Collaborative science to secure Australia's precious groundwater resources

<div>Groundwater is a finite and largely hidden resource. Enhancing scientific understanding of groundwater systems improves decisions about its planning, allocation and use. This benefits all Australians through improved water management.</div><div>Australia’s groundwater resources underpin billions of dollars of economic activity, provide safe and reliable drinking water for millions of people, and sustain life and cultural values across the country. Sustainably managing our critical groundwater resources is vital to improving water security and protecting the environment.</div><div>Geoscience Australia and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) collaborate on initiatives funded by the Australian Government. We work together to deliver innovative solutions to nationally significant issues affecting Australia’s groundwater resources.</div><div>With world‑class expertise and facilities, we are at the forefront of groundwater science. Our combined hydrogeological capabilities are best applied to regional and national-scale challenges that extend beyond the remit of individual jurisdictions or private industry.</div><div>This publication highlights the scientific approaches, technologies, and methods that we apply to better understand and characterise Australia’s groundwater and includes case studies that demonstrate the unique value of our collaboration.</div><div><br></div>

Geoscience for Australia's transition to net zero

Australia is well-positioned to remain a global energy supplier and be a leader in driving efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Australia has the potential to produce a range of low emissions energy commodities such as geothermal energy, natural and manufactured hydrogen, and natural gas linked with carbon capture and storage. Our ample solar and wind energy resources also support the deployment of renewable energy technologies across the country. Our geological systems supply the raw materials — such as several of the critical minerals and strategic materials — that are needed to develop the infrastructure and manufacture the batteries and technologies that will support the energy transition. New and emerging opportunities have been identified for energy storage for energy produced from renewable sources, such as through manufacturing hydrogen, hydrogen storage in underground salt caverns, and compressed air energy storage. Australia is recognised for having a large potential to geologically store carbon dioxide. Carbon capture and storage technology can support industries that find it difficult to abate their emissions, including efforts to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere through use of direct air capture technology. Understanding the prospectivity for these resources and the current and emerging energy storage technologies will help to accelerate Australia's journey to a net-zero economy. As Australia’s national public sector geoscience organisation, Geoscience Australia continues to undertake national and regional research and data acquisition, to provide precompetitive data that underpins decision-making by governments and industry and attracts future investment.

Science Strategy 2028

Geoscience Australia's value to the nation, outlined in its Strategy 2028 decadal plan, is through its science. However, the way that the organisation applies its science and achieves impact cannot be taken for granted. Science Strategy 2028, launched in late-2021, presents a guiding strategic framework for delivering the science that underpins our core business. This Science Strategy outlines the organisation's longstanding Science Principles as a business imperative and as key tenets for maintaining Geoscience Australia's standing as the nation’s trusted advisor on Australia’s geoscience and geography. Through the Science Strategy, Geoscience Australia will continue to integrate and achieve the six Science Principles through its business: to deliver relevant, collaborative, quality, transparent and communicated science, with a view to sustain our scientific capability.

Geoscience Australia Priority Programs 2023 - Brochure

This brochure gives an overview of Geoscience Australia's priority programs: Exploring for the Future, Digital Earth Australia and Positioning Australia;

Science Strategy 2028 Implementation Plan

The Science Strategy 2028 Implementation Plan outlines the activities and actions across Geoscience Australia, led by the Chief Scientist, to operationalise the 'key implementations' of Science Strategy 2028. The discrete activities articulated in this Implementation Plan stem from mapping the six Science Principles against Geoscience Australia's Strategy 2028 Core Commitments. The Implementation Plan outlines the context and strategic rationale for a range of Geoscience Australia's activities led through the Office of the Chief Scientist, including the Science Evaluations, scientific capability and capacity mapping, and geoscientific engagement with First Nations communities and perspectives.

