<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>

Legacy product - no abstract available

The Fitzroy River delivers large amounts of nutrients and fine sediments to Keppel Bay (contiguous with the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon) during intermittent flow events. This study explores sources, forms and transformations of nutrients in Keppel Bay, and develops a functional process zonation that integrates seabed geochemistry and water column nutrient characteristics which are controlled by suspended sediment. The water column and seabed properties were investigated over two dry seasons, with supplementary core incubations taken to measure carbon decomposition rates and nutrient fluxes. Keppel Bay can be divided into three zones, the: zone of maximum resuspension (ZMR); coastal transitional zone (CTZ); and blue water zone (BWZ). Mineralisation of predominantly terrestrial organic matter occurs in the ZMR where nutrient uptake by phytoplankton is light limited. The CTZ and BWZ had higher light penetration and phytoplankton growth was likely limited by N and P, respectively. The identified zones conform to the bathymetry and hydrodynamic characteristics of the bay, allowing for the development of an integrated conceptual model accounting for the benthic and pelagic biogeochemical processes. Recognition of these different zones shows that considerable variation in benthic and water column properties is possible within a small system with the bathymetric and hydrodynamic characteristics of the fluidised bed reactor.

The Australian Government, through the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, recognises the need for information that allows communities to decide on a strategy for climate change adaptation. A first pass national assessment of vulnerability to Australia's coast identified that considerable sections of the coast could be impacted by sea level rise. This assessment however, did not provide sufficient detail to allow adaptation planning at a local level. Accounting for sea level rise in planning procedures requires knowledge of the future coastline, which is still lacking. Modelling the coastline given sea level rise is complex, however. Erosion will alter the shores in varied ways around Australia's coastline, and extreme events will inundate areas that currently appear to be well above the projected sea level. Moreover, the current planning practice of designating zones with acceptable inundation risk is no longer practical when considering climate change, as this is likely to remain uncertain for some time. Geoscience Australia, with support from the DCCEE, has now conducted a more detailed study for a local area in Western Australia that was identified to be at high risk in the national assessment. The aim of the project was to develop a localised approach so that information could be developed to support adaptation to climate change in planning decisions at the community level. The approach included modelling a historical tropical cyclone and its associated storm surge for a range of sea level rise scenarios. The approach also included a shoreline translation model that forecast changes in coastal sediment transport. Inundation footprints were created and integrated with Geoscience Australia's national exposure information system, NEXIS, to develop impact assessments on building assets, roads and railways. Studies such as this can be a first step towards enabling the planning process to adapt to increased risk.

The impacts of climate change, including sea level rise and the increased frequency of storm surge events, will adversely affect infrastructure in a significant number of Australian coastal communities. In order to quantify this risk and develop suitable adaptation strategies, the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) commissioned the National Coastal Vulnerability Assessment (NCVA). With contributions from Geoscience Australia (GA) and the University of Tasmania, this first-pass national assessment has identified the extent and value of infrastructure that is potentially vulnerable to impacts of climate change. In addition, the NCVA examined the changes in exposure under a range of future population scenarios. The NCVA was underpinned by a number of fundamental national scale datasets; a mid-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) used to model a series of sea level rise projections incorporating 1 in 100 year storm-tide estimates where available; the 'Smartline' (nationa; coastal geomorphology dataset) identified coastal landforms that are potentially unstable and may recede with the influence of rising sea level. The inundation outputs were then overlain with GA's National Exposure Information System to quantify the number and value of infrastructure elements (including residential and commercial buildings, roads and rail) potentially vulnerable to a range of sea-level rise and recession estimates for the year 2100.

The historical record reveals that at least five tsunamis generated by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions along the Sunda Arc have impacted the West Australian coast (1883, 1977, 1994, 2004 and 2006). We have documented the geomorphic effects of these tsunamis through collation of historical reports, collection of eyewitness accounts, analysis of pre- and post-tsunami satellite imagery and field investigations. These tsunamis had flow depths of less than 3 m, inundation distances of up to several hundred metres and a maximum recorded run-up height of 8 m. Geomorphic effects include off-shore and near-shore erosion and extensive vegetation damage. In some cases, vegetated foredunes were severely depleted or completely removed. Gullies and scour pockets up to 1.5 m deep were eroded into topographic highs during tsunami outflow. Eroded sediments were redeposited as sand sheets several centimetres thick. Isolated coral blocks and rocks with oysters attached (~50 cm A-axis) were deposited over coastal dunes however, boulder ridges were often unaffected by tsunami flow. The extent of inundation from the most recent tsunamis can be distinguished as strandlines of coral rubble and rafted vegetation. It is likely that these features are ephemeral and seasonal coastal processes will obscure all traces of these signatures within years to decades. Recently reported evidence for Holocene palaeotsunamis on the West Australian coast suggests significantly larger run-up and inundation than observed from the historical record. The evidence includes signatures such as chevron dunes that have not been observed from historical events. We have compared the geomorphic effects of historical tsunami with reported palaeotsunami evidence from Coral Bay, the Cape Range Peninsula and Port Samson. We conclude that much of the palaeotsunami evidence can be accounted for via more traditional geomorphic processes such as reef evolution, aeolian dune formation and archaeological site formation.

The south-west coast of Western Australia is made up of a series of exposed limestone headlands which are prone to the development of cliff lines and large overhangs. Coastal processes such as wind and water erosion in conjunction with salt crystallisation and carbonate dissolution make these cliffs highly susceptible to collapse. The damaging impact that these unstable cliffs can have on the community was demonstrated on 27 September 1996, when four adults and five children were killed in a rockfall at Huzzas Beach, Gracetown.

This map shows the area of the Kuuku Ya'u Native Title Claim, which extends approximately between Olive River and Nyllichi Point in Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. The map was produced for the Attorney-General's Department. Not for public distribution.

In a recent paper, Dye (2006) analyzed the distribution of species of macrobenthos and meiobenthos within two geomorphic facies of four small intermittently closed and open estuaries in New South Wales, Australia (colloquially known as ICOLLs). We believe that Dye's (2006) study is not an appropriate test of the Roy et al. (2001) habitat classification, and consequently several of the hypotheses posed by Dye do not follow logically from their model.

The variability in the inherent optical properties along an estuary-coast-ocean continuum in tropical Australia has been studied. The study area, the Fitzroy Estuary and Keppel Bay system, is a shallow coastal environment (depth < 30 m) with highly turbid waters in the estuary and blue oceanic waters in the bay and subject to macrotides. Biogeochemical and inherent optical properties (IOPs) were sampled in the near-surface layer spatially and across the tidal phase during the dry season. These determinations included continuous measurements of spectral absorption, scattering and backscattering coefficients, together with discrete measurements of spectral absorption coefficients of phytoplankton, nonalgal particles and colored dissolved organic matter, and concentrations of phytoplankton pigments and suspended matter. Because of a large variability in the characteristics of the water components on short spatial and temporal scales, we observe a large variability in the associated optical properties. From the estuary to the bay, particle scattering and dissolved absorption decreased by 2 orders of magnitude, and nonalgal particle absorption decreased by 3 orders of magnitude. We also observed a strong variability in particle single scattering albedo and backscattering efficiency (by a factor of 6) and in specific IOPs (IOPs normalized by the relevant constituent concentration) such as suspended matter-specific particle scattering and chlorophyll-specific phytoplankton absorption. Superimposed on this strong spatial variability is the effect of the semidiurnal tide, which affects the spatial distribution of all measured properties. These results emphasize the need for spatially and temporally adjusted algorithms for remote sensing in complex coastal systems.