A medium term forecast of undiscovered hydrocarbon resources for the Bonaparte Basin has been generated by Geoscience Australia and reveals that there is the potential to discover 56 gigalitres (350 million barrels) of oil, 82 billion cubic metres (2.9 trillion cubic feet) of gas, and 18 gigalitres (115 million barrels) of condensate in the next ten to fifteen years.

Abstract for initial submission, pending acceptance by convention technical program committee.

The cyclonic wind hazard over the Australian region is determined using synthetic tropical cyclone event sets derived from general circulation models (GCMs) to provide guidance on the potential impacts of climate change. Cyclonic wind hazard (defined as the return period wind speed) is influenced by the frequency, intensity and spatial distribution of tropical cyclones, all of which may change under future climate regimes due to influences such as warmer sea surface temperatures and changes in the global circulation. Cyclonic wind hazard is evaluated using a statistical-parametric model of tropical cyclones - the Tropical Cyclone Risk Model (TCRM) - which can be used to simulate many thousands of years of cyclone activity. TCRM is used to generate synthetic tracks which are statistically similar to the input event set - either an historical record or other synthetic event set. After applying a parametric wind field to the simulated tracks, we use the aggregated wind fields to evaluate the return period wind speeds for three IPCC AR4 scenarios, and make comparisons to the corresponding average recurrence interval wind speed estimates for current climate simulations. Results from the analysis of two GCMs are presented and contrasted with hazard estimates based on the historical record of tropical cyclones in the Australian region.

The CO2CRC has been leading the international development and application of atmospheric techniques for CO2 leak detection and quantification for CCS. CSIRO's atmospheric monitoring program at the CO2CRC Otway Project demonstrated world's leading practice for atmospheric monitoring at geological storage sites. The GA-CO2CRC Ginninderra controlled release facility has enabled development and testing of a new atmospheric tomography approach for accurately quantifying CO2 emissions using atmospheric techniques. A scaled-up version of the technique using an array of more cost effective (but less accurate) sensors was applied at a larger scale at the Otway Stage 2B controlled release. Additional techniques have been developed including data filtering to optimize the detection of emitted gases against the ecosystem background and Bayesian inverse modeling to locate and quantify a source. GA and CSIRO operate a joint baseline atmospheric station in the Bowen Basin and have been independently investigating the sensitivity of CO2 leak detection through coupling of measurements taken in a sub-tropical environment with simulated leakage events. An outcome from this body of work is the importance of good quality, calibrated measurements, a long baseline record and the development and application of techniques using atmospheric models for quantifying gaseous emissions from the ground to the atmosphere. These same measurement requirements and quantification techniques have direct application to fugitive methane emissions from open cut coal mines, coal seam gas, tight gas, and conventional gas emissions. Application is easier for methane: the background signal is lower, sensors are available at affordable cost, and the emissions are measureable now. The Bowen Basin site, for example, is detecting fugitive methane emitted from open cut coal mining activities tens of kilometres away. An example of the sensitivity of atmospheric techniques for the detection of fugitive emissions from a simulated methane source will be presented.

Geoscience Australia and the CO2CRC operate a greenhouse gas controlled release facility at an experimental agricultural station maintained by CSIRO Plant Industry in Canberra, Australia. The facility is designed to simulate surface emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases from the soil into the atmosphere. Over 10 different near surface monitoring techniques were trialled at the Ginninderra controlled release site during 2012-2013. These included soil gas, soil CO2 flux, soil analysis, eddy covariance, CO2 laser, noble gas tracers, airborne hyperspectral, in-field phenotyping (thermal, hyperspectral and 3D imaging), and microbial soil genomics. Result highlights are presented. Different climatic conditions for the early 2012 release experiment (wet) and late 2013 release experiment (dry) resulted in markedly different sub-surface plume behaviour and surface expression of CO2. The differences between the years are attributed to changes in groundwater levels and drier conditions leading to a larger vadose zone during the 2013 experiment.

Geoscience Australia's robotic antenna calibration facility has over 100 individual antennas, and performed a number of studies on the impact of near-field effects. This poster will detail results on the repeatability of different antenna types, and offer insights into the performance of survey and geodetic class antennas. The results from the calibrations highlight the need to move towards individual antenna calibrations and, to include the mounting of the antenna in the calibration where possible

The water clarity of many inland water bodies is under threat due to intensifying land use pressures in conjunction with changes water levels that result from increasing demand and climate variability. The recent launch of Landsat 8 coupled with Geoscience Australia's recent reprocessing of the Landsat TM and ETM+ archives over the whole of Australia to a consistent surface reflectance product enables large scale spatio-temporal analysis of freshwater optical water quality in support of monitoring and decision making for water management agencies. In this research, we present an objective assessment of the potential of Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI data for monitoring inland water quality dynamics over a number of lakes and reservoirs with a range of optical water types in New South Wales, Australia. We used bio-optical modelling to develop sensor-specific TSS retrieval algorithms that account for the difference in relative spectral response between Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI. We were able to compare the suitability of the different sensors for optical water quality measurements using water bodies that fell within Landsat path overlaps where surface reflectance measurements were acquired within 24 hours between Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ or Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI. These water bodies represent a range of hydrological and limnological conditions, and enabled us to assess 1) comparability of TSS measurements retrieved from each sensor, and 2) the surface reflectance to image noise characteristics of Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI. Comparisons of lake surface reflectance and noise equivalent reflectance difference show that the improved radiometric resolution and increased quantization of Landsat 8 OLI relative to Landsat 7 ETM+ significantly reduce image noise and spectral heterogeneity, indicating that Landsat 8 OLI data are likely to provide more precise water quality retrievals relative to Landsat 7 ETM+. Despite differences in retrieval precision, the relative retrieval error between different sensors was not significantly different. We found that the TSS retrievals from the different sensors are highly comparable, Landsat 5 TM overestimated TSS relative to Landsat 7 ETM+ by 6.4 %, and Landsat 7 ETM+ overestimated TSS relative to Landsat 8 OLI by only 1.4%. The results demonstrate that time series analysis of a total suspended matter algorithm can be used to characterise the multi-decadal dynamics of TSS for a wide range of lakes.

