capture and digitising specifications in place at the time of capture. The web map service portrays detailed graphic representation of features that appear on the Earth's surface. These features include the administration boundaries from the Geoscience Australia 250K Topographic Data, including state forest and reserves.

Geoscience Australia carried out a marine survey on Carnarvon shelf (WA) in 2008 (SOL4769) to map seabed bathymetry and characterise benthic environments through colocated sampling of surface sediments and infauna, observation of benthic habitats using underwater towed video and stills photography, and measurement of ocean tides and wavegenerated currents. Data and samples were acquired using the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Research Vessel Solander. Bathymetric mapping, sampling and video transects were completed in three survey areas that extended seaward from Ningaloo Reef to the shelf edge, including: Mandu Creek (80 sq km); Point Cloates (281 sq km), and; Gnaraloo (321 sq km). Additional bathymetric mapping (but no sampling or video) was completed between Mandu creek and Point Cloates, covering 277 sq km and north of Mandu Creek, covering 79 sq km. Two oceanographic moorings were deployed in the Point Cloates survey area. The survey also mapped and sampled an area to the northeast of the Muiron Islands covering 52 sq km. cloates_3m is an ArcINFO grid of Point Cloates of Carnarvon Shelf survey area produced from the processed EM3002 bathymetry data using the CARIS HIPS and SIPS software

The Australian Government formally releases new offshore exploration areas at the annual APPEA conference. This year, thirty-one areas plus two special areas in five offshore basins are being released for work program bidding. Closing dates for bid submissions are either six or twelve months after the release date, i.e. 3 December 2009 and 29 April 2010, depending on the exploration status in these areas is and on data availability. The 2009 Release Areas are located in Commonwealth waters offshore Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria, comprising intensively explored areas close to existing production as well as new frontiers. As usual, the North West Shelf features very prominently and is complimented by new areas along the southern margin, including frontier exploration areas in the Ceduna Sub-basin (Bight Basin) and the Otway Basin. The Bonaparte Basin is represented by one Release Area in the Malita Graben, while five areas are available in the Southern Browse Basin in the under-explored part of that basin. A total of 14 areas are being released in the Carnarvon Basin, located within the Dampier Sub-basin, (eight areas), the Rankin Platform (three small blocks) and the Northern Exmouth Plateau (three large blocks) which is considered a deep water frontier. In the south, six large areas are on offer in the Ceduna Sub-basin and five areas of varying sizes are being released in the Otway Basin, including a deep water frontier offshore Victoria. The Special Release Areas are located in the Petrel Sub-basin, Bonaparte Basin offshore Northern Territory, and encompass the Turtle/Barnett oil discoveries.

Estimates of significant wave height and period, together with tidal current speed over a semi-lunar cycle, were used to predict the area on the Australian continental shelf over which unconsolidated sediment was mobilised (threshold exceedance). These sediment-entraining processes were examined independently to quantify their relative importance on the continental shelf.

IIn 2008-09, under the Offshore Energy Security Program, Geoscience Australia (GA) acquired 650 km of seismic data, more than 3000 km of gravity and magnetic data, and dredge samples in the southern Carnarvon Basin. This area comprises the Paleozoic Bernier Platform and southern part of the Mesozoic Exmouth Sub-basin. The new seismic and potential field data provide a new insight into the structure and sediment thickness of the deepwater southernmost part of the Exmouth Sub-basin. Mesozoic depocentres correspond to a linear gravity low in water depths between 1000-2000 m and contain between 2 and 3 sec (TWT) of sediments. They form a string of en-echelon NE-SW oriented depressions bounded by shallow-dipping faults. Seismic data indicates that these depocentres extend south to at least 24'S where they become more shallow and overprinted by volcanics. Potential plays in this part of the Exmouth Sub-basin may include fluvio-deltaic Triassic sandstone and Lower to Middle Jurassic claystone source rocks sealed by the regional Early Cretaceous Muderong shale. On the adjoining Bernier Platform minor oil shows in the Silurian and Devonian intervals at Pendock 1a indicate the presence of a Paleozoic petroleum system. Ordovician fluvio-deltaic sandstones sealed by the Silurian age marine shales, Devonian reef complexes and Miocene inversion anticlines are identified as potential plays. Long-distance migration may contribute to formation of additional plays close to the boundary between the two provinces. With a range of both Mesozoic and Paleozoic plays, this under explored region may have a significant hydrocarbon potential.

