AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Using Himawari-8 SST data for the investigation of highly dynamic oceanographic phenomena

The high frequency (10 min) and resolution (~2km) of Himawari-8 data provides an enormous opportunity for the monitoring and investigation of highly dynamic oceanographic phenomena. This presentation aims to demonstrate the value of himawari-8 SST data for studies of the Bonney Coast upwelling, East Australian Current (EAC) and Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) diurnal SST (dSST) variations. During the 2016–17 summer, we identified three distinct upwelling events along the Bonney Coast. Each event surpassed its predecessor in area of influence, minimum temperature and duration. The EAC’s mapped between July 2015 and Sept 2017 showed clear seasonal and intra-seasonal variations. During summer, the EAC and its extension frequently encroached into the coastal areas of northern NSW and eastern Tasmania. A composite analysis based on MJO phases during the summer seasons of 2015–16 and 2016–17 showed that the dSST typically peaked during phases 2 and 3 off the northwest shelf, prior to the onset of the active phases of MJO (phase 4). The analysis indicated that dSST is negatively correlated with the surface wind speed but positively correlated with short-wave latent heat flux. In future, these monitoring and analytical capabilities can be effectively implemented in Geoscience Australia’s Digital Earth Australia platform.

Abstract submitted/presented to 2019 Australian Marine science Association AMSA Conference (https://www.amsa.asn.au/2019-fremantle)

Tags: EARTH SCIENCES, Published_External, Remote Sensing, SST, oceanography
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
MODIS Derived Chlorophyll a dataset: Seasonal Means

The dataset measures the long-term seasonal means of the chlorophyll a concentrations of ocean surface waters. They are derived from MODIS (aqua) images using NASA's SeaDAS image processing software. The monthly chlorophyll a images between July 2002 and December 2017 are used to calculate the means of the four austral seasons: winter (June, July, and August), spring (September, October and November), summer (December, January and February) and autumn (March, April and May). The extent of the dataset covers the entire Australian EEZ and surrounding waters (including the southern ocean). The unit of the dataset is mg/m3.

This research is supported by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub through Project D1.

Tags: Earth Sciences, MODIS, Marine Biodiversity Hub, National Environmental Science Program, Published_External, chlorophyll
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Geology of the Proterozoic Davenport province, central Australia

The Davenport province, situated between the Proterozoic Tennant Creek Au-Cu- Bi metalliferous province and Arunta Inlier, consists of sedimentary, volcanic and intrusive rocks which are overlapped by flat-lying Palaeozoic sediments of the Georgina and Wiso Basins. The oldest rocks seen are turbiditic sediments and subordinate chert and felsic volcanics of the 1870 Ma-old Warramunga Group. This group, which is exposed only in the north, was folded, weakly metamorphosed, intruded by granite, and eroded before being overlain by the Hatches Creek Group, the main component of the Davenport province. The Hatches Creek Group is a folded sedimentary and bimodal volcanic sequence, at least 10 km thick, comprising three subgroups, twenty formations, and two named members; felsic volcanics in the oldest subgroup were probably erupted 1810-1820 Ma ago. The group is correlated with part of the Tomkinson Creek beds north of Tennant Creek and probably with Division 3 of the Arunta Inlier. The sedimentary rocks include quartz-rich to lithic and feldspathic sandstone, conglomerate, siltstone, finer-grained rocks, and minor carbonates, some of which are stromatolitic. Environments were mainly fluvial (alluvial fan, braided stream, meandering stream) in the lower part of the group and shallow marine (including tidal) in the middle and upper parts. Felsic and mafic volcanism, comagmatic sill emplacement, and probably faulting accompanied sedimentation, which kept pace with subsidence. An extensional ensialic tectonic setting is envisaged. The sequence was deformed, regionally metamorphosed to mainly greenschist facies, and subsequently intruded by 1660 Ma-old granite. The deformation was of thick-skinned type, and involved two episodes of tight, upright, concentric folding. Chemically, the felsic volcanics of the Hatches Creek Group differ from those of the Warramunga Group (which resemble the 1865 Ma-old Leichhardt Volcanics in the Mount Isa Inlier) in having higher contents of Ti, P, Th, U and especially Zr, Nb and Y, and lower Ca, AI, Sr and V. The mafic volcanics of the Hatches Creek Group are continental tholeiites. Geophysical data show that the younger granites of the province correspond to marked gravity lows; that units within the Hatches Creek Group can be traced in the subsurface using contoured aeromagnetics; and that the felsic igneous rocks are moderately radioactive. Mineralisation is largely restricted to the lower part of the Hatches Creek Group, where there are quartz veins with wolframite and scheelite probably related to granite intrusions, and auriferous quartz veins that may have formed during regional metamorphism. Total recorded production amounts to about 4500 t tungsten concentrates, mainly from the Hatches Creek and Wauchope tungsten fields, and 15 kg gold. Small quantities of copper, silver-lead, bismuth, and uranium have also been mined.

