The flood risk in many urban catchments is poorly understood. Legacy stormwater infrastructure is often substandard and anticipated climate change induced sea level rise and increased rainfall intensity will typically exacerbate present risk. In a Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) funded collaboration between Geoscience Australia (GA) and the City of Sydney, the impacts on the Alexandra Canal catchment in the City of Sydney local government area have been studied. This work has built upon detailed flood hazard analyses by Cardno Pty Ltd commissioned by the City of Sydney and has entailed the development of exposure and vulnerability information. Significantly, the case study has highlighted the value of robust exposure attributes and vulnerability models in the development of flood risk knowledge. The paper describes how vulnerability knowledge developed following the 2011 Brisbane floods was extended to include key building types found in the inner suburbs of Sydney. It also describes the systematic field capture of building exposure information in the catchment area and its categorisation into 19 generic building types. The assessment of ground floor heights from street view imagery using the Field Data Analysis Tool (FiDAT) developed at Geoscience Australia is also presented. The selected hazard scenario was a 100 year Annual Recurrence Interval (ARI) event with 20% increased rainfall intensity accompanied by a 0.55m sea level rise in Botany Bay. The impact from the selected scenario was assessed in terms of monetary loss for four combinations. The combinations consist of two vulnerability model suites (GA and NSW Government) and two floor height attribution methods (assumed 0.15m uniformly and evaluated from street view imagery). It was observed that the total loss is higher in the case of assumed floor heights compared to FiDAT processed floor heights as the former failed to capture increased floor heights for newer construction. However, the loss is lower when only two vulnerability models developed by NSW Government are applied for the entire building stock in the region as two models produced a coarser modelling of the variety in the whole building stock. Abstract & Poster presented at Floodplain Management Association National Conference 2013:<br />http://www.floodplainconference.com/papers2013.php

Geoscience Australia carried out a marine survey on Carnarvon shelf (WA) in 2008 (SOL4769) to map seabed bathymetry and characterise benthic environments through colocated sampling of surface sediments and infauna, observation of benthic habitats using underwater towed video and stills photography, and measurement of ocean tides and wavegenerated currents. Data and samples were acquired using the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Research Vessel Solander. Bathymetric mapping, sampling and video transects were completed in three survey areas that extended seaward from Ningaloo Reef to the shelf edge, including: Mandu Creek (80 sq km); Point Cloates (281 sq km), and; Gnaraloo (321 sq km). Additional bathymetric mapping (but no sampling or video) was completed between Mandu creek and Point Cloates, covering 277 sq km and north of Mandu Creek, covering 79 sq km. Two oceanographic moorings were deployed in the Point Cloates survey area. The survey also mapped and sampled an area to the northeast of the Muiron Islands covering 52 sq km. cloates_3m is an ArcINFO grid of Point Cloates of Carnarvon Shelf survey area produced from the processed EM3002 bathymetry data using the CARIS HIPS and SIPS software

Geoscience Australia carried out marine surveys in southeast Tasmania in 2008 and 2009 (GA0315) to map seabed bathymetry and characterise benthic environments through observation of habitats using underwater towed video. Data was acquired using the Tasmania Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute (TAFI) Research Vessel Challenger. Bathymetric mapping was undertaken in seven survey areas, including: Freycinet Pensinula (83 sq km, east coast and shelf); Tasman Peninsula (117 sq km, east coast and shelf); Port Arthur and adjacent open coast (17 sq km); The Friars (41 sq km, south of Bruny Island); lower Huon River estuary (39 sq km); D Entrecastreaux Channel (7 sq km, at Tinderbox north of Bruny Island), and; Maria Island (3 sq km, western side). Video characterisations of the seabed concentrated on areas of bedrock reef and adjacent seabed in all mapped areas, except for D Entrecastreaux Channel and Maria Island. fortescue_160 is an ArcINFO grid of the Tasman Peninsula survey area produced from the processed EM3002 bathymetry data using the CARIS HIPS and SIPS software.

