23 October 2009
For centuries the availability of fresh water has been taken for granted, but with changing environmental and social situations around the globe it is being recognised increasingly as a precious, finite resource.
Groundwater Sampling and
Analysis - A Field Guide
With the growing demand in Australia, groundwater is seen more and more as an important resource. It currently accounts for more than 30% of Australia's total water consumption in a variety of uses, including drinking, irrigation, stock supply and bottling, as well as for natural ecosystems.
To ensure the sustainable use of groundwater, a greater appreciation needs to be developed of the factors which can affect its quantity and quality.
This appreciation will be facilitated by Geoscience Australia's publication of the Groundwater Sampling and Analysis - A Field Guide in an attempt to help scientists, researchers, water managers and the public better manage and monitor groundwater.
The field guide provides a set of standard sampling protocols which focus on a range of groundwater issues throughout Australia.
A co-author of the publication, Dr Baskaran Sundaram, said the guide provides a uniform, accurate and reliable set of sampling procedures which will ensure greater confidence in the interpretation of any field based data.
"Along with its applications for groundwater resource assessment and management, the guide will assist sampling and analysis within projects associated with carbon capture and storage as well as in mineral exploration, including that for geothermal and other energy resources," Dr Sundaram said.
23 October 2009
Alice Springs Data
Acquisition Facility
© Geoscience Australia
In October 1979, the Australian Landsat Station (ALS) was opened by the then Minister for Industry and Commerce, The Hon Phillip Lynch, at Oatley Court in Belconnen, Canberra.
The ALS operated the 9 metre satellite reception dish in Alice Springs which received data from the then revolutionary Landsat 1 and 2 satellites. At that time, the Landsat satellites were imaging the world, but Australia's computers had not developed enough to process the satellite telemetry into the satellite images we see today.
Since then, we have downlinked the entire Landsat satellite series, as well as numerous other satellites (including Japan's Advanced Land Observing Satellite, the Indian operated Resources-1 satellite, Terra, Aqua, NOAA and EO-1). There have also been a few name changes: from the ALS to the Australian Centre for Remote Sensing (ACRES), and now the National Earth Observation Group within Geoscience Australia.
An additional 9 metre dish was opened at the Tasmanian Earth Resources Satellite Station in 1992 and is the only satellite station in the world capable of acquiring live imagery over New Zealand.
Geoscience Australia is currently undertaking a project to look back through the satellite imagery archive and provide information that will assist in addressing vital national issues such as drought, bushfire mapping and climate change.
Today Geoscience Australia downlinks over 30 satellite passes per day and holds the largest repository of satellite data in the Southern Hemisphere. Through these activities, Australia has become a world leader in monitoring deforestation for carbon accounting.
Read more about these capabilities.
22 October 2009
The centrepiece of Geoscience Australia's geochronology program, the Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe, or SHRIMP, has gone international.
Geoscience Australia
SHRIMP Laboratory
© Geoscience Australia
As part of a unique partnership between Geoscience Australia and SHRIMP manufacturer, Australian Scientific Instruments (ASI), to manage the equipment for mutual benefit, samples were analysed via an internet link for a demonstration in the United States.
The demonstrations over four days from 18 October were an integral part of the ASI display booth at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Oregon.
Technicians from ASI carried out remote access demonstrations with particular emphasis on automated operation while scientists from Geoscience Australia observed the operation with a view to extending the practice to the agency's clients.
The SHRIMP partnership is continuing to provide benefits for both parties. ASI recently secured a sale to the University of Granada in Spain after demonstrations on the Geoscience Australia SHRIMP IIe, while Geoscience Australia is benefiting from the company's research and development on the equipment.
16 October 2009
To celebrate Earth Science Week 2009, we will be holding our annual Open Day on Sunday 18 October from 10am-4pm.
Open Day offers a diverse program of activities, science displays, tours and talks that will showcase our agency's latest research in the fields of petroleum, mineral, marine, mapping, groundwater and natural hazard research.
Open Day 2009
© Geoscience Australia
During the day, there will be something on offer for the whole family. Children can navigate the grounds using GPS, take a walk through geological time, make a pet rock, learn the science behind sediments or bring along a rock from home and have it identified by a geologist.
There will also be a range of science presentations throughout the day, including:
When: Sunday 18 October 2009, 10am- 4pm
Where: Cnr Jerrabomberra Avenue and Hindmarsh Drive, Symonston ACT
Cost: Free
Contact: (02) 6249 9111 or education@ga.gov.au
16 October 2009
There is only one clear thing in the debate about the terms "tsunami" and "tidal wave" - confusion.
Fundamentally, a tsunami is generated by any undersea disturbance, such as an earthquake, submarine landslide or even an asteroid impact. Any one of these events moves the water column over the entire depth of the ocean, rather than just the surface, as is the case with wind-driven, conventional waves.
