Australia's Land Borders is a product within the Foundation Spatial Data Framework (FSDF) suite of datasets. It is endorsed by the ANZLIC – the Spatial Information Council and the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) as the nationally consistent representation of the land borders as published by the Australian states and territories. It is topologically correct in relation to published jurisdictional land borders and the Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF). The purpose of this product is to provide: (i) a building block which enables development of other national datasets; (ii) integration with other geospatial frameworks in support of data analysis; and (iii) visualisation of these borders as cartographic depiction on a map. Although this service depicts land borders, it is not nor does it suggests to be a legal definition of these borders. Therefore it cannot and must not be used for those use-cases pertaining to legal context.

Australia's Land Borders is a product within the Foundation Spatial Data Framework (FSDF) suite of datasets. It is endorsed by the ANZLIC – the Spatial Information Council and the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) as the nationally consistent representation of the land borders as published by the Australian states and territories. It is topologically correct in relation to published jurisdictional land borders and the Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF). The purpose of this product is to provide: (i) a building block which enables development of other national datasets; (ii) integration with other geospatial frameworks in support of data analysis; and (iii) visualisation of these borders as cartographic depiction on a map. Although this service depicts land borders, it is not nor does it suggests to be a legal definition of these borders. Therefore it cannot and must not be used for those use-cases pertaining to legal context.

<div>The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) World Heritage Area and adjacent Coral Sea Marine Park are under serious threat from global climate change. This study used sea surface temperature (SST) data to identify major marine heatwaves (MHWs) occurring in this region over the last three decades (1992–2022) and to map significant MHW events that have occurred between 2015 and2022. We investigated the mechanisms of the MHWs and identified potential coral refugia. MHWs in this region have increased in frequency, intensity and spatial extent. El Niño, especially when it is in phase with positive Indian Ocean Dipole, was the key remote driver leading to intense MHWs. However, the more recent strong MHWs (e.g., 2017 and 2022) occurred without these climatic events, signifying the impacts of long-term climate change and local drivers. We also found that reduced wind speed and shoaling mixed layer depth, often together with reduced cloudiness, were the main local drivers pre-conditioning these MHWs.&nbsp;Anomalous air-sea heat flux into the ocean, mainly controlled by shortwave solar radiation (cloudiness) and latent heat flux (wind), was the most constant contributor to the 2015–16 and 2019–20 MHW events. However, local oceanographic dynamics, especially horizontal advection and turbulent mixing, played important roles in MHW heat budgets. This study confirmed that shallow-water coral bleaching severity was positively related to the cumulative MHW intensity in these two MHWs. We identified the shallow reefs along the path of the North Queensland Current as potential coral refugia from bleaching because of the cooler waters upwelled from the ocean current. We also found that, except during abnormal weather events such as tropical cyclones, the mesophotic reefs in the Coral Sea Marine Park may be less susceptible to severe bleaching as the MHWs are more confined within the shallow mixed layer.</div> Presented at the 30th Conference of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) 2024

<div>The iconic Great Barrier Reef (GBR) World Heritage Area and adjacent Coral Sea Marine Park are under serious threat from global climate change. Given the increase in the frequency, intensity and severity of mass coral bleaching events associated with marine heatwaves (MHWs) in this region it is essential that we improve our understanding of the drivers and mechanisms underlying&nbsp;MHWs and the extent to which they impact both shallow and deeper coral reef ecosystems. This study used coarse-resolution and high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) data to identify all major MHWs occurring in the GBR and Coral Sea region over the last three decades (1992-2022) and map significant MHW events over the past seven years (2015-2022), respectively. We then investigated the mechanisms of these MHWs in relation to both remote and local drivers through statistical and heat budget analyses. Finally, we identified potential coral reef refugia in this region using aerial-survey coral bleaching data and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) images, and examined their underlying mechanisms using ocean model and <em>in-situ</em> oceanographic data. The results confirmed that MHWs in this region indeed increased in frequency, intensity and extent over the past three decades. El Niño, especially when it is in phase with positive Indian Ocean Dipole, was found to be the key remote driver leading to significant MHWs. However, the more recent strong MHWs also tend to occur without these climatic events, signifying the impacts of long-term climate change. We also found that reduced wind speed and shoaling mixed layer depth, often together with reduced cloudiness, which can occur with or without the influence of remote drivers, were the main local drivers pre-conditioning these MHWs.&nbsp;Anomalous air-sea heat flux into the ocean, which is mainly controlled by shortwave solar radiation (cloudiness) and latent heat flux (wind), was the most constant contributor to the 2015-16 and 2019-20 MHW events. However, local oceanographic dynamics, especially horizontal advection and turbulent mixing, played important roles in local MHW heat budgets. Importantly, this study confirms that shallow-water coral bleaching severity was indeed positively related to the cumulative MHW intensity in the 2015-16 and 2019-20 MHWs. We identified the shallow reefs in the northern GBR along the path of the North Queensland Current as potential coral reef refugia from bleaching because of the up to 2 oC thermal relief that the ocean current provides. We also found that, except during abnormal weather events such as tropical cyclones, the mesophotic reefs in the Coral Sea Marine Park may also act as potential coral reef refugia from bleaching because of the thermal protection provided by the shallow mixed layer depth.</div><div> <b>Citation:</b> Zhi Huang, Ming Feng, Steven J. Dalton, Andrew G. Carroll, Marine heatwaves in the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea: their mechanisms and impacts on shallow and mesophotic coral ecosystems, <i>Science of The Total Environment</i>, Volume 908, 2024, 168063, ISSN 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168063.