Tags: AU-NT, Bulletin, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, geology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Australian Bathymetry and Topography WCS

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, WCS, baselines, bathymetry, marine, oceans, topography, web service
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Heavy mineral deposits of the North Coast beaches

The principal heavy mineral deposits occur along the stretch of beaches from Ballina to Tweed Heads, in northern New South Wales, though lesser, but still commercial, accumulations are known at least as far south as Coff's Harbour, and north to Southport in Queensland. Beaches at Yamba, Wooli, and at Fingal have been worked out by Porter and Derrick, the principal producers. This report gives an overview of mineral occurrence, and the formation, composition, and origin of the deposits.

Tags: AU-NSW, AU-QLD, GA Publication, Geology, Published_External, Record, coasts, marine, mineral deposits
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction off the Australian Antarctic Territory (East)

Map showing Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction off the eastern portion of the Australian Antarctic Territory.
One of the 27 constituent maps of the "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series" (GeoCat 71789).
Depicting Australia's extended continental shelf approved by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in April 2008 and various maritime zones.  Background bathymetric image is derived from a  grid by Smith and Sandwell, 1997. Background land imagery derived from Blue Marble, NASA's Earth Observatory.
A0 sized .pdf downloadable from the web.

Tags: AQ, Administrative Boundary, Earth Sciences, Published_External, Thematic Map, administrative boundaries, bathymetry, continental shelf, marine jurisdiction
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
New Palaeogeographic Maps of the northern margins of the Australian plate - Updated report

A variety of alternative reconstructions are considered for the northern margins of the Australian plate. The simplest solution involves Hall's (2002) configuration for the microplates  in the Greater Birds Head. Prior to the early Permian, the Greater Birds Head is thought to have lain adjacent to northern Australia from Timor to the Kai islands. After Meso-Tethys breakup in the Sakmarian, it then rotated away during the Permian to Middle Triassic to form the proto-Banda Sea and the spreading centre was then abandoned. From the Middle Triassic to the Oligocene, the Greater Birds Head was probably a relatively stable promontory of northern Australia and was then fragmented, tectonised and incorporated into the SE Asian island arc system during the late Oligocene to Holocene.

The palaeogeographic maps are updated to incorporate these new plate models. The tectonostratigraphic evolution of northern Australia is divided into several phases. During the Carboniferous to Sakmarian pre-breakup phase, the Westralian Superbasin was characterised by rifting, deltas and various types of glacial sedimentation. After the Sakmarian Meso-Tethys breakup, there were large amounts of deltaic clastic sedimentation, lasting until Argoland drifted away in the Late Jurassic. The New England Orogeny overlapped with the first part of this phase on the NE margin until the Middle Triassic. There was a long period of post-breakup marine rift basin formation in NW Australia from the Oxfordian to the Valanginian. Indian Ocean breakup then led to rapid thermal subsidence. The rest of the Cretaceous was characterised by passive tectonics with largely fine-grained sedimentation on the NW margin, and increasing volcanicity and rifting on the NE side of the continent. Shifting areas of rifting and breakup, largely in a backarc setting affected the NE margins in the latest Cretaceous to early Eocene. Carbonate progradation started in the Westralian Superbasin in the Paleocene. The Eocene to Holocene history has been marked by passive carbonate progradation on the NW margin and multiple collisions in the N and NE.

Many of the tectonic models put forward in this study are very difficult to substantiate using the data currently available and alternative scenarios are a strong possibility. The way forward is now to formulate research programmes that would help to narrow down these alternatives and better document the history of this very complex margin.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Report
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction in the Torres Strait

Map showing Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction in the Torres Strait. 
One of the 27 constituent maps of the "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series" (GeoCat 71789).
Depicting Australia's extended continental shelf approved by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in April 2008, treaties and various maritime zones. Background bathymetric Image made from data collected from research vessels and/or derived from satellite imagery.
A0 sized .pdf downloadable from the web.

Tags: AU-QLD, Administrative Boundary, Earth Sciences, Published_External, Thematic Map, administrative boundaries, bathymetry, marine, marine jurisdiction
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Deep-sea bio-physical variables as surrogates for biological assemblages, an example from the Lord Howe Rise

Deep sea environments occupy much of the sea floor, yet little is known about diversity patterns of biological assemblages from these environments. Physical mapping technologies and their availability are increasing rapidly. Sampling deep-sea biota over vast areas of the deep sea, however, is time consuming, difficult, and costly. Consequently, the growing need to manage and conserve marine resources, particularly deep sea areas that are sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance and change, is leading the promotion of physical data as surrogates to predict biological assemblages.  However, few studies have directly examined the predictive ability of these surrogates. The physical environment and biological assemblages were surveyed for two adjacent areas - the western flank of Lord Howe Rise (LHR) and the Gifford Guyot - spanning combined water depths of 250 to 2,200 m depth on the northern part of the LHR, in the southern Pacific Ocean. Multibeam acoustic surveys were used to generate large-scale geomorphic classification maps that were superimposed over the study area. Forty two towed-video stations were deployed across the area capturing 32 hours of seabed video, 6,229 still photographs, that generated 3,413 seabed characterisations of physical and biological variables. In addition, sediment and biological samples were collected from 36 stations across the area. The northern Lord Howe Rise was characterised by diverse but sparsely distributed faunas for both the vast soft-sediment environments as well as the discrete rock outcrops. Substratum type and depth were the main variables correlated with benthic assemblage composition. Soft-sediments were characterised by low to moderate levels of bioturbation, while rocky outcrops supported diverse but sparse assemblages of suspension feeding invertebrates, such as cold water corals and sponges which in turn supported epifauna, dominated by ophiuroids and crinoids. While deep environments of the LHR flank .

Tags: AU, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, abiotic surrogates, backscatter, geomorphology, marine, marine biodiversity
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Physical Controls on Deep Water Coral Communities on the George V Land Slope, East Antarctica

Dense coral-sponge communities on the upper continental slope at 570 - 950 m off George V Land have been identified as a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem in the Antarctic. The challenge is now to understand their likely distribution. Based on results from the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census survey of 2007/2008, we propose some hypotheses to explain their distribution. Icebergs scour to 500 m in this region and the lack of such disturbance is probably a factor allowing growth of rich benthic ecosystems. In addition, the richest communities are found in the heads of canyons. Two possible oceanographic mechanisms may link abundant filter feeder communities and canyon heads. The canyons in which they occur receive descending plumes of Antarctic Bottom Water formed on the George V shelf and these water masses could entrain abundant food for the benthos. Another possibility is that the canyons harbouring rich benthos are those that cut the shelf break. Such canyons are known sites of high productivity in other areas because of a number of oceanographic factors, including strong current flow and increased mixing with shelf waters, and the abrupt, complex topography. These hypotheses provide a framework for the identification of areas where there is a higher likelihood of encountering these Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems.

Tags: AQ, Abstract, Antarctic data, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, abiotic surrogates, habitat, marine, marine biodiversity
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Community Structure and Benthic Habitats across the George V Shelf, East Antarctica: Trends Through Space and Time

Physical and biological characteristics of benthic communities are analysed from underwater video footage collected across the George V Shelf during the 2007/2008 CEAMARC voyage. Benthic habitats are strongly structured by physical processes operating over a range of temporal and spatial scales. Iceberg scouring recurs over timescales of years to centuries along shallower parts of the shelf, creating communities in various stages of maturity and recolonisation. Upwelling of modified circumpolar deep water (MCDW) onto the outer shelf, and cross-shelf flow of high salinity shelf water (HSSW) create spatial contrasts in nutrient and sediment supply, which are largely reflected in the distribution of deposit and filter feeding communities. Long term cycles in the advance and retreat of icesheets (over millennial scales) and subsequent focussing of sediments in troughs such as the Mertz Drift create patches of consolidated and soft sediments, which also provide distinct habitats for colonisation by different biota. These physical processes of iceberg scouring, current regimes and depositional environments, in addition to water depth, are shown to be important factors in the structure of benthic communities across the George V Shelf. The modern shelf communities mapped in this study largely represent colonisation over the past 8-12ka, following retreat of the icesheet and glaciers at the end of the last glaciation (Harris et al., 2001; IngÃ³lfsson et al., 1998). Recolonisation on this shelf may have occurred from two sources: deep-sea environments, and possible shelf refugia on the Mertz and AdÃ©lie Banks. However, any open shelf area would have been subject to intense iceberg scouring (Beaman and Harris, 2003). Understanding the timescales over which shelf communities have evolved and the physical factors which shape them, will allow better prediction of the distribution of Antarctic shelf communities and their vulnerability to change. This knowledge can aid better management regimes for the Antarctic margin.

