AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Glaciomorphological features on the East Antarctic Davis and Mawson Sea continental shelves - First results from Polarstern Expedition PS141

The RV Polarstern Expedition PS141 (06.02 – 14.04.2024), entitled "East Antarctic Ice Sheet Instability and its interaction with changes in Southern Ocean circulation - Part 3 (EASI-3)", was the third of the EASI expeditions that aim to investigate ocean–ice sheet interactions along the East Antarctic margin on different timescales. East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) fluctuations directly impact global sea level and ocean circulation. Studies on long-term ice sheet variability have so far mainly focused on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Therefore, very little is known about EAIS’s response to past climate fluctuations, especially its interplay with oceanic processes along the continental margin directly offshore the deep and vulnerable Aurora subglacial basin.

The target region of the expedition were the Davis and Mawson Sea continental shelves between 85°E and 115°E, off the ice margin of Wilhelm II to Wilkes Land. Continuous multibeam bathymetry and sediment echography surveys of this largely unexplored area was one of the main objectives of the expedition. In total, we collected more than 7500 nm of hydroacoustic data on this expedition. The data reveal a wealth of sediment transport features from the upper continental slope towards a variety of glacial landscapes on the shelf, including iceberg scours, mega-scale glacial lineations, subglacial lakes, and grounding zone wedges. Detailed mapping of these features will help to reconstruct ice sheet dynamics in this area. Here we present some first preliminary results of the expedition.



Abstract presented at the 2nd International Conference on Seafloor Landforms, Processes and Evolution, Italy 2024.

Tags: Antarctic Geoscience, Antarctica, EAIS, EASI-3, Ice Sheet, Marine Geoscience, Published_External, Sea Level, Seabed Mapping, Southern Ocean, conference material
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Benthic Foraminifera as Environmental Indicators in Torres Strait - Gulf of Papua: In Todd, B.J., and Greene, H.G., eds., Mapping the Seafloor for Habitat Characterization

Three areas in the Torres Strait-Gulf of Papua region were selected for detailed study of sediments and benthic fossil biota. These areas form a transect across the shelf from the Fly River Delta to the shelf edge, near the northern extremity of the Great Barrier Reef. The Torres Strait-Gulf of Papua shelf is a shallow, low-gradient platform, where the shelf edge occurs between 120 and 140 m depth. In the study area, where the sediments range from muddy to gravelly carbonate sands, the sediment deposition rates are low and the relict content of sediment is often high. 

The three areas show distinct differences in benthic foraminiferal assemblages as indicated by relative abundances at the order level, as well as distribution patterns of individual species; these differences are also reflected in the total microbiotic communities. Given the high relict content in the surface material across these sites, a foraminiferal preservation scale was developed to assess the extent of reworking. Taphonomic features indicate that abrasion is the main factor affecting preservation.

Despite poor preservation of the foraminiferal tests, the benthic foraminiferal species have a strong correlation to water depth, indicating that transportation pathways are short. Application of multivariate statistics to analyze the relationship between environmental attributes and the distributions of the microbiota and foraminiferal species indicates the additional importance of factors including percent carbonate mud, percent gravel, organic carbon flux, temperature, salinity and mean grain size. The benthic foraminifera produce a much stronger correlation to the environmental variables than the microbiota, indicating that these organisms can provide a detailed assessment of habitat types.

Tags: AU-QLD, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Monograph, Published_External, continental shelf, habitat, marine, palaeontology, seabed, sedimentology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Continental shelf drift deposit indicates non-steady state Antarctic bottom water production in the Holocene

A late Quaternay, current-lain sediment drift deposit over 30 metres in thickness has been discovered on the continental shelf of East Antarctica in an 850 metre deep glacial trough off George Vth Land. Radiocarbon dating indicates that a period of rapid deposition on the drift occurred in the mid-Holocene, between about 3 000 and 5 000 years before present.