Australia's Land Borders is a product within the Foundation Spatial Data Framework (FSDF) suite of datasets. It is endorsed by the ANZLIC - the Spatial Information Council and the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) as a nationally consistent and topologically correct representation of the land borders published by the Australian states and territories. The purpose of this product is to provide: (i) a building block which enables development of other national datasets; (ii) integration with other geospatial frameworks in support of data analysis; and (iii) visualisation of these borders as cartographic depiction on a map. Although this dataset depicts land borders, it is not nor does it suggests to be a legal definition of these borders. Therefore it cannot and must not be used for those use-cases pertaining to legal context. This product is constructed by Geoscience Australia (GA), on behalf of the ICSM, from authoritative open data published by the land mapping agencies in their respective Australian state and territory jurisdictions. Construction of a nationally consistent dataset required harmonisation and mediation of data issues at abutting land borders. In order to make informed and consistent determinations, other datasets were used as visual aid in determining which elements of published jurisdictional data to promote into the national product. These datasets include, but are not restricted to: (i) PSMA Australia's commercial products such as the cadastral (property) boundaries (CadLite) and Geocoded National Address File (GNAF); (ii) Esri's World Imagery and Imagery with Labels base maps; and (iii) Geoscience Australia's GEODATA TOPO 250K Series 3. Where practical, Land Borders do not cross cadastral boundaries and are logically consistent with addressing data in GNAF. It is important to reaffirm that although third-party commercial datasets are used for validation, which is within remit of the licence agreement between PSMA and GA, no commercially licenced data has been promoted into the product. Australian Land Borders are constructed exclusively from published open data originating from state, territory and federal agencies. This foundation dataset consists of edges (polylines) representing mediated segments of state and/or territory borders, connected at the nodes and terminated at the coastline defined as the Mean High Water Mark (MHWM) tidal boundary. These polylines are attributed to convey information about provenance of the source. It is envisaged that land borders will be topologically interoperable with the future national coastline dataset/s, currently being built through the ICSM coastline capture collaboration program. Topological interoperability will enable closure of land mass polygon, permitting spatial analysis operations such as vector overly, intersect, or raster map algebra. In addition to polylines, the product incorporates a number of well-known survey-monumented corners which have historical and cultural significance associated with the place name. This foundation dataset is constructed from the best-available data, as published by relevant custodian in state and territory jurisdiction. It should be noted that some custodians - in particular the Northern Territory and New South Wales - have opted out or to rely on data from abutting jurisdiction as an agreed portrayal of their border. Accuracy and precision of land borders as depicted by spatial objects (features) may vary according to custodian specifications, although there is topological coherence across all the objects within this integrated product. The guaranteed minimum nominal scale for all use-cases, applying to complete spatial coverage of this product, is 1:25 000. In some areas the accuracy is much better and maybe approaching cadastre survey specification, however, this is an artefact of data assembly from disparate sources, rather than the product design. As the principle, no data was generalised or spatially degraded in the process of constructing this product. Some use-cases for this product are: general digital and web map-making applications; a reference dataset to use for cartographic generalisation for a smaller-scale map applications; constraining geometric objects for revision and updates to the Mesh Blocks, the building blocks for the larger regions of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) framework; rapid resolution of cross-border data issues to enable construction and visual display of a common operating picture, etc. This foundation dataset will be maintained at irregular intervals, for example if a state or territory jurisdiction decides to publish or republish their land borders. If there is a new version of this dataset, past version will be archived and information about the changes will be made available in the change log.

Australia's Land Borders is a product within the Foundation Spatial Data Framework (FSDF) suite of datasets. It is endorsed by the ANZLIC – the Spatial Information Council and the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) as the nationally consistent representation of the land borders as published by the Australian states and territories. It is topologically correct in relation to published jurisdictional land borders and the Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF). The purpose of this product is to provide: (i) a building block which enables development of other national datasets; (ii) integration with other geospatial frameworks in support of data analysis; and (iii) visualisation of these borders as cartographic depiction on a map. Although this service depicts land borders, it is not nor does it suggests to be a legal definition of these borders. Therefore it cannot and must not be used for those use-cases pertaining to legal context.