Presentation by FireDST Team to the Victorian Fire Commissioner and the Service Delivery Group on Fri 31/ 5/2013

No abstract available

Sniffer Files The 'Sniffer' or Direct Hydrocarbon Detection (DHD) technique used to detect hydrocarbon seepage offshore involves towing a submerged tow-fish close to the seafloor and continuously pumping seawater into a geochemical laboratory on board where the hydrocarbons are extracted and measured by gas chromatography. The Direct Hydrocarbon Detection (DHD) method continuously analyses C1-C8 hydrocarbons within seawater. The method used on the RV Rig Seismic is as follows. Seawater is continuously delivered into the geochemical laboratory onboard the ship via a submersible fish (which is towed approximately 10 m above the seafloor). The seawater is degassed in a vacuum chamber and the resulting headspace gas is injected into three gas chromatographs, which sequentially sample the flowing gas stream and measure a variety of light hydrocarbons. Total hydrocarbons (THC) are measured every thirty seconds, light hydrocarbons (C1-C4) are measured every two minutes and C5 to C8 are measured every 8 minutes. Fluorometer and Aquatrack Fil In October 1998, the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO) carried out field trials of three commercially available towed fluorometers; Aquatracka (Chelsea Instruments), SAFIRE (WetLabs), FLF (WetLabs). These instruments were pre-selected on manufacturer specifications as potentially the most suitable, compared to other fluorometers currently on the market, for the detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) present in crude oils seeping into the marine environment. The fluorometers were set with an excitation wavelength in the range 239 nm to 260 nm and fluorescence was monitored over the range 340 nm to 360 nm. SAFIRE is a multi-wavelength instrument, which enabled simultaneous use of several excitation and emission wavelengths. All three fluorometers were mounted on deck and seawater was pumped through them. The Aquatracka instrument analysed deep water pumped to the surface by the "Sniffer" submersible system.

words to come

AUSPOS is Geoscience Australia's on-line static GPS positioning service, providing user access to a state-of-art analysis system via a simple web-interface. AUSPOS delivers ITRF2008, GDA94 and AHD coordinates to Australian users and ITRF2008 coordinates to international users by processing up to 7 days of user's GPS tracking data from up to 20 sites simultaneously. Like other GPS data processing systems, the internal coordinate uncertainty of AUSPOS solutions is typically too optimistic. In this paper, we report on a more realistic uncertainty estimation method for AUSPOS. Test results using this method shows that uncertainties of AUSPOS solutions vary from several millimetres to several centimetres, with respect to ITRF2008, depending on the duration of data sets and their global location.

Geoscience Australia has recently completed the Bonaparte CO2 Storage Project, a regional assessment of the CO2 storage potential of the Petrel Sub-basin. In 2009, two greenhouse gas assessment areas were released, PTRL-01 and PTRL-02, under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act (2006). Both are proximal to the developing LNG market in Darwin, as well as a number of hydrocarbon accumulations in the Bonaparte Basin. These permits define the area of interest for the project.   A key component of the project was geological modelling to test CO2 injection scenarios. Initial 3D seismic horizon surfaces were generated to create a 'simple' geological model. A 'complex' geological model was then built by integrating a structure model, which was depth converted. Subsequently, the model was populated with reservoir properties such as V(shale), porosity and permeability. Palaeogeography maps were generated for all pertinent stratigraphic units and were used to populate the model where well control was lacking.   Using Permedia- modelling software, CO2 migration simulations with randomly located injection wells were run on a high resolution model to study the migration pathways, major accumulations and the effects of vertical anisotropy. Smaller areas of interest were then identified to reduce the size of the model and allow fluid flow reservoir simulations study using CMG-GEM'. The simulation study estimated the practical injectivity, storage volume, reservoir pressure during and after CO2 injection.

Polylines representing the contours captured from the Cainozoic Structural Features Pg 22 of Palaeogreographic Atlas of Australia Volume 10. R.P Langford, G.E. Wilford, E.M. Truswell, A.R. Isern ISBN 0644349441 Data is available in Shapefile format This GIS data set was produced for the Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment: Ransley TR and Smerdon BD (eds) (2012) Hydrostratigraphy, hydrogeology and system conceptualisation of the Great Artesian Basin. A technical report to the Australian Government from the CSIRO Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment. CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, Australia.