Geoscience Australia partners in Seabed 2030 project
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Geoscience Australia partners in Seabed 2030 project

Geoscience Australia is contributing to global action on seabed mapping by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030; the first Australian Government organization to do so.

Dr James Johnson, CEO of Geoscience Australia, joined Jamie McMichael-Phillips, the Director of Seabed 2030 at Geoscience Australia’s Symonston headquarters for the signing. “We are thrilled to formalise our partnership with Seabed 2030 and cement our place in the global effort to map the world’s seabed by 2030,” Dr Johnson said. “Seabed 2030 is an important part of the global effort to map the world’s seabed by 2030 and Geoscience Australia is a proud contributