<div>The A1 poster incorporates 4 images of Australia taken from space by Earth observing satellites. The accompanying text briefly introduces sensors and the bands within the electromagnetic spectrum. The images include examples of both true and false colour and the diverse range of applications of satellite images such as tracking visible changes to the Earth’s surface like crop growth, bushfires, coastal changes and floods. Scientists, land and emergency managers use satellite images to analyse vegetation, surface water or human activities as well as evaluate natural&nbsp;hazards.</div>

Geoscience Australia acquires satellite imagery from a range of Earth observation satellites. This poster focuses on Australian States and Territories and various satellite applications.

Australia has been receiving Earth Observations from Space (EOS) for over 50 years. Meteorological imagery dates from 1960 and Earth observation imagery from 1979. Australia has developed world-class scientific, environmental and emergency management EOS applications. However, in the top fifty economies of the world, Australia is one of only three nations which does not have a space program. The satellites on which Australia depends are supplied by other countries which is a potential problem due to Australia having limited control over data continuity and data access. The National Remote Sensing Technical Reference Group (NRSTRG) was established by Geoscience Australia as an advisory panel in 2004. It represents a cross-section of the remote sensing community and is made up of representatives from government, universities and private companies. Through the NRSTRG these parties provide Geoscience Australia with advice on technical and policy matters related to remote sensing. In February 2009 the NRSTRG met for a day specifically to discuss Australia's reliance on EOS, with a view to informing the development of space policy. This report is the outcome of that meeting. Australia has some 92 programs dependent on EOS data. These programs are concerned with environmental issues, natural resource management, water, agriculture, meteorology, forestry, emergency management, border security, mapping and planning. Approximately half these programs have a high dependency on EOS data. While these programs are quite diverse there is considerable overlap in the technology and data. Of Australia's EOS dependent programs 71 (77%) are valued between $100,000 and $10 million and 82 (89%) of all these programs have a medium or high dependency on EOS data demonstrating Australia's dependency on space based imaging. Earth observation dependencies within currently active Federal and state government programs are calculated to be worth just over $949 million, calculated by weighting the level of dependency on EOS for each program. This includes two programs greater than $100 million in scale and one program greater than a billion dollars in scale. This document is intended as a summary of Australia's current space and Earth observation dependencies, compiled by the NRSTRG, to be presented to the Federal Government's Space Policy Unit, a section of the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, as an aid to space policy formation.

ACRES Tehnical Document - updated 4 September 2000. Dynamic range values for ACRES TM data products.

ALOS PALSAR DATA (Level 1.1-1.5) DATA FORMAT (Revision I) from Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan.

Identifying and mapping regolith materials at the regional and continental-scale can be facilitated via a new generation of remote sensing methods and standardised geoscience products. The multispectral Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflectance Radiometer (ASTER) is the first Earth observation (EO) system to acquire complete coverage of the Australian continent. The Japanese ASTER instrument is housed onboard the USA's Terra satellite, and has 14 spectral bands spanning the visible and near-infrared (VNIR - 500-1,000 nm - 3 bands @ 15 m pixel resolution); shortwave-infrared (SWIR - 1,000-2,500 nm range - 6 bands @ 30 m pixel resolution); and thermal infrared (TIR 8,000-12,000 nm - 90 m pixel resolution) with a 60 km swath. Although ASTER spectral bands do not have sufficient spectral resolution to accurately map the often small diagnostic absorption features of specific mineral species, which can be measured using more expensive 'hyperspectral' systems, current coverage of hyperspectral data is very restricted. The extensive coverage and 30m pixel size of ASTER make it well suited to national scale work. The spectral resolution of ASTER make it best suited to mapping broader 'mineral groups', such as the di-octahedral 'Al-OH' group comprising the mineral sub-groups (and their minerals species) like kaolins (e.g. kaolinite, dickite, halloysite), white micas (e.g. illite, muscovite, paragonite) and smectites (e.g. montmorillonite and beidellite). Extracting mineral group information using ASTER, using specially targeted band combinations, can find previously unmapped outcrop of bedrocks, weathering products, help define soil type and chemistry, and delineate and characterise regolith and landform boundaries over large and remote areas.

Mapping and analysis of landscapes in Australia can now benefit from a continental mineral map coverage, helping to identify and characterise materials at the surface, with the recent release (August 2012) of the Satellite ASTER Geoscience Maps of Australia (http://c3dmm.csiro.au/Australia_ASTER/stage_1_geoscienceproductnotes.html). The new maps can provide mineralogical information on weathering, soils and regolith boundaries and compositions. The ASTER mosaic, made up of some ~3,500 60x60 km individual ASTER scenes, were produced by a multi-agency collaboration of Australian government partners. They represent the first of their kind: a continent-scale, public, web-accessible and GIS-compatible ASTER geoscience product suite. Led by CSIRO, Geoscience Australia along with several state government agencies, (including GSWA, GSQ, DMITRE and NTGS), have released 17 geoscientific products across the whole of Australia, with application to landscape analysis, environmental studies, mineral mapping and exploration, as well as soil-mapping and the agricultural sectors. Outcomes have included the formation of a platform for establishing national standards, geoscience product nomenclature, processing methods, accuracy assessments and traceable documentation. The ASTER bands are being used together with other complementary datasets (e.g. terrain indices, gamma-ray radiometrics) to build statistical predictive models on surface regolith geochemistry. This study is a preliminary investigation and assessment of how to use the new products for geomorphic applications, particularly landscape analysis and characterisation.

Includes copy of AGSO Record 1997/20

Preliminary regolith mapping of the Highland Rocks region using Landsat MSS and high resolution gamma-ray spectrometric imagery: Australian Geological Survey Organisation. 18 pages; 6 fig, 12 ref.

ACRES acquired Landsat 7 satellite images showing bushfires in northern New South Wales in early October 2000. Fire fighters brought more than 80 bushfires under control, after more than 150,000ha of bushland were burnt. The image on the left was acquired on 2 June 2000. The second image shows the extent of the fires in the region from South West Rocks in the south to Grafton and the Clarence River in the North.