The Historical Bushfire Boundaries service represents the aggregation of jurisdictional supplied burnt areas polygons stemming from the early 1900's through to 2022 (excluding the Northern Territory). The burnt area data represents curated jurisdictional owned polygons of both bushfires and prescribed (planned) burns. To ensure the dataset adhered to the nationally approved and agreed data dictionary for fire history Geoscience Australia had to modify some of the attributes presented. The information provided within this service is reflective only of data supplied by participating authoritative agencies and may or may not represent all fire history within a state.

Geoscience Australia has completed a re-development of Sentinel, from the infrastructure that supports the system through to the spatial technology and user-interface. These changes will allow Geoscience Australia to more easily integrate data from different platforms and sources as well as provide additional products through the Sentinel interface. The new Sentinel system was developed in consultation with stakeholders to ensure a close alignment between end-users needs and the services provided by Sentinel. This paper presents the key features of the new Sentinel.

These datasets contain legacy data from the decommissioned MapConnect/AMSIS2 application. It contains legacy data for Fisheries, Regulatory, Offshore Minerals and Environment. It is not authoritative and has not been updated since 2006. These datasets contain legacy data found in the Australian Marine Spatial Information System (AMSIS) between 2006 and 2015, with a currency date of 2006. . Users will need to contact the agency responsible for the data to check current validity and spatial precision.

As part of the controlled release experiments at the Ginninderra test site, geophysical surveys have been acquired using electromagnetic techniques at a range of frequencies. The primary objective was to assess whether these could provide insight into the soil structure at the site, give guidance as to where to monitor for leakage, and provide additional information that may explain the observed sub-surface and surface CO2 migration behavior. A secondary objective was to assess whether CO2 leaks could be located based on secondary impacts such as drying of the soil profile. Ground penetrating radar surveys were taken during the second release experiment (October - December 2012). Different frequency shielded antennas were trialled in order to optimize the signal. Two surveys were conducted: one baseline survey prior to CO2 release and another during the release experiment. The GPR results show a reduction in range and clear reflections to the west indicating that clay was present. To the east we see clearer reflections from sand layers and the water table. These observations corresponded with larger scale sub-surface soil features determined from EM31 and EM38 electromagnetic surveys. Application of these geophysical surveys for CO2 leak detection and monitoring design are discussed. Paper for CO2CRC Research Symposium 2013

<div>The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) World Heritage Area and adjacent Coral Sea Marine Park are under serious threat from global climate change. This study used sea surface temperature (SST) data to identify major marine heatwaves (MHWs) occurring in this region over the last three decades (1992–2022) and to map significant MHW events that have occurred between 2015 and2022. We investigated the mechanisms of the MHWs and identified potential coral refugia. MHWs in this region have increased in frequency, intensity and spatial extent. El Niño, especially when it is in phase with positive Indian Ocean Dipole, was the key remote driver leading to intense MHWs. However, the more recent strong MHWs (e.g., 2017 and 2022) occurred without these climatic events, signifying the impacts of long-term climate change and local drivers. We also found that reduced wind speed and shoaling mixed layer depth, often together with reduced cloudiness, were the main local drivers pre-conditioning these MHWs.&nbsp;Anomalous air-sea heat flux into the ocean, mainly controlled by shortwave solar radiation (cloudiness) and latent heat flux (wind), was the most constant contributor to the 2015–16 and 2019–20 MHW events. However, local oceanographic dynamics, especially horizontal advection and turbulent mixing, played important roles in MHW heat budgets. This study confirmed that shallow-water coral bleaching severity was positively related to the cumulative MHW intensity in these two MHWs. We identified the shallow reefs along the path of the North Queensland Current as potential coral refugia from bleaching because of the cooler waters upwelled from the ocean current. We also found that, except during abnormal weather events such as tropical cyclones, the mesophotic reefs in the Coral Sea Marine Park may be less susceptible to severe bleaching as the MHWs are more confined within the shallow mixed layer.</div> Presented at the 30th Conference of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) 2024

Publicly available baseline ecology data are compiled to provide a common information base for environment, resource development and regulatory decisions in the Galilee Basin region. This web service summarises existing knowledge of the ecosystems and environmental assets in the Galilee Basin region.

Publicly available baseline ecology data are compiled to provide a common information base for environment, resource development and regulatory decisions in the north Bowen Basin region. This web service summarises existing knowledge of the ecosystems and environmental assets in the north Bowen Basin region.