P1314 Pilbara Western Australia Airborne Gravity Surveys 2019

<div>Sander Geophysics Limited (SGL) conducted a fixed-wing high resolution airborne gravimetric survey over two survey blocks, Pilbara Northwest and Pilbara Southeast in Northwestern Australia for Geoscience Australia and its partner the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA). </div><div>The traverse lines were oriented east-west in the Pilbara Northwest block and north-south in the Pilbara Southeast block and spaced at 2500 m. A limited number of control lines flown exclusively in the Pilbara Northwest block were oriented north-south and spaced at 50,000 m. A drape surface was created taking into account the terrain and the performance of the aircraft at the expected altitudes and estimated temperatures. The survey was flown with a target clearance of survey 160m above ground level. </div><div> </div><div><strong>Survey details </strong></div><div>Survey Name: Pilbara WA airborne gravity surveys 2019</div><div>State/Territory: Western Australia (WA)</div><div>Datasets Acquired: Airborne gravity</div><div> Geoscience Australia Project Number: P1314</div><div> Acquisition Start Date: April 23, 2019</div><div> Acquisition End Date: June 16, 2019</div><div> Flight line spacing: 2500m</div><div> Flight line direction: 270deg / EW (Pilbara NW); 180deg / NS (Pilbara SE)</div><div> Control line spacing: 50,000m – Pilbara NW only</div><div> Control line direction: 180 deg / NS – Pilbara NW only</div><div>Total line kilometers: 69,943</div><div> Nominal terrain clearance (above ground level): 160m</div><div> Aircraft type: Cessna Grand Caravan 208B</div><div>Data Acquisition: Sander Geophysics Limited </div><div> Project Management: Geoscience Australia</div><div> Quality Control: Geoscience Australia</div><div> Dataset Ownership: GSWA and Geoscience Australia</div><div> </div><div>This data package release contains the final survey deliverables received from the contractor SGL, and peer reviewed by Dr Mark Dransfield.</div><div> </div><div><strong>1.</strong> <strong><em>Point-located Data / line data</em></strong></div><div>ASCII XYZ and ASEG-GDF2 format with accompanying description and definition files.</div><div><br></div><div><strong><em>2.Grids</em></strong> in General eXchange Format (.gxf) and ERMapper format (.ers)</div><div> Datum:      GDA94</div><div>Projection:  MGA 50</div><div>Grid cell size: 500m</div><div>A full wavelength spatial filter of 5000m was applied to all the gravity grids. See details in the readme files.</div><div><br></div><div> <strong>3. Readme files</strong></div><div>- PNW-readme-grav.txt </div><div>- PSE-readme-grav.txt</div><div><br></div><div><strong>4. Reports</strong> </div><div> - Final survey logistic report (Pilbara SE and NW) from the contractor: P1314_Pilbara_2019_TR-878-000.pdf </div><div>- Pilbara NW survey QC report by M Dransfield: Pilbara NW AG QC report.pdf </div><div>- Pilbara SE survey QC report by M Dransfield: Pilbara SE AG QC report.pdf</div><div><br></div><div> The data from this Pilbara survey are also available for download from https://geoview.dmp.wa.gov.au/GeoView under reference number 71470.</div>

The Australian Geoscience Data Cube: a global analysis platform for Earth observation data

The Australian Geoscience Data Cube has won the 2016 Content Platform of the Year category at the Geospatial World Leadership Awards. The awards recognise significant contributions made by champions of change within the global geospatial industry and were presented during the 2017 Geospatial World Forum held in Hyderabad, India. The Data Cube was developed by Geoscience Australia in partnership with the CSIRO and the National Computational Infrastructure at the Australian National University, and is a world-leading data analysis system for satellite and other Earth observation data. Visit www.datacube.org.au to find out more including the technical specifications, and learn how you can develop your own Data Cube and become part of the collective.

Tennant Creek – Mt Isa IOCG Mineral Potential Assessment WMTS

This web service provides access to datasets produced by the mineral potential assement of iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) mineral systems in the Tennant Creek – Mt Isa region. The mineral potential assessment uses a 2D, GIS-based workflow to qualitatively map four key mineral system components: (1) Sources of metals, fluids and ligands, (2) Energy to drive fluid flow, (3) Fluid flow pathways and architecture, and (4) Deposition mechanisms, such as redox or chemical gradients. For each of these key mineral system components theoretical criteria, representing important ore-forming processes, were identified and translated into mappable proxies using a wide range of input datasets. Each of these criteria are weighted and combined using an established workflow to produce the final map of IOCG potential.

