In 2001, the Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) funded a survey to collect airborne electromagnetic (AEM) datasets for Billabong Creek (GA Project # 904) under MDBC's Strategic Investigations and Education (SI&E) Program, as part of Airborne Geophysics - SI&E Project D2018. The project was a pilot testing the relevance of airborne geophysics data for salinity management, and evolved from the National Geophysics Project originally sponsored under the National Dryland Salinity Program. The data are now being publicly released through Geoscience Australia's National Airborne Geophysics Database.

Airborne electromagnetic data (AEM) are used in many and diverse applications such as mineral and energy exploration, groundwater investigations, natural hazard assessment, agriculture, city planning and defence. Unfortunately, many users do not have access to a simple workflow for assessing the quality of the data that they are using. This poster outlines the main quality assurance and quality control (QA-QC) procedures used by Geoscience Australia for our 2008-11 AEM surveys. Minor processing errors can dramatically reduce the quality of the data to the point that interpreters will be unable to use the data, or worse still, will be misled by features or characteristics produced during acquisition and processing. These scenarios not only impact the application at the time of interpretation, but can seriously impact the reputation and perceptions of the AEM industry. Every effort should be made to ensure that maximum fidelity is preserved in the data during acquisition and processing so that the best possible data are available for interpretation. Geoscience Australia is embarking on a project to upgrade the National Airborne Geophysical Database to better manage the data from major AEM surveys. This will better preserve the data and associated documentation to allow users to access and take advantage of the data well into the future. The quality of historical data included in this endeavour will unfortunately be variable and dependent on the QA-QC standards of the time. Geoscience Australia currently holds over 150 000 line kilometres of AEM data funded by the Commonwealth Government, State Governments and industry. Much of this data is available online for download, but is not available via the Geophysical Archive Data Delivery System (GADDS). Geoscience Australia is planning the expansion of GADDS to accommodate AEM data into the future. It is hoped the procedures outlined on the poster will be widely accepted by users, in particular new users, as a set of minimum requirements to help ensure that AEM data will be of a consistent quality and to a higher standard acknowledging it as the valuable resource it is. Key words: Airborne electromagnetic data; National Airborne Geophysical Database; AEM; QA-QC.

STREAMED DATA THIS IS Streamed data and there are restrictions placed on this data: (a) Raw continuous time series data ("Streamed Data"), was supplied. (b) Streamed Data will not be distributed to any party other than Geoscience Australia or GA's Representative without the written permission of the Contractor. (c) Streamed Data will only be used for internal research and development purposes by Geoscience Australia or GA's Representative and results will not be published without the written permission of the Contractor. (d) The results of any such research and development shall be made available to the Contractor. (e) Streamed Data shall be delivered in the format specified in Attachment 9. (f) The Streamed data shall be accompanied by a header file containing a two-column table showing the file name and associated line number in Final Processed Data. This table shall also be included in the Final Report.

As part of the Exploring For the Future program 2022 showcase, Geoscience Australia (GA) in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Geoscientists held an Airborne Electromagnetics (AEM) workshop in Perth on 11th August 2022. The workshop comprised the following: - An introduction to GA's 20 km spaced continent-wide AusAEM program, by Karol Czarnota - How the Western Australia government has successfully used 20 km spaced AEM data, by Klaus Gessner - An introduction to AEM, surveying, and quality control given by Yusen Ley-Cooper - An introduction to inverse theory presented by Anandaroop Ray - Hands-on AEM modeling and inversion using HiQGA.jl by Anandaroop Ray - Integrating geophysics and geology in subsurface interpretation, by Sebastian Wong - Avoiding the 10 most common pitfalls in AEM interpretation according to Neil Symington YouTube video from the workshop, as well as data and code to follow along with the videos can be found on GA's GitHub at <a href=https://github.com/GeoscienceAustralia/HiQGA.jl/tree/workshop><u>this link.</u></a>

Borehole induction conductivity data, commonly referred to as conductivity logs, were acquired from 20 boreholes in the Frome region of South Australia, during July-August 2010, in support of the Frome airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey managed by Geoscience Australia (GA). The conductivity logs were used to assist in generating reference models for geophysical inversions of the AEM data, and to provide an independent dataset for assessing the inversion results. The Frome AEM survey was acquired using the Fugro Airborne Surveys (FAS) TEMPEST fixed wing time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) AEM system. The acquisition and processing of data were carried out by FAS under contract to GA. The geophysical investigations were designed to deliver reliable, pre-competitive AEM data and scientific analysis of the energy resource potential of the Frome region of South Australia, including the flanks of the Northern Flinders Ranges, the Frome Embayment, the Olary Ranges and the northwestern Murray Basin. The Frome AEM survey covers a total area of 95,000 km2 and was flown between 22 May and 2 November 2010.