Tags: AQ, Antarctic data, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Southwest Margin Surveys Completed

Two significant offshore data acquisition surveys along Western Australia's continental margin (AusGeo News 92) were recently completed by Geoscience Australia. They form part of the agency's ongoing collection of fundamental pre-competitive data and information to understand Australia's offshore frontier basins, and assist with planning and management of Australia's marine environments.

Tags: AUSGeo News Article, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, marine, marine survey
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
A Survey of the Macrocystis pyrifera (L.) C. Agardh Stocks on the East Coast of Tasmania, 1986

A survey of the east Tasmanian coastline from Musselroe Bay to South East Cape revealed a total of 10 km2 of Macrocystis pyrifera (Linnaeus) C. Agardh 1820 kelp forest. Average harvestable quantities based on Alginates (Australia) Company records (1965-72) show that cropping can expect to yield 5 ton/acre or 1.23 kg/m2. This realizes a total of 12,300 tonne available on the East Coast of Tasmania in 1986. Review of past records show fluctuations in total amounts harvested, due possibly to factors such as high oceanic water temperatures with subsequent low nutrient concentrations and storm damage.

The survey was conducted from a light aeroplane. Areas of Macrocystis pyrifera beds were marked on 1:100,000 topographical land tenure maps using landmarks as references. Digitising of bed outlines on maps was done using Mapinfo.

Weight of Macrocystis per unit area is also estimated from quadrats harvested at a number of sites along the coast.

Tags: ECOLOGY Community, ECOLOGY Ecosystem, ECOLOGY Habitat, FISHERIES Marine, FLORA Native, MARINE Biology, MARINE Coasts, MARINE Reefs, Macrocystis pyrifera, Temperate Reef, VEGETATION Floristic, VEGETATION Structural
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Australian National Offshore Wells Data Collection

Geoscience Australia houses one of the world's largest collections of petroleum data. Much of this data is non-confidential and available to the petroleum industry, research organisations and the public. 

The collection includes well data submitted by industry under legislative requirements as well as data collected by research projects and marine surveys undertaken by Geoscience Australia or other government agencies or institutions. 

The collections comprise of digital data such as well completion reports, well logs, destructive analysis reports, vertical seismic profiles, core photography, special studies and also hard-copy well log data and graphs submitted during the pre-digital era. 

Value:  information related to the subsurface that have the potential to support geological investigations and assessment of a variety of resources. 

This data can be discovered through the National Offshore Petroleum Information Management System (NOPIMS) - https://www.ga.gov.au/nopims

Tags: DC2020, EARTH SCIENCES, GIS Dataset, HVC - High Value Collection, National, Offshore Wells, Petroleum Exploration, Petroleum Geology, Published_External, Well completion reports, Well logs, {0}
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Geoscience Australia Marine Data WCS

This web service contains marine geospatial data held by Geoscience Australia. It includes bathymetry and backscatter gridded data plus derived layers, bathymetry coverage information, bathmetry collection priority and planning areas, marine sediment data and other derived products. It also contains the 150 m and optimal resolution bathymetry, 5 m sidescan sonar (SSS) and synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) data collected during phase 1 and 2 marine surveys conducted by the Governments of Australia, Malaysia and the People's Republic of China for the search of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean. This web service allows exploration of the seafloor topography through the compilation of multibeam sonar and other marine datasets acquired.

Tags: AusSeabed, Earth Sciences, Ecological Applications, Environmental Science and Management, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geophysics, Indian Ocean, Oceanography, Other Earth Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience, Published_External, WCS, backscatter, bathymetry, geomorphology, mapping, marine, multibeam, seabed, sediments, web service
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Australian Bathymetry and Topography WMS

The Australian Bathymetry and Topography web service includes the topography of Australia and the bathymetry of the adjoining Australian Exclusive Economic Zone. The area selected does not include data from Australia's marine jurisdiction offshore from the Territory of Heard and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory. The 2009 bathymetry data were compiled by Geoscience Australia from multibeam and single beam data, and along with the topography (onshore) data, was derived from multiple sources. As per the 2005 grid, the 0.0025 dd resolution is only supported where direct bathymetric observations are sufficiently dense (e.g. where swath bathymetry data or digitised chart data exist) (Webster and Petkovic, 2005). In areas where no sounding data are available (in waters off the Australian shelf), the grid is based on the 2 arc minute ETOPO (Smith and Sandwell, 1997) and 1 arc minute ETOPO (Amante and Eakins, 2008) satellite derived bathymetry. The topographic data (onshore data) is based on the revised Australian 0.0025dd topography grid (Geoscience Australia, 2008), the 0.0025dd New Zealand topography grid (Geographx, 2008) and the 90m SRTM DEM (Jarvis et al, 2008).