Geoscience Australia carried out marine surveys in Jervis Bay (NSW) in 2007, 2008 and 2009 (GA303, GA305, GA309, GA312) to map seabed bathymetry and characterise benthic environments through colocated sampling of surface sediments (for textural and biogeochemical analysis) and infauna, observation of benthic habitats using underwater towed video and stills photography, and measurement of ocean tides and wavegenerated currents. Data and samples were acquired using the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) Research Vessel Kimbla. Bathymetric mapping, sampling and tide/wave measurement were concentrated in a 3x5 km survey grid (named Darling Road Grid, DRG) within the southern part of the Jervis Bay, incorporating the bay entrance. Additional sampling and stills photography plus bathymetric mapping along transits was undertaken at representative habitat types outside the DRG. darlingrd_1m is an ArcGIS layer of the backscatter grid of the Darling Road survey area produced from the processed EM3002 and EM3002D backscatter data of the survey area using the CMST-GA MB Process

Mapping technologies have allowed scientists to effectively and rapidly characterize the seabed in shallow and deep-water systems over large areas. This, in turn, allows management to make informed decisions regarding effective marine habitat conservation. To characterize the abiotic and biotic benthos within five estuaries in South-Western Australia, we conducted a towed-video survey following the protocol of Anderson et al., 2007 that rapidly characterizes the seabed in real time at 30 second intervals. A combination of towed-video transects, run perpendicular to the shoreline, and drop-camera stations, run throughout the basin of each estuary, were undertaken. The GPS locations and benthic characterizations taken along each transect and at each drop-camera station were recorded in real time using GNav (© Gerry Hatcher, 2002). Seabed characterizations recorded include; bottom type, bedform relief, submerged aquatic vegetation cover and length and the occurrence of macro-flora and fauna. Following the field survey, data were mapped in ArcGIS to identify benthic spatial distribution patterns of seabed features. A summary of the methodology used and results will be presented. The resulting video data are also being tested for repeatability between observers. The results found from this survey will help to reveal benthic substratum patterns in estuarine habitats and differences in habitat configurations between the estuaries. The methods used to map these estuaries can be used to map other estuaries in the future.

Announcement of availability and summary of levelled marine gravity and magnetic data for the southwest margin of Australia (for "News from the Surveys" section of Preview Newsletter)

Geoscience Australia carried out marine surveys in southeast Tasmania in 2008 and 2009 (GA0315) to map seabed bathymetry and characterise benthic environments through observation of habitats using underwater towed video. Data was acquired using the Tasmania Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute (TAFI) Research Vessel Challenger. Bathymetric mapping was undertaken in seven survey areas, including: Freycinet Pensinula (83 sq km, east coast and shelf); Tasman Peninsula (117 sq km, east coast and shelf); Port Arthur and adjacent open coast (17 sq km); The Friars (41 sq km, south of Bruny Island); lower Huon River estuary (39 sq km); D Entrecastreaux Channel (7 sq km, at Tinderbox north of Bruny Island), and; Maria Island (3 sq km, western side). Video characterisations of the seabed concentrated on areas of bedrock reef and adjacent seabed in all mapped areas, except for D Entrecastreaux Channel and Maria Island. port_160 is an ArcINFO grid of the Port Arthur survey area produced from the processed EM3002 bathymetry data using the CARIS HIPS and SIPS software