The Paterson airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey is Australia's first regional AEM survey, flown between September 2007 and August 2008 under the auspices of the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Program (OESP). The survey was flown over the Archean eastern Pilbara, the Palaeoproterozoic Rudall Complex and the Neoproterozoic Yeneena Basin (both of which comprise the Paterson Orogen) and on-lapping sediments of the Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic Officer Basin and Palaeozoic-Mesozoic Canning Basin. The survey was flown at line spacings of 6, 2 and 1 km and 200 m for a total area of 45,330 km2 targeting known mineral deposits and other highly prospective rocks under cover. The survey was designed to provide pre-competitive data to reduce exploration risk primarily for uranium but also for other metals as well as groundwater resources for local indigenous communities and mineral exploration.

During 2008 and 2009, and under the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Initiative, Geoscience Australia acquired airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data over the Pine Creek Orogen of the Northern Territory. The survey area was split into three areas for acquisition. VTEM data was acquired in the Kombolgie area east of Kakadu National Park between August and November 2008. TEMPEST data was acquired west of Kakadu National Park with the area split in two to facilitate the use of two aircraft: the Woolner Granite area in the north was acquired between October and December 2008; and the Rum Jungle area (this data set) adjoining to the south, which was acquired between October 2008 and May 2009. The main purpose of the surveys was to provide additional geophysical/geological context for unconformity style uranium mineral systems and thereby promote related exploration. The survey data will also provide information on depth to Proterozoic/Archean basement, which is of general interest to explorers, and will be used as an input into ground water studues in the region.

Airborne Electromagnetic data are being acquired by Geoscience Australia in areas considered to have potential for uranium or thorium mineralisation under the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Program (OESP). The surveys have been managed and interpreted by Geoscience Australia's Airborne Electromagnetic Acquisition and Interpretation project. In contrast to industry style deposit scale investigations, these surveys are designed to reveal new geological information at regional scale. The Paterson airborne electromagnetic data were acquired at line spacings of between one and six kilometres, a total of 28 200 line km and covers an area of 47 600 km². The outcomes of the Paterson AEM survey include mapping of subsurface geological features that are associated with unconformity-related, sandstone-hosted and palaeovalley-hosted uranium mineralisation. The data are also capable of interpretation for other commodities including metals and potable water as well as for landscape evolution studies. The improved understanding of the regional geology resulting from the Paterson survey results will be of considerable benefit to mining and mineral exploration companies. Phase-1 data, that is, contractor quality-controlled and quality-assessed data, were released during 2009. Phase-2 data, that is Geoscience Australia layered earth inversion (GA-LEI) data and derived products, are included in this data release. The data and products described in this report are contained on the accompanying DVD. The main products from the AEM survey are conductivity depth slices and sections, conductance grids and an AEM Depth of Investigation grid. The data is provided in formats which can be viewed on most computers systems. They include, JPEG (.jpg) with associated world files for easy use in geographic information system (GIS) packages, ER Mapper grids (.ers), ESRI shape files (.shp) of the flight path, and point-located ASCII data with relevant metadata for derived products.

The Australian Government, through Geoscience Australia, funded an airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey to be flown over the Paterson region of Western Australia. The survey was flown using the TEMPEST AEM system during 2007 and 2008. The data acquisition and data processing and reductions were carried out by Fugro Airborne Surveys (FAS) under contract to Geoscience Australia. The 2010 data release includes the entire Paterson Survey area. This data set includes the eight blocks of infill flying that were completed with funding provided by private companies. The Paterson Survey area is shown on the locality map below (Figure 1). The digital dataset has been arranged into two separate directories or folders according to the two main survey areas Paterson North and Paterson South. Four sub-directories are arranged according to the four main data types which are: (i) Survey operations and processing report, (ii) Point located electromagnetic response and derived EM Flow CDI line data, (iii) Gridded electromagnetic response and CDI data, and (iv) Graphic profile based multiplots showing electromagnetic, CDI and ancillary data.

During 2007 and 2008 and under the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Initiative, Geoscience Australia acquired airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data over the Paterson Province of Western Australia. The main purpose of the survey was to provide additional geophysical/geological context for unconformity and palaeochannel style uranium mineral systems and thereby promote related exploration. The survey data will also provide information on depth to basement, which is of general interest to explorers, and will be used as an input into a ground water evaluation of the region.