Tags: Australia, Earth Sciences, Published_External, WMS, baselines, bathymetry, marine, oceans, topography, web service
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
RV Investigator Voyage IN2014_E04 EM710 Multibeam Echosounder Data

This record describes multibeam echosounder data collected on RV Investigator voyage IN2014_E04 which departed Hobart on the 26 Nov 2014 and returned to Hobart on the 28 Nov 2014. 
The Kongsberg EM710 multibeam echosounder was used to acquire seafloor bathymetry and backscatter information East of Hobart. 
Ping rate varied according to depth. Data are stored in *.all raw format at CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere. There are 50 files totalling  4.89 GB of raw data in this dataset. 
Sound velocity profiles were applied to this data during data acquisition. Tide corrections were not applied to the processed data.
Processed data are available in XYZ and GSF format. Additional information regarding this dataset is contained in the GSM data acquisition and processing report. Additional data products available on request.

Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
The relationship between sediment and water quality and riverine sediment loads in the wave-dominated estuaries of southwest Western Australia

We examine surface sediment and water column total nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations for 12 estuaries with average water depths &lt;4 m, and calculated sediment loads ranging from 0.2 to 10.8 kg m-2 year-1. Sediment total nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon concentrations vary inversely with sediment loads due to: (i) the influx of more mineral-rich sediment into the estuaries; and (ii) increasing sediment sulfidation. Sediment total organic carbon (TOC) : total sulfur (TS) and TS : Fe(II) ratios correlated to sediment loads because enhanced sedimentation increases burial, hence the importance of sulfate reduction in organic matter degradation. Curvilinear relationships were found between a weathering index and organic matter 13C in sediment, and sediment load. The rising phase of the curve (increasing weathering, lighter isotopic values) at low to intermediate loads relates to soil erosion, whereas regolith or bedrock erosion probably explains the declining phase of the curve (decreasing weathering, heavier isotopic values) at higher sediment loads. The pattern of change for water column total nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) with sediment loads is similar to that of the weathering index. Most water quality problems occur in association with soil erosion, and at sediment loads that are intermediate for the estuaries studied. Limited evidence is presented that flushing can moderate the impact of sediment loads upon the estuaries.

Tags: AU-WA, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, coasts, erosion, geochemistry, marine, water resources
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Oil and Gas Pipelines of Australia

This data set contains information on Oil and Gas pipeline infrastructure. This dataset has been converted from Microstation format used in a map "Petroleum Exploration and Development Titles" published annually in APRIL. Attributes have been added to comply with data standards and minor coding of line work has been achieved using annotation from the map. Further data has been added, specifically for the specific Acreage Release Areas.

Tags: AU, National dataset, Petroleum Data, Petroleum and Coal Geology, Published_External, Wells, dataset, hydrocarbons, marine, natural gas
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
The Influence of Geomorphology and Sedimentary Processes on Shallow-water Benthic Habitat Distribution: Esperance Bay, Western Australia

The mapping of seabed environments is fundamental to successful fisheries management and environmental monitoring, however, there is an emerging need to better characterise habitats based upon appropriate physical parameters. In this study, relationships between seabed geomorphology and the distribution of benthic habitats were examined using multibeam sonar, underwater video, predicted wave energy, and sediment data for Esperance Bay, part of the Recherche Archipelago. This shallow (&lt;50 m), high energy, biogenic sediment dominated environment is located in temperate southwestern Australia. Exposure to wave energy appears to determine the distribution of unconsolidated substrate, and is the most useful regional scale predictor of rhodolith and seagrass habitats. Although they are intermittently smothered by mobile sediments, limestone reefs provide habitat for a wide range of sessile organisms, even in very high wave exposure environments. The distribution of rhodolith beds is related to poorly sorted sediments that contain high gravel, mud, and CaCO3 percentages. Our results reveal that in the Recherche Archipelago, wave abrasion coupled with localised sediment transport and accumulation play a major role in increasing the diversity of inner shelf benthic habitats. This highlights the value of assessing geomorphic processes in order to better understand the distribution and structure of benthic habitats.

