A medium term forecast of undiscovered hydrocarbon resources for the Bonaparte Basin has been generated by Geoscience Australia and reveals that there is the potential to discover 56 gigalitres (350 million barrels) of oil, 82 billion cubic metres (2.9 trillion cubic feet) of gas, and 18 gigalitres (115 million barrels) of condensate in the next ten to fifteen years.

Abstract for initial submission, pending acceptance by convention technical program committee.

Geoscience Australia's robotic antenna calibration facility has over 100 individual antennas, and performed a number of studies on the impact of near-field effects. This poster will detail results on the repeatability of different antenna types, and offer insights into the performance of survey and geodetic class antennas. The results from the calibrations highlight the need to move towards individual antenna calibrations and, to include the mounting of the antenna in the calibration where possible

The water clarity of many inland water bodies is under threat due to intensifying land use pressures in conjunction with changes water levels that result from increasing demand and climate variability. The recent launch of Landsat 8 coupled with Geoscience Australia's recent reprocessing of the Landsat TM and ETM+ archives over the whole of Australia to a consistent surface reflectance product enables large scale spatio-temporal analysis of freshwater optical water quality in support of monitoring and decision making for water management agencies. In this research, we present an objective assessment of the potential of Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI data for monitoring inland water quality dynamics over a number of lakes and reservoirs with a range of optical water types in New South Wales, Australia. We used bio-optical modelling to develop sensor-specific TSS retrieval algorithms that account for the difference in relative spectral response between Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI. We were able to compare the suitability of the different sensors for optical water quality measurements using water bodies that fell within Landsat path overlaps where surface reflectance measurements were acquired within 24 hours between Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ or Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI. These water bodies represent a range of hydrological and limnological conditions, and enabled us to assess 1) comparability of TSS measurements retrieved from each sensor, and 2) the surface reflectance to image noise characteristics of Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI. Comparisons of lake surface reflectance and noise equivalent reflectance difference show that the improved radiometric resolution and increased quantization of Landsat 8 OLI relative to Landsat 7 ETM+ significantly reduce image noise and spectral heterogeneity, indicating that Landsat 8 OLI data are likely to provide more precise water quality retrievals relative to Landsat 7 ETM+. Despite differences in retrieval precision, the relative retrieval error between different sensors was not significantly different. We found that the TSS retrievals from the different sensors are highly comparable, Landsat 5 TM overestimated TSS relative to Landsat 7 ETM+ by 6.4 %, and Landsat 7 ETM+ overestimated TSS relative to Landsat 8 OLI by only 1.4%. The results demonstrate that time series analysis of a total suspended matter algorithm can be used to characterise the multi-decadal dynamics of TSS for a wide range of lakes.

The National Exposure Information System (NEXIS) is a unique modelling capability designed by Geoscience Australia (GA) to provide comprehensive and nationally-consistent exposure information in response to the 2003 COAG commitment to cost-effective, evidence-based disaster mitigation. Since its inception, NEXIS has continually evolved to fill known information gaps by improving statistical methodologies and integrating the best publically-available data. In addition to Residential, Commercial and Industrial building exposure information, NEXIS has recently expanded to include exposure information about agricultural assets providing a wider understanding of how communities can be affected by a potential event. GA's collaboration with the Attorney General's Department (AGD) has involved the consolidation of location-based data to deliver consistent map and exposure information products. The complex information requirements emphasised the importance of having all relevant building, demographic, economic, agriculture and infrastructure information in NEXIS available in a clear and unified Exposure Report to aid decision-makers. The Exposure Report includes a situational map of the hazard footprint to provide geographic context and a listing of detailed exposure information consisting of estimates for number and potential cost of impacted buildings by use, agricultural commodities and cost, the number and social vulnerability of the affected population, and the number and lengths of infrastructure assets and institutions. Developed within an FME workbench, the tool accepts hazard footprints and other report specifics as input before providing an HTML link to the final output in approximately 5 minutes. The consolidation of data and streamlining of exposure information into a simple and uniform document has greatly assisted the AGD in timely evidence-based decision-making during the 2014-15 summer season.

The Allen Osborne Associates Dorne Margolin type T chokering antenna has been used extensively in the International Global Navigation Satellite System Service (IGS) tracking network for over 20 years. This antenna type, using the IGS naming convention, ''AOAD/M\_T'', was predominately installed at the original IGS sites in the late 80's, early 90's, to track signals from the Global Positioning System satellite constellation, and is still in use at operational sites today. The antenna is also used as the standard reference for relative to absolute antenna calibration conversions, which hold an important role in the history of IGS antenna calibration values. It is suspected that there may be a previously unknown subgroup of antennas that maintain a different set of phase center values which, if true, will change antenna calibration values in the IGS ANTEX file and possibly bias the International Terrestrial Reference Frame as is it currently defined.

