This service represents the National DEM 1 Second Smoothed product

This service represents a hill shade (ground surface topography) and excludes vegetation features which has been dervied from the National DEM SRTM 1 Second. The sun angle used is 315 degrees azimuth and 30 degrees altitude. It is intended for large scale use for low lying area feature identification. The processing method is decsribe in the 1 Second SRTM Derived Product User Guide (Geoscience Australia, 2011)

InaSAFE is free and open source software for developing realistic disaster impact scenarios for better disaster planning and response. Originally developed in Indonesia, it is now being used in many countries around the world to inform disaster management decision making with a strong scientific evidence base. Designed to be simple to use, InaSAFE can rapidly output the estimated impacts of a hazard event on a given exposure dataset and translate this information into a series of questions targeting particular disaster management actions. This supports disaster managers to make better decisions about the resources that they may need to respond to a disaster event. This presentation will demonstrate case studies of InaSAFE use for a range of hazards (earthquake, tsunami, volcanic ash and fire) for locations in Australia and the region. This will demonstrate InaSAFE's capability and its applicability to a diverse range of disaster management problems.

How we use crystallography Although the discipline of Geology is more than just rocks, the study of rocks and minerals make up a large part of our work. We analyse rocks and minerals from across Australia from samples collected under the sea, at the surface or from deep drill holes. Recently for example, our Minerals programme has drilled 14 holes through young cover to gather samples of basement rocks believed to be prospective for copper mineralisation in western Victoria.

Tropical cyclones are the most common disaster in the Pacific, and among the most destructive. In December 2012, Cyclone Evan caused over US$200 million damage in Samoa, nearly 30 percent of Samoan GDP. Niue suffered losses of US$85 million following Cyclone Heta in 2004-over five times its GDP. As recently as January 2014, Cyclone Ian caused significant damage throughout Tonga, resulting in the first payout of the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Pilot system operated by the World Bank (2014). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), intense tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific basin will likely increase in the future (IPCC 2013). But such general statements about global tropical cyclone activity provide little guidance on how impacts may change locally or even regionally, and thus do little to help communities and nations prepare appropriate adaptation measures. This study assesses climate change in terms of impact on the human population and its assets, expressed in terms of financial loss. An impact focus is relevant to adaptation because changes in hazard do not necessarily result in a proportional change in impact. This is because impacts are driven by exposure and vulnerability as well as by hazard. For example, a small shift in hazard in a densely populated area may have more significant consequences than a bigger change in an unpopulated area. Analogously, a dense population that has a low vulnerability to a particular hazard might not need to adapt significantly to a change in hazard. Even in regions with high tropical cyclone risk and correspondingly stringent building codes, such as the state of Florida, a modest 1 percent increase in wind speeds can result in a 5 percent to 10 percent increase in loss to residential property. Quantifying the change impact thus supports evidence-based decision making on adaptation to future climate risk.

Flyer to promote careers at Geoscience Australia

Geoscience Australia has committed to an integrated program of data stewardship with the inception of the Geoinformatics and Data Services Section (GDSS) in 2013, whose mission is to maximise the online discovery, access, sharing, interoperability and use of Geoscience Australia's science data. The section comprises small teams of specialists whose skills cross the realm of geoscience, computer science, spatial science, policy, information management and IT. These teams research, strategise, plan, coordinate, advise, innovate, implement and manage enterprise data, systems, tools and services with a unique awareness of the interdependencies between IT, science, culture and governance. GDSS collaborates with researchers and experts to ensure the projects, standards, models and tools we implement are international best practice. This poster highlights some of the initiatives we are progressing.

A user interactive guide to Geoscience Australia's Antarctic information sources and related online content

The National Foreign Embassies dataset presents the spatial locations; in point format, of all known foreign embassies and high commissions within Australia.

The Southern Thomson Orogen VTEMplus® AEM Survey was undertaken as part of Geoscience Australia's contribution to the Australian Academy of Science's UNCOVER initiative, adopted as part of the Australian Government's National Mineral Exploration Strategy. Survey planning was in conjunction with our State survey partners, the Geological Survey of New South Wales and the Geological Survey of Queensland. The aim of the survey was to demonstrate the application of the AEM technique as an under-cover mapping and exploration tool by generating new data and information regarding depth to basement (DTB) and cover character in the under-explored southern Thomson Orogen region. The ultimate goal of the Southern Thomson Project is to encourage industry investment in this poorly understood area to discover a new minerals province.