Tags: AU-WA, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, carbonate, marine, sedimentology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Still images from Voyage Marine Science (2010/11 VMS) to Mertz Glacier Region

The Marine Science voyage (VMS) was conducted on the Aurora Australis between 4 January 2011 and 6 February 2011. The voyage incorporated oceanographic measurements along the CLIVAR SR3 Transect and around the Mertz Glacier region. Underwater still images were collected from 93 sites ranging in depth from 170 m to 2300 m across George V shelf in East Antarctica. The camera equipment was designed and operated by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) marine science support team. The camera was attached to either the CTD frame or the beam trawl frame and lowered to 4-5 m from the seafloor and held in position for 2-15 minutes. All still images were stamped with UTC time. Stations were named according to the frame (e.g. CTD or BT), the sequence number of that particular frame (e.g. CTD53), followed by the instrument used (e.g. CAM for camera) and then the deployment number. For example, BT5_CAM16 was the fifth deployment using the beam trawl frame and the sixteenth camera deployment of the survey overall. For further information please refer to the post-survey report (GA Record 2011/xx - Geocat #71668)

Tags: Earth Sciences, HVC_144640, Multimedia, Published_External, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Geoscience Australia Science Principles

This Science Principles document sets out the six principles that underpin Geoscience Australia's scientific activities. They describe how Geoscience Australia does science. These principles form part of, and are embedded into, our long-term strategic planning and day-to-day operations. 

The principles reflect the fact that:
  - Our reputation and effectiveness depend on the timely delivery of outputs that meet client needs; and 
  - our agency provides leadership in a range of geoscientific domains to ensure that such information is trusted, broadly used and valued.

The six Science Principles are:
  1. Relevance to Government 
  2. Collaborative science 
  3. Quality science 
  4. Transparent science 
  5. Communicated science 
  6. Sustained science capability.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Heron Island Wind From 02 Dec 2008

The 'Wireless Sensor Networks Facility' (formerly known as Facility for The Automated Intelligent Monitoring of Marine Systems (FAIMMS)), part of the Great Barrier Reef Ocean Observing System project (GBROOS), is a facility of the Australian 'Integrated Marine Observing System' (IMOS) project. This data set was collected by the Great Barrier Reef Wireless Sensor Network.

Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Upper Triassic spongiomorph and coral association dredged off the northwestern Australian shelf

Upper Triassic corals and spongiomorphs dredged during BMR Cruise 95 from the Rowley Terrace, offshore Canning Basin of northwestern Australia, indicate possible new occurrences of reef facies. These are comparable to counterparts known from the Northern Limestone Alps of central Europe.  A branching spongiomorph, represented by the genus Spongiomorpha sp. and two coral taxa, Pamiroseris rectilamellosa (Winkler) and Retiophyllia tellae (Stoppani), are reported herein. Collectively, these fossils indicate a Late Triassic (Norian- Rhaetian) age. Although different in taxonomic composition, the fauna compares with one previously reported from a Late Triassic ODP reef site (sitc 764) on the Wombat Plateau, some 350 km to the west. The Rowley Terrace occurrences may represent an eastward extension of the Wombat reefs, developed along the rifted margin of Gondwana.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, WA, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction in the Timor Sea 2019

Map showing Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction in the Timor Sea. Updated in December 2019 from "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction in the Timor Sea" (GeoCat 81849 (2014), GeoCat 68796) to reflect the 2018 Australia - Timor-Leste Maritime Boundaries Treaty.