Tags: AQ, Antarctic data, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, abiotic surrogates, continental shelf, marine, marine biodiversity
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Helens Rock Bathymetry 2013 (4888/20130019S)

The Helen's Rocky bathymetry survey was acquired by Deakin University Marine Mapping lab onboard the Motor Vessel Yolla over one day in 2013 (27/11) using a Kongsberg EM2040c.

Not to be used for navigational purposes

Tags: AusSeabed, Australia-wide geoscience data, Bass Strait (Great Australian Bight), Bathymetry, EARTH SCIENCES, MV Yolla, Marine, Offshore Mapping, Published_External, Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity, multi-beam echosounders
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Certainty and Stability, Australia Maritime Boundaries in a Changing World

Geoscience Australia has the mandated authority for determining the Australia’s maritime jurisdiction and the framework for managing marine resources including supporting marine planning: <ul>
<li>deliver certainty, stability, predictability and visibility to Australia’s international and domestic boundaries

</li><li>deliver systems that support planning in the maritime jurisdiction

</li><li>support our neighbours in the region to address global priority issues in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
</li></ul>This presentation (May 2025) will communicate the benefits and progress associated with the digital transformation of maritime boundaries both within Australia, under Australian-led international programs and global influence.

Tags: Cartography and digital mapping, Jurisdiction, Maritime boundaries, Ocean governance, Published_External
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
AMSIS Offshore Minerals Legacy WMS

The data contained in this service is not authoritative and has not been updated since 2006. This web service contains the legacy data found in the Australian Marine Spatial Information System (AMSIS) between 2006 and 2015, with a currency date of 2006. To honour the original licensing arrangements with the data holders, only the WMS is available. Users will need to contact the agency responsible for the data to check current validity and spatial precision.

Tags: AMSIS, Australia, Earth Sciences, Offshore Minerals, Published_External, WMS, legacy, web service
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Geoscience Australia Marine Survey 282 Post-Survey Report: Shallow Gas and Benthic Habitat Mapping, Arafura Sea

A range of geophysical indicators have been used to infer the presence of shallow gas in the Arafura Sea.  The existence of shallow gas has been confirmed by the analysis of core material obtained during the survey.  This sampled gas has a microbial origin related to decay of organic matter in Holocene  mud-filled channels.  However, geophysical data indicates that another source of gas exists in deeper parts of the sedimentary section and this gas appears to be migrating up from depth.  Intense pockmark fields (~350/km2) are often developed above the mud-filled channels but they have also been recorded away from these channels.  The development and density of the pockmark fields appears to be related to sea bed sediment type, microbial gas production within the mud-filled channels and supply of fluids from deeper within the sedimentary section.  Correlation of sub-bottom profile data with conventional seismic data also indicates that there are links between deep first-order Proterozoic faults, second-order Jurassic faults and third-order faults to sea bed observed in sub-bottom profiles.  

The detailed sea bed mapping carried out during the survey has also shown correlations between habitat and biodiversity of various benthic fauna.  Areas of high biodiversity and abundance generally correlated with harder substrates. In these areas, sea whips and fans, soft corals, hydroids, crinoids and octocorals were frequently identified, with sessile benthos extending up to ~50cm in height. The extensive areas of soft substrate commonly exhibited low-relief benthos which often covered less than 5% of the surface area. Such areas were also frequently noted for pockmark fields and the general uniformity of the environment.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, environmental, geochemistry, marine, marine survey, natural gas, petroleum geology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Post-cruise Report AGSO Survey 217 : Joint Italian/Australian Marine Geoscience Expedition Aboard the R.V. Tangaroa to the George Vth Land Region of East Antarctica during February-March, 2000 : Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions Project no. 1044, Wilkes Land Glacial History (WEGA)

The geophysical data collected includes a total of 1827 km of multi-channel seismic data and 562 km of Chirper sonar data. A total of 11 gravity cores, 28 piston cores, 18 surface grabs and 11 short trigger cores were collected on the voyage. Water profile (CTD) measurements and water samples were collected at nine stations and seabed bottom photographs were made at 11 stations. The expedition discovered and mapped a shelf sediment drift deposit covering about 400 km2 lying in an &gt;800m deep section of the George Vth basin west of the Mertz Glacier. It is a true "drift" deposit, since these sediments exhibit a depositional architecture indicative of contour-parallel sediment transport. A significant observation is that the drift thins to the north into an acoustically-transparent veneer; this observation implies that the drift is sourced from the outer continental shelf, with sediment being transported landwards, across the shelf and into an 850m deep inner shelf basin.

Tags: AQ, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, geology, geophysics, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data