Towards a Global Discrete Nested Grid: A Framework to Enable Multi-Resolution and Multi-Domain Analyses Simon Oliver (Geoscience Australia), Matthew Purss (Geoscience Australia), Adam Lewis (Geoscience Australia), Robert Gibb (Landcare Research NZ), Brian Sloan (ANZLIC) Geoscientific data has already exceeded the petabyte-scale barrier and is rapidly heading toward the exabyte-scale barrier. Converting this massive amount of data into timely information and decision support products is dependent on our capacity to rapidly analyse this data in a transparent and repeatable fashion. This can only be achieved through the conversion of traditional data archives into standardised data architectures that support parallel processing in high performance compute environments. Already, the challenges of high velocity, high volume (> a terabyte per day) data requires us to rethink the way we store data in order to make best use of it. These challenges will only grow as the variety and complexity of datasets we wish to combine to produce near-real-time decision support information increases. One of the key elements to standardising data architectures is a globally consistent grid. A discrete global nested grid that supports global data models is required to provide a common framework to link very large multi-resolution and multi-domain datasets together and to enable the next generation of analytic processes to be applied. Such a grid framework must be capable of handling multiple data streams rather than being explicitly linked to a sensor or data type. Work has now commenced to development international standards which will inform the specification of the global discrete nested grid.

It is generally agreed that plate motion is maintained by convective circulation of the Earth's mantle. However, the detailed spatial and temporal pattern of this circulation is poorly known. Since dynamic topography is generated by the interplay between mantle convective circulation and plate motion, observational constraints should yield hitherto inaccessible insights into this convective process. Australia's isolation from active plate boundaries and its rapid northward motion within a hotspot reference frame make it a useful natural laboratory. The present-day dynamic topography is best mapped onshore by measuring the residual depth of oceanic floor with respect to the well-known age-depth relationship. Onshore present-day dynamic topography can be estimated using the relationship between gravity and topography at wave- lengths greater than 350 km. The temporal evolution of this topography can be constrained by interrogating passive margin architecture and inverting longitudinal river profles for uplift histories. The results of such analysis suggest southwestern Australia has been emerging from the dynamic topography low associated with the Australian- Antarctic Discordance over the 50 Myrs whereas northern Australia has been draw- down from an unperturbed elevation over the last 10 Myrs. The Eastern Highlands were uplifted in two stages. The Great Escarpment appears to be the expression of present-day dynamic support, which grew during and immediately prior to Cenozoic Volcanism. A discrete earlier phase of uplift is temporally associated with rifting leading to Tasman Sea fl oor spreading. This history of vertical motions is consistent with palaeocoastline elevations, long term river incision rates, basin sequence stratigraphy and thermochronological studies while constraining the passage of thermal anomalies beneath the Australian plate.

Invasive species and climate change are among the most pervasive threats to marine biodiversity. Despite their importance and potential synergies, their effects on biodiversity loss are usually considered in isolation, meaning that forecasts of ocean warming or acidification are rarely incorporated into predictions of range shifts or outbreaks of invasive species. However, climate change is already affecting the ranges and abundances of many marine organisms, and of invasive species in particular. Here we review (1) how sequential stages of the invasion pathway are expected to change in marine environments disrupted by a rapidly changing climate, and (2) the analytical tools that are currently available for incorporating these theoretical expectations into forecasts. We then show how coupled niche-population models can be used to integrate multiple drivers of invasiveness (and their associated feedbacks) to simulate shifts in the range movements and abundances of invasive marine species in response to climate change. We conclude that, where data availability permits, metapopulation models can be particularly useful to explore the potential influence of global change on invasive marine species and to identify effective controls.

Map showing Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction off Northern Australia. Updated in June 2014 from "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction off Northern Australia" (GeoCat 70183) to conform with "Australian Maritime Boundaries 2014" data by Geoscience Australia. This includes areas contiguous to the north of the continent and as far west as Christmas Island, but excludes areas around Cocos (Keeling) Islands and areas west of Christmas Island. One of the 27 constituent maps of the "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series" (GeoCat 71789). Depicting Australia's continental shelf as proclaimed in the "Seas and Submerged Lands (Limits of Continental Shelf) Proclamation 2012" established under the "Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973". Background bathymetry image is derived from a combination of the 2009 9 arc second bathymetry and topographic grid by Geoscience Australia and a grid by W.H.F. Smith and D.T. Sandwell, 1997. Background land imagery derived from Blue Marble, NASA's Earth Observatory. 2800mm x 1050mm (for 42" plotter) sized .pdf downloadable from the web.