One of the 27 constituent maps of the "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series" (GeoCat 71789).Depicting Australia's continental shelf as proclaimed in the "Seas and Submerged Lands (Limits of Continental Shelf) Proclamation 2012" established under the "Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973".

Background bathymetric image is derived from a combination of the 2009 9 arc second bathymetric and topographic grid by GA and a grid by Smith and Sandwell, 1997. Background land imagery derived from Blue Marble, NASA's Earth Observatory.

This map is indicative only of the location of the territorial sea baselines and the outer limits of Australia's maritime zones, and should NOT be used as a definitive source of information.  Some limits may be subject to change.

Tags: Administrative Boundaries, Administrative Boundary, Earth Sciences, Published_External, Thematic Map, bathymetry, marine, marine jurisdiction
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Hydrocarbon Families of the NW Shelf: A Regional Synthesis of the Molecular and Isotopic Composition of Oils and Gases

Petroleum accumulations have been discovered in the Bonaparte, Browse and Carnarvon basins over the last fifty years. However, a regional synthesis of the geochemistry of these North West Shelf hydrocarbons has not been published. To address this, we document the biomarker and isotopic analyses of ~300 North West Shelf oils/condensate samples that have been statistically characterised into genetically related families. Additionally, carbon and hydrogen isotopic signatures of ~50 gas samples, together with existing molecular data for ~1000 gas samples, show regional trends in wetness and abundance of non-combustible gases.

These petroleum accumulations can be attributed to source rocks of Early Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, and Early Cretaceous age; however, most economic oil and gas accumulations are sourced from Mesozoic (Triassic–Jurassic) sediments. The oils produced from the Bonaparte (Vulcan Sub-basin, northern Bonaparte) and Carnarvon (Dampier, Barrow and Exmouth sub-basins) basins are geochemically similar, being sourced from Late Jurassic marine rift-fill sediments (lower Vulcan Formation/Dingo Claystone) that contain variable amounts of terrigenous (particularly gymnosperm-derived) organic matter. Variations in their biomarker signatures can be explained by maturity differences, multiple charging and secondary alteration processes. Gas produced from the northern Rankin Platform is predominantly sourced from Triassic–Jurassic fluvio-deltaic sediments. Proven and potential supergiant and giant gas accumulations occur in the deepwater areas of the North West Shelf. Case studies focussing on the geochemistry of the outer Browse (Scott Reef trend) and Carnarvon (deepwater Exmouth Plateau and Rankin Platform) gas accumulations will be presented with emphasis on their &delta;13C  and &delta;2H isotopic signatures.

Presented at the 2006 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition

Tags: Bonaparte Basin, Browse Basin, EARTH SCIENCES, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Published_External, Timor Leste, biomarker, hydrocarbon, isotopes, oils and gases
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
RV Investigator Voyage IN2015_V02 Underway UWY Data

This record describes Underway (UWY) data collected from the Marine National Facility RV Investigator Voyage IN2015_V02. This is the second research voyage for the RV Investigator departing Sydney on the 15th May and arriving in Brisbane on the 26th May,  2015. 

Standard Underway data is continuously recorded (refer to Attributes Overview):
(1) NAV: Navigation data: (dual GPS) Latitude, Longitude, Speed, Heading, course over ground, Gyros, and Doppler Log. 
(2) TSG: Thermosalinograph: Water Salinity, flow-rate, Temperature, Fluorescence, and pCO2. 
(3) MET: Atmospheric (port and starboard): Humidity, Wind speed and direction (vane and ultrasonic),  Radiometer, Pyranometer, PAR, Air temperature, Air pressure, Optical Rain, Ozone and Trace gases. 

Data are recorded at 5 second intervals. Near  real-time data is available via the link below. This dataset will be processed and archived within the  CSIRO Oceans &amp; Atmosphere Data Centre in Hobart. Data is available in 5sec intervals in NetCDF, 10 sec and 5 min intervals in ascii format.
Additional information regarding this dataset is contained in the cruise report for this voyage and/or the data processing report.

Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network