We describe a surface cover change detection method based on the Australian Geoscience Data Cube (AGDC). The AGDC is a common analytical framework for large volumes of regularly gridded geoscientific data initially developed by Geoscience Australia (GA). AGDC effectively links geoscience data sets from various sources by spatial and temporal stamps associated with the data. Therefore, AGDC enables analysis of generations of consistent remote sensing time series data across Australia. The Australian Reflectance Grid 25m is one of the remote sensing data sets in the AGDC. The data is currently hosted at the high performance computational cloud at the National Computational Infrastructure. Our change detection method takes advantage of temporally rich data in the AGDC, applying time series analysis to identify changes in surface cover. To detect change we apply a series of modules, which are independent of each other. The modules include: - a pixel quality mask and time series noise detection mask, which detects and filters out noise in data; - classification modules based on a random forests algorithm, which classifies pixels into specific objects using spectral information; - training modules, which create classification modules using known surface cover data; - time series analysis modules, which model and reduce time series data into coefficients relevant to change detection targets; - temporal and spatial classification modules, which classify pixels into predefined land cover classes. This paper summarises development of the work flow and the initial results from example applications, such as reforestation / deforestation detection and coastal zone mapping.

Until recently the primary source of information for generating whole of government situational awareness during a crisis to support national level decision making was compiled from a range of text-based reports supplied by stakeholders. For example, information about the location and extent of a crisis was assembled in paragraphs or lists leaving the reader to construct their own 'mental map' to interpret the nature of a crisis. Incorporating map-based products to illustrate the location content described in these reports would provide a new spatially based contextual framework to assist the consistent interpretation of crises and enhance product delivery. The Australian Government Crisis Coordination Centre (CCC) was launched in October 2011. Since then, three government agencies have worked together to develop, test and implement a spatial capability to better support a coordinated response to disasters requiring Australian Government assistance. Geoscience Australia (GA), the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Office (AGO), and the Attorney-General's Department (AGD) have been working together to establish a spatial capability in the CCC which delivers consistent spatial products to supplement and enhance all-hazards reporting, executive briefings, and incident and situation awareness reports. The capability has been tested over the past two years on multiple flood, fire and cyclone events. The critical success factors underpinning the effectiveness of the new spatial capability in the CCC is much deeper than simply the supply of maps - it consists of in-house and remote spatial and natural hazard support provided by GA liaison officers; technical support through the AGO; collaboration with state and territory spatial emergency services; the implementation of agreed standards; and the integration of existing commonwealth, state and territory web services culminating in the development of the National Situation Awareness Tool - NSAT.

The Lord Howe Rise (LHR) region is one of the last remaining geoscientific frontiers on Earth. The LHR, part of northern Zealandia, comprises submerged and extended continental crust that separated from Australia in the Late Cretaceous. Present knowledge of the LHR is based on widely-distributed marine and satellite geophysical data, limited dredge samples and sparse shallow (<600 mbsf) ocean drilling that have provided a general picture of crustal structure, sedimentary basin architecture and resource potential. Accessing rock samples that more directly constrain the Cretaceous and older tectonic and climatic history of the southwest Pacific requires drilling into sediments and older basement rocks buried deep under ubiquitous Cenozoic pelagic ooze. Geoscience Australia and the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology are leading an international effort to drill a deep stratigraphic well into a LHR basin. A full proposal for drilling up to 3500 mbsf using the JAMSTEC riser drilling vessel Chikyu was submitted to the International Ocean Discovery Program in October 2015 (IODP 871). The objectives of the deep drilling are to: define the role and importance of continental crustal ribbons like the LHR in plate tectonic cycles and continental evolution; recover new high-latitude data in the southwest Pacific to better constrain Cretaceous paleoclimate and linked changes in ocean biogeochemistry; and test fundamental evolutionary concepts of sub-seafloor microbial life over a 100-million-year timeframe. These objectives are complementary to the goals of the New Zealand-led IODP proposal 832 focussed on Paleogene subduction initiation and climate in the southwest Pacific. Together these IODP proposals will contribute to a unified understanding of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonic and climatic history of northern Zealandia.

This paper is the preface to a special issue of Ore Geology Reviews on Australian mineral systems. The special issue consists of 14 scientific papers covering many aspects of mineral system science from the global to deposit scale. This preface introduces the special issue and summarises the major results of the component papers. No abstract is included.