News
AusSeabed ECOP Election
25 February 2025
Nominations ae now open for an Early Career Ocean Professional (ECOP) to join the AusSeabed Steering Committee.
Steering Committee Nominations open!
13 May 2024
AusSeabed has released a new community guideline to support the standardised acquisition and publication of Sub-bottom Profiler (SBP) data in an Australian context.
New Australian Sub-bottom Profiler Guidelines released
3 November 2023
AusSeabed has released a new community guideline to support the standardised acquisition and publication of Sub-bottom Profiler (SBP) data in an Australian context.
New seabed maps give sneak peek at what lies beneath
18 October 2023
More than 1,500 individual seabed surveys have been combined to give sectors such as marine park management and offshore renewable industries - as well as storm surge modellers - a more comprehensive snapshot of what lies at the bottom of our oceans.
Seabed 2030 and the 120th Anniversary of The General Bathymetric Chart of Oceans (GEBCO)
26 June 2023
Did you celebrate World Ocean Day?
AusSeabed Workshop – Coordinating and Measuring our Seabed Mapping Process
16 June 2023
On 22 June 2023, AusSeabed will be hosting a limited entry, technical workshop to dig into two priority topics relating to seabed mapping data for the Australian region.
New data on the Data Portal: Bathymetry – Survey Multi-resolution service (BETA)
16 June 2023
This multi-resolution service BETA presents individual layer geotiffs combined in a layer group each at designated resolution levels defined by depth bands.
Why we should share data? Unlocking the value of hydrographic data and contributing to the SDGs
13 June 2023
While the AusSeabed community is mostly successful in sharing data, there is still a way to go for true cross-organisation and public data sharing.
A new two-part geomorphology classification scheme to classify and map the seabed
31 May 2023
Maps of seabed geomorphology provide fundamental decision-ready information for ocean planning and the sustainable management of Australia’s rapidly growing ocean economy.
Steering Committee Nominations open!
17 May 2023
Nominations are now open for general membership representatives and an early career ocean professional (ECOP) on the AusSeabed Steering Committee (SC).
AusSeabed webinar
17 March 2023
It’s that time again! Come and join our two hour webinar on 23 March and find out the latest news about efforts in seabed mapping!
Extending mapping efforts along southwest Victoria
10 February 2023
Deakin University’s Marine Mapping Group has recently received funding to continue their mapping efforts in the state of Victoria.
Transit mapping across the Great Southern Ocean; geomorphic insights
10 February 2023
The CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator is southbound on a 47 day voyage led by Geoscience Australia (IN2023_V01) to investigate Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), which plays a critical role in ocean circulation.
Schmidt Ocean Institute awarded Hydrographic Excellence Award for 2021
4 January 2023
Congratulations to the Schmidt Ocean Institute for being awarded the SSSI Hydrography Commission's 2021 Hydrographic Excellence Team Award, in recognition for the 2020-21 RV Falkor Australia campaign.
Coastal Capture WA
4 January 2023
Western Australia is a big place and to put that into context you can fit 10 United Kingdoms within its borders.
HALO voyage shallow-water mapping and vibro-coring capability on RV Investigator
4 January 2023
An international team of researchers recently completed an expedition to the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef, to investigate the enigmatic Halimeda algal bioherms that are found on the outer continental shelf in 20 to 60 m water depth.
First Nations Position Statement
4 January 2023
As a result of the review of the AusSeabed Program, the Steering Committee is committing to actively engage with First Nations Traditional Custodians of Sea Country in-line with a First Nations Position Statement.
A new AusSeabed Strategy
4 January 2023
After three successful years in establishing the AusSeabed Program, the Steering Committee undertook its first significant review of the initiative.
AusSeabed Annual Report highlights
22 December 2022
The 2021/22 financial year was a busy year for AusSeabed and we are excited to share some of our achievements!
RV Investigator maps the far northern Great Barrier Reef
3 November 2022
A transit voyage by CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator to reposition the vessel from Cairns to Darwin (IN2022_T01), was an opportunity to continue multibeam mapping along the far northern Great Barrier Reef continental margin.