Map showing all of Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction north of approx 25°S. Updated in June 2014 from "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction North of 25°S" (GeoCat 71985) to conform with "Australian Maritime Boundaries 2014" data by Geoscience Australia. This includes areas around Cocos (Keeling) Islands and areas around Christmas Island as well as those contiguous to the continent in the north. Included as one of the now 28 constituent maps of the "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series" (GeoCat 71789). Depicting Australia's continental shelf as proclaimed in the "Seas and Submerged Lands (Limits of Continental Shelf) Proclamation 2012" established under the "Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973". Background bathymetry image is derived from a combination of the 2009 9 arc second bathymetry and topographic grid by Geoscience Australia and a grid by W.H.F. Smith and D.T. Sandwell, 1997. Background land imagery derived from Blue Marble, NASA's Earth Observatory. 3277mm x 1050mm (for 42" plotter) sized .pdf downloadable from the web.

Presention providing an update of studies currently underway at Geoscience Australian that are focused on the regional conventional and unconventional prospectivity of the Georgina and Cooper basins. For Good Oil Conference, Fremantle, 9-10 September 2014

The middle to lower Jurassic sequence in Australia's Surat Basin has been identified as a potential reservoir system for geological CO2 storage. The sequence comprises three major formations with distinctly different mineral compositions, and generally low salinity formation water (TDS<3000 mg/L). Differing geochemical responses between the formations are expected during geological CO2 storage. However, given the prevailing use of saline reservoirs in CCS projects elsewhere, limited data are available on CO2-water-rock dynamics during CO2 storage in such low-salinity formations. Here, a combined batch experiment and numerical modelling approach is used to characterise reaction pathways and to identify geochemical tracers of CO2 migration in the low-salinity Jurassic sandstone units. Reservoir system mineralogy was characterized for 66 core samples from stratigraphic well GSQ Chinchilla 4, and six representative samples were reacted with synthetic formation water and high-purity CO2 for up to 27 days at a range of pressures. Low formation water salinity, temperature, and mineralization yield high solubility trapping capacity (1.18 mol/L at 45°C, 100 bar), while the paucity of divalent cations in groundwater and the silicate reservoir matrix results in very low mineral trapping capacity under storage conditions. Formation water alkalinity buffers pH at elevated CO2 pressures and exerts control on mineral dissolution rates. Non-radiogenic, regional groundwater-like 87Sr/86Sr values (0.7048-0.7066) indicate carbonate and authigenic clay dissolution as the primary reaction pathways regulating solution composition, with limited dissolution of the clastic matrix during the incubations. Several geochemical tracers are mobilised in concentrations greater than found in regional groundwater, most notably cobalt, concentrations of which are significantly elevated regardless of CO2 pressure or sample mineralogy.

Tsunami inundation models provide fundamental information about coastal areas that may be inundated in the event of a tsunami. This information has relevance for disaster management activities, including evacuation planning, impact and risk assessment, and coastal engineering. A basic input to tsunami inundation models is a digital elevation model-that is, a model of the shape of the onshore environment. Onshore DEMs vary widely in resolution, accuracy, availability, and cost. Griffin et al. (2012) assessed how the accuracy and resolution of DEMs translate into uncertainties in estimates of tsunami inundation zones. The results showed that simply using the 'best available' elevation data, such as the freely available global SRTM elevation model, without considering data accuracy can lead to dangerously misleading results.

Australian Landscapes are prone to fire, from the Northern Savanna to the southern forests of Tasmania. Although fire is natural and is a vital management tool, fires are also a hazard to people and assets across Australia. Sentinel is a national fire hotspots detection and mapping system operated by Geoscience Australia. Sentinel was developed collaboratively by Geoscience Australia and CSIRO and has been operating since 2003. Hotspots are detected using satellite-based sensors monitoring all of Australia up to four times each day. The information is freely available to end-users through a web-site, as data feeds and down-loads. Sentinel has detected over 4 million hot-spots so far. In 2014 Geoscience Australia re-developed Sentinel including: - A more robust and maintainable 'backend' system, enabling quick and easy ingestion of new sources of hotspot data and fire related products - Improved user interface for the visualization of current hotspots and download of archived hotspots data - Separate access for emergency management users to ensure reliable access to hotspots data during major events - Improved interoperability, through reconsideration of the attributes used to describe a hotspot, anticipating the need for a standard approach to this problem

AAM was engaged by DPIPWE to acquire LiDAR data over several coastal areas of Tasmania during March and April 2014. Lunawanna and Alonnah comprises approximately 3.37 km2