Geoscience Australia conducted a marine survey to provide seabed environmental information to support the assessment of the CO2 storage potential of the Vlaming Sub-Basin. The survey was undertaken under the Australian Government's National CO2 Infrastructure Plan (NCIP) to help identify sites suitable for the long term storage of CO2. The major aim of this survey was to look for evidence of any gas fluid seepage at the seabed and wether the location had faults that have been identified in a number of seismic lines. The survey also mapped seabed biota in the area of interest to indentify any biota communities that are related with seepage. This research addresses key questions of the regional seal integrity of the Southern Perth Shale and the potential for storing of CO2 in the Early Cretaceous Gage Sandstone. The survey was conducted by Fugro's Southern Supporter in the Vlaming Sub-Basin, North and South of Rotnest Island between the period of the 17th of March to the 20th of April 2012. Shallow seismic sub bottom profiler data were acquired as well as high resolution multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data during the survey. This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.<p><p>This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.

This resource contains bathymetry and backscatter data for the Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR) in the Timor Sea collected by Geoscience Australia during September and October 2012 on RV Solander (survey GA0339/SOL5650). The survey used a Kongsberg EM3002 300 kHz multibeam sonar system mounted in single head configuration to map four areas, covering a combined area of 507 square kilometres. Data are gridded to 2 m spatial resolution. The Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve survey was undertaken as an activity within the Australian Government's National Environmental Research Program Marine Biodiversity Hub and was the key component of Research Theme 4 - Regional Biodiversity Discovery to Support Marine Bioregional Plans. Hub partners involved in the survey included the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Geoscience Australia, the University of Western Australia, Museum Victoria and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Data acquired during the survey included: multibeam sonar bathymetry and acoustic backscatter; sub-bottom acoustic profiles; physical samples of seabed sediments, infauna and epibenthic biota; towed underwater video and still camera observations of seabed habitats; baited video observations of demersal and pelagic fish, and; oceanographic measurements of the water column from CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) casts and from deployment of sea surface drifters. Further information on the survey is available in the post-survey report published as Geoscience Australia Record 2013/38 (Nichol et al. 2013).

<div>The iconic Great Barrier Reef (GBR) World Heritage Area and adjacent Coral Sea Marine Park are under serious threat from global climate change. Given the increase in the frequency, intensity and severity of mass coral bleaching events associated with marine heatwaves (MHWs) in this region it is essential that we improve our understanding of the drivers and mechanisms underlying&nbsp;MHWs and the extent to which they impact both shallow and deeper coral reef ecosystems. This study used coarse-resolution and high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) data to identify all major MHWs occurring in the GBR and Coral Sea region over the last three decades (1992-2022) and map significant MHW events over the past seven years (2015-2022), respectively. We then investigated the mechanisms of these MHWs in relation to both remote and local drivers through statistical and heat budget analyses. Finally, we identified potential coral reef refugia in this region using aerial-survey coral bleaching data and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) images, and examined their underlying mechanisms using ocean model and <em>in-situ</em> oceanographic data. The results confirmed that MHWs in this region indeed increased in frequency, intensity and extent over the past three decades. El Niño, especially when it is in phase with positive Indian Ocean Dipole, was found to be the key remote driver leading to significant MHWs. However, the more recent strong MHWs also tend to occur without these climatic events, signifying the impacts of long-term climate change. We also found that reduced wind speed and shoaling mixed layer depth, often together with reduced cloudiness, which can occur with or without the influence of remote drivers, were the main local drivers pre-conditioning these MHWs.&nbsp;Anomalous air-sea heat flux into the ocean, which is mainly controlled by shortwave solar radiation (cloudiness) and latent heat flux (wind), was the most constant contributor to the 2015-16 and 2019-20 MHW events. However, local oceanographic dynamics, especially horizontal advection and turbulent mixing, played important roles in local MHW heat budgets. Importantly, this study confirms that shallow-water coral bleaching severity was indeed positively related to the cumulative MHW intensity in the 2015-16 and 2019-20 MHWs. We identified the shallow reefs in the northern GBR along the path of the North Queensland Current as potential coral reef refugia from bleaching because of the up to 2 oC thermal relief that the ocean current provides. We also found that, except during abnormal weather events such as tropical cyclones, the mesophotic reefs in the Coral Sea Marine Park may also act as potential coral reef refugia from bleaching because of the thermal protection provided by the shallow mixed layer depth.</div><div> <b>Citation:</b> Zhi Huang, Ming Feng, Steven J. Dalton, Andrew G. Carroll, Marine heatwaves in the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea: their mechanisms and impacts on shallow and mesophotic coral ecosystems, <i>Science of The Total Environment</i>, Volume 908, 2024, 168063, ISSN 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168063.