The National Exposure Information System (NEXIS) is a unique modelling capability designed by Geoscience Australia (GA) to provide comprehensive and nationally-consistent exposure information in response to the 2003 COAG commitment to cost-effective, evidence-based disaster mitigation. Since its inception, NEXIS has continually evolved to fill known information gaps by improving statistical methodologies and integrating the best publically-available data. In addition to Residential, Commercial and Industrial building exposure information, NEXIS has recently expanded to include exposure information about agricultural assets providing a wider understanding of how communities can be affected by a potential event. GA's collaboration with the Attorney General's Department (AGD) has involved the consolidation of location-based data to deliver consistent map and exposure information products. The complex information requirements emphasised the importance of having all relevant building, demographic, economic, agriculture and infrastructure information in NEXIS available in a clear and unified Exposure Report to aid decision-makers. The Exposure Report includes a situational map of the hazard footprint to provide geographic context and a listing of detailed exposure information consisting of estimates for number and potential cost of impacted buildings by use, agricultural commodities and cost, the number and social vulnerability of the affected population, and the number and lengths of infrastructure assets and institutions. Developed within an FME workbench, the tool accepts hazard footprints and other report specifics as input before providing an HTML link to the final output in approximately 5 minutes. The consolidation of data and streamlining of exposure information into a simple and uniform document has greatly assisted the AGD in timely evidence-based decision-making during the 2014-15 summer season.

The Allen Osborne Associates Dorne Margolin type T chokering antenna has been used extensively in the International Global Navigation Satellite System Service (IGS) tracking network for over 20 years. This antenna type, using the IGS naming convention, ''AOAD/M\_T'', was predominately installed at the original IGS sites in the late 80's, early 90's, to track signals from the Global Positioning System satellite constellation, and is still in use at operational sites today. The antenna is also used as the standard reference for relative to absolute antenna calibration conversions, which hold an important role in the history of IGS antenna calibration values. It is suspected that there may be a previously unknown subgroup of antennas that maintain a different set of phase center values which, if true, will change antenna calibration values in the IGS ANTEX file and possibly bias the International Terrestrial Reference Frame as is it currently defined.

The Frome airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey delivers fit-for-purpose pre-competitive AEM data to aid the search for energy and mineral resources around the Lake Frome region of South Australia. The Survey includes a total of 32,317 line kilometres of high quality airborne geophysical data over an area of 95,450 km2, or 10% of South Australia, at a flight line spacing mostly of 2.5 km, expanding to 5 km spaced lines in the Marree-Strzelecki Desert area to the north. The Lake Frome region contains a large number of sandstone-hosted uranium deposits associated with Paleogene and Neogene palaeodrainage systems flowing from uranium-enriched Proterozoic rocks of the Curnamona Province. Known resources are ~60,000 tonnes of U3O8 including the In Situ Recovery (ISR) operations at Beverley, Pepegoona, Pannikin and Honeymoon, and deposits at Four Mile East, Four Mile West, Yagdlin, Goulds Dam, Oban and Junction Dam. The region continues to be a focus for the South Australian uranium exploration industry, particularly in the southern Lake Frome area and around the flanks of the northern Flinders Ranges. An integrated interpretation approach including a review of sandstone-hosted uranium mineral systems models in the Lake Frome region improved the understanding of mineral systems in this area. This informed the mapping of critical features of sandstone-hosted uranium mineral systems including basin architecture, palaeovalley morphology, sedimentary facies changes, hydrological connections between uranium sources and uranium sinks, and geological structures. A synthesis of pre-existing groundwater flow systems data, isotopic dates of uranium deposits, thermochronology data and zircon provenance data further constrain a landscape evolution model for the Mount Painter and Mount Babbage inliers in the northern Flinders Ranges, affecting the mineral systems models. The AEM data and subsequent interpretation comprehensively remap palaeovalley systems in the southern Lake Frome area and point to the potential for new uranium discoveries in New South Wales adjoining the survey area to the east. The data provide a new understanding of the interaction between range-bounding fault systems and the Mesozoic and Cenozoic stratigraphy around the northern Flinders Ranges and new insights for sandstone-hosted uranium systems models for this area. New palaeodrainage systems to the north of the Flinders Ranges, associated with sandstone-hosted uranium discoveries, have also been interpreted from the AEM data The Frome AEM Survey dataset maps critical features of sandstone-hosted uranium mineral systems, geological surfaces and depth of cover to ~300 m. By providing a regional framework for mineral explorers, the results reduce exploration risk by showing where AEM is effective and what it responds to, and also allows mineral explorers to merge their own tenement scale exploration results and high resolution ground EM or AEM surveys and place them in a regional context.