Recognised as the international
signature for tsunami, this painting
is by Japanese artist,
Katsushika Hokusai
(www.katsushikahokusai.org)
In contrast, a tidal wave is a phenomena resulting from the influence of the sun and the moon. It is generated when an incoming tide is funnelled into a narrow estuary or river mouth, causing its leading edge to form a wave or waves which travel up a narrow bay or river against the direction of the current.
There has been confusion also about the word tsunami which translates as 'harbour wave'.
The word tsunami was derived from 'tsu' meaning harbour and 'nami' meaning wave. They were combined because Japanese fishermen who were out at sea fishing in deep water, where there was little or no visible effect, returned to find their home village devastated, creating the belief that tsunami occurred only in harbours and close inshore.
The Senior Lecturer in Asian Studies and Japanese Linguistics at the Australian National University, Dr Shunichi Ishihara, advised that Japanese does not include the plural of nouns in its language, so the term "tsunami" is a singular, plural and collective noun.
Dr Ishihara says that, like another Japanese word describing weather, typhoon, tsunami has no plural in the same way the English example of a single sheep, two sheep and a mob of sheep is singular, plural and collective.
12 October 2009
Celebrations for Australia's Earth Science Week 2009 kicked off with the winners of the Geologi09 short film competition gathering in Canberra today.
Geologi logo 2009
(© Geoscience Australia)
Over 400 students participated in the national competition run by Geoscience Australia and the Australian Science Teachers Association, with entries received from almost every state and territory. This year's winners came from:
Students submitted films based on the theme 'Earth science in everyday life', which aimed to highlight how Earth science impacts on and affects our daily lives. Films were received on a broad range of topics including natural hazards, Australia's natural resources and the Earth's structure and systems.
Geoscience Australia will host a number of events from 11 - 17 October as part of Australia's 11th year of Earth Science Week, with this year's theme being 'Understanding Climate'.
Coinciding with Earth Science Week, the Geoscience Australia Education Centre will celebrate its 10th Anniversary on Thursday 15 October with a special invitational morning tea. Over 48,000 students have visited the Centre since it was opened in 1999.
To conclude this year's celebrations, on Sunday 18 October Geoscience Australia will again hold its annual Open Day. The day will showcase some of the latest developments in geoscience through a range of science displays and activities. All members of the public are invited to attend from 10am to 4pm.
1 October 2009
A wide range of new maps and data sets released by Geoscience Australia this week will provide opportunities for geologists, geoscientists, mineral explorers, resource managers, researchers and the public to obtain information about Australia's known and potential mineral resources.
A geologists equates the terrain in
northwest Queensland with a map
of the area. (© Geoscience Australia)
Many of the releases provide a national framework of precompetitive data to investigate potentially mineralised environments while other data also will help to develop a better understanding of the geological evolution of the Australian continent.
They range from information about the location of Australia's mines and mineral deposits to map sets of the deep geology of north and northwest Queensland, which reveal the basement geology beneath younger cover material, and the geographic extent and age relationships of specific rocks and associated mineral deposits throughout the continent.
All the maps, along with the recently released reports and data sets will open new opportunities for mining and exploration companies to investigate the potential in regions throughout Australia for a variety of mineral resources and commodities.
Read more in the Minerals Alert October 2009.
1 October 2009
The partnership between Geoscience Australia and Australian Scientific Instruments (ASI) has helped to secure the sale of a Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe, more commonly known as a SHRIMP, to the University of Granada in Spain.
Geoscience Australia hosted a demonstration for University of Granada staff in 2008 as part of an international pre-tender evaluation tour by the university of similar instruments and laboratories around the world. An analytical session on the Geoscience Australia SHRIMP during the visit was described by ASI as pivotal in giving the instrument a competitive edge in the subsequent tender process.
Geoscience Australia
SHRIMP Laboratory
(© Geoscience Australia)
The demonstration was undertaken as part of the unique partnership between Geoscience Australia and ASI to manage the SHRIMP for mutual benefit. Through the partnership, ASI has time on the instrument for client demonstrations and for research and development in a productive laboratory environment. In turn Geoscience Australia benefits as a result of developments which will ensure the SHRIMP remains relevant to the agency's requirements.
University of Granada staff are expected to visit the laboratory again early in 2010 to continue familiarisation and training with the Geoscience Australia SHRIMP instrument.
By hosting demonstrations for potential ASI clients, Geoscience Australia is continuing to contribute to what is an Australian technology success story. The sale of the SHRIMP to the University of Granada represents a major high-technology export sale worth around $6 million and represents a significant breakthrough into the very competitive European market.
During its first year of operation after commissioning in April 2008, the Geoscience Australia SHRIMP carried out around 13 000 analyses of about 190 rock samples from the Northern Territory, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland, resulting in significant finds in the Northern Territory [PDF 65KB] and South Australia [PDF 59KB].