Tennant Creek – Mt Isa IOCG Mineral Potential Assessment WCS

This web service provides access to datasets produced by the mineral potential assement of iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) mineral systems in the Tennant Creek – Mt Isa region. The mineral potential assessment uses a 2D, GIS-based workflow to qualitatively map four key mineral system components: (1) Sources of metals, fluids and ligands, (2) Energy to drive fluid flow, (3) Fluid flow pathways and architecture, and (4) Deposition mechanisms, such as redox or chemical gradients. For each of these key mineral system components theoretical criteria, representing important ore-forming processes, were identified and translated into mappable proxies using a wide range of input datasets. Each of these criteria are weighted and combined using an established workflow to produce the final map of IOCG potential.

P1289 East Kimberley Airborne Gravity Survey 2016

<div>Sander Geophysics Limited (SGL) conducted a fixed-wing high resolution gravimetric survey in the East Kimberley area of the state of Western Australia for Geoscience Australia. A total of 37,806 line kilometres of airborne gravity data were acquired using </div><div>SGL’s airborne gravity system, Airborne Inertially Referenced Gravimeter (AIRGrav). The survey was funded by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) Western Australia, and managed by Geoscience Australia.</div><div><br></div><div>The data were peer reviewed by airborne gravity expert Dr Mark Dransfield contracted by Geoscience Australia.</div><div><br></div><div>The data from this survey were released by the Geological Survey of Western Australia and can be downloaded from MAGIX under reference 71156.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Survey details</strong></div><div>Survey Name: East Kimberley Airborne Gravity Survey 2016</div><div>State/Territory: Western Australia</div><div>Datasets Acquired: Airborne gravity, </div><div>Geoscience Australia Project Number: P1289</div><div>Acquisition Start Date: 08 October 2016</div><div>Acquisition End Date: 03 December 2016</div><div>Flight line spacing: 2,500m</div><div>Flight line direction: East-West</div><div>Tie line spacing: 25,000m</div><div>Tie line direction: North-South</div><div>Total distance flown: 37,806 line km</div><div>Nominal terrain clearance (above ground level): 160m</div><div>Aircraft type: Fixed wing Cessna Grand Caravan 208B</div><div>Data Acquisition: Sander Geophysics Limited</div><div>Project Management: Geoscience Australia</div><div>Quality Control: Geoscience Australia</div><div>Dataset Ownership: Western Australia Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, and Geoscience Australia</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Files included in this download</strong></div><div><br></div><div><strong>1. Point-located data / line data</strong> </div><div>Data in ASEG GDF2 format, with accompanying description and definition files </div><div>P1289_grav.dat – survey data</div><div>P1289_grav.dfn – survey data definition</div><div>P1289_grav.met – survey metadata</div><div><br></div><div><strong>2. Grids - 7 grid files</strong></div><div>Datum:      GDA94</div><div>Projection:  MGA 52 </div><div>Grid cell size: 500m</div><div>Formats:     General eXchange Format (.gxf) and ERMapper (.ers) format.</div><div><br></div><div>Grid name Units Description</div><div>- GRVFAL2500M      µms-2      Free air gravity, 2500m half-wavelength spatial filter</div><div>- FVDFAL2500M      Eotvos      First vertical derivative of free air gravity, 2500m half-wavelength spatial filter</div><div>- GRVBGL2500M_267  µms-2      Full Bouguer gravity, 2500m half-wavelength spatial filter, 2670 kg/m3 density</div><div>- FVDBGL2500M_267  Eotvos      First vertical derivative of full Bouguer gravity, 2500m half-wavelength spatial filter, 2670 kg/m3 density</div><div>- GRVISO2500M_267   µms-2      Isostatic residual gravity, 2500m half-wavelength spatial filter, 2670 kg/m3 density</div><div>- FVDISO2500M_267   Eotvos      First vertical derivative of isostatic residual gravity, 2500m half-wavelength spatial filter, 2670 kg/m3 density</div><div>- BAREEARTH       m         Bare earth terrain (above GDA94 Ellipsoid)</div><div><br></div><div><strong>3. Reports</strong> </div><div>- Delivery Information from contractor: Delivery Information - East Kimberley AIRGrav.pdf</div><div>- Final technical report from the contractor: East Kimberley 2016 TR-842-002.pdf </div><div>- Quality control report: East Kimberley 2016 QC report.pdf </div><div><br></div>