Shellharbour - Tharawal (Illawarra South) multi-beam data now available on AusSeabed
21 March 2022
NSW Department of Planning and Environment have recently released 2 and 5m gridded bathymetry and 5m backscatter mosaics from Shellharbour multibeam surveys south of Wollongong in 2017.
AusSeabed achievements during 2020–2021
29 October 2021
AusSeabed is working towards a mapped and accessible Australian seabed.
New report shows the value of seabed mapping
15 October 2021
A new report from Deloitte has found that seabed mapping data directly contributed $9 billion to our economy and employed over 56,000 FTE in 2018-19.
AusSeabed is looking for an early career representative!
12 October 2021
To recognise the unique perspective early career ocean professionals (ECOP) can bring to AusSeabed governance, we would like to open a new position for an ECOP to sit on the AusSeabed steering committee.
Online now! 2021 AusSeabed webinar and annual workshop
6 October 2021
The 2021 AusSeabed webinar and annual workshop is online now!
QAX: An Innovative Tool for Quality Assurance in Ocean Mapping
26 August 2021
An open-source project – jointly steered by AusSeabed, NOAA OCS and UNH CCOM – has recently released the first version of QAX, an innovative tool to facilitate quality assurance of seabed mapping data.
AusSeabed 2021 August Seminar and Workshop
13 July 2021
AusSeabed is a community led Australian seabed mapping initiative that is working to improve the awareness, coverage, quality, discoverability and accessibility of seabed mapping data in the Australian marine estate.
AusSeabed Steering Committee Election: Nominations open May 10th
3 May 2021
AusSeabed are looking to engage members of the seabed community to sit on our Steering Committee! This will give you the opportunity to shape the development of a national data collaboration, that is actively influencing Australian policy and the development of the blue economy.
Schmidt Ocean Institute’s RV Falkor New Year voyage maps over 40,000 square km
21 April 2021
The Schmidt Ocean Institute’s year-long series of RV Falkor expeditions within Australia’s waters continued with another successful expedition to the northern Tasman Sea and Coral Sea Marine Park.
The United Nations Decade for Ocean Science
21 April 2021
The event highlighted why Australia should invests in Ocean Decade activities at a government, industry and individual level.
ARDC funding AusSeabed project
4 December 2020
The AusSeabed program has been awarded an Australian Research Data Commons Platform Grant to realise a new project, Global Multi-Resolution Topography (GMRT) for Australian coastal and ocean models.
Celebrating 100 Years of Hydrography
19 November 2020
100 years ago movies were still silent, Model-T’s were the most popular car and the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) was established as the Australian Hydrographic Service under the Royal Australian Navy.
New Detached Reef!
19 November 2020
At 10:00 on the 22nd of October, the crew on board the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Falkor discovered and mapped a new Detached Reef. This new reef rises about 500 m in vertical height above the surrounding broad ledge.
Masters Project Opportunity with GA/ANU
11 November 2020
This Master project has the objective of undertaking a data review on previously collected seafloor geophysical data held by Geoscience Australia and/or other Antarctic nations, to facilitate identifying target locations for future Pleistocene coring sites on the RV Investigator mission (IN2022_V01) to the Cape Darnley region (15 Jan. -11 Mar. 2022; Chief Scientist Dr Alix Post).
AusSeabed Webinar Materials Online!
6 November 2020
We are pleased to announce that all of the webinar materials from the four part series – Bringing the seabed to you – have now been published on the Presentations and Publications page.
Two-part seabed geomorphology classification scheme (v.2)
2 November 2020
This report is the result of an ongoing collaboration between representatives from Geoscience Australia, and the three largest seabed mapping programmes in Europe: MAREANO (Norway), INFOMAR (Ireland) and MAREMAP (UK).
Standard Ocean Mapping Protocol (SOMP) Symposium
2 November 2020
Day one of the SOMP Symposium, run by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Interagency Working Group (Ocean and Coastal Mapping), took place on the 7th October, from 2am AEST.
Don’t Miss the Final AusSeabed Webinar!
24 September 2020
September will see the conclusion of the 2020 AusSeabed webinar series with “Cross-sector talks from Government, Industry, Stakeholders and End-users”.
Publication Schedule is Now Live!
23 September 2020
The AusSeabed Publication Schedule is a list of seabed mapping surveys that are intended for publication on the AusSeabed Marine Data Portal. Currently, this process is a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and CSIRO, but is intended to expand in future with more AusSeabed data collaborators.
What a year! 2019-20 Annual report published
27 August 2020
This Annual Report highlights the great progress AusSeabed made in 2019/20, which is a testament to the commitment of the community and the relevance of the program.
Survey Coordination Tool Is Live!
25 August 2020
The AusSeabed Survey Coordination Tool (SCT) went live on the 20th of August 2020.
Version 2 of the Australian Multibeam Guidelines published!
31 July 2020
Version 2 of the Australian Multibeam Guidelines merges the content of the original National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Multibeam field manual, eliminating duplication and reducing future maintenance of guidelines. The Guidelines are available online through the NESP Marine Sampling Field Manual Portal.
Steering Committee Election Results
29 July 2020
On behalf of the community, we would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to the outgoing representatives who have made considerable contributions to the efficacy of this program
Visioning the Coral Sea
29 July 2020
Last month, the Visioning the Coral Sea Marine Park bathymetric data was made publicly accessible through the AusSeabed portal.
Steering Committee Voting Now Closed!
19 June 2020
The AusSeabed Steering Committee provides an effective representative governing body of the AusSeabed program.
Launch of the new AusSeabed Data Portal
25 May 2020
We are launching the new and improved AusSeabed Marine Data Portal on 29th May 2020, and as such, we will decommission https://marine.ga.gov.au
Steering Committee Nominations Now Open!
12 May 2020
The AusSeabed Steering Committee oversees the strategic direction of the program. The committee consists of an equal and fair representation of the different sectors that make up the collaborator base of the program.
AusSeabed Strategic Plan
29 October 2019
The AusSeabed Steering Committee, in consultation with the working group, have developed the AusSeabed 2030 Strategic Plan to provide oversight and guidance for the initiative across the coming decade.
AMSA 2020: Call for Symposia and Workshops
2 September 2019
The AMSA2020 Scientific Committee invite proposals for Symposia and Workshops for presentation at the joint AMSA/NZMSS 2020 Conference. The 2020 Conference has adopted the theme: 'Marine Science in the Anthropocene'.
Two job openings at Alfred Wegener Institute
29 July 2019
Data Scientist/Data curator and Data Engineer/Software developer
New AusSeabed publication – MBES User Needs
9 July 2019
This report summarises common MBES user needs and challenges.
New layers now available on the AusSeabed Data Discovery portal
11 June 2019
Australia’s EEZ, state scheduled areas, the National Intertidal Digital Elevation Model, and a new layer representing available bathymetry compilation products added.
New data - Kerguelen Plateau grid
11 June 2019
A revised 100 m resolution bathymetry grid has been released for the Kerguelen Plateau region.
AUSHYDROID Working Group
11 June 2019
AUSHYDROID is the vertical separation model required to support surveying on the ellipsoid and the reduction of this data to a tidal datum (i.e. LAT (Chart Datum)).
Seabed 2030 South and West Pacific Centre Regional Mapping Committee Meeting
27 March 2019
On 3–6 March 2019, the South and West Pacific Centre for the Seabed 2030 Project hosted its first Regional Mapping Committee Meeting in Wellington, New Zealand.
Postgraduate Training Opportunity: Certificate in Ocean Bathymetry at the University of New Hampshire, USA (2019-2020)
19 February 2019
The Nippon Foundation of Japan has provided funding for GEBCO to train a new generation of scientists and hydrographers in ocean bathymetry.
Citizen scientists to help map the Great Barrier Reef
17 February 2019
James Cook University is calling for volunteers to help map the seafloor around the Great Barrier Reef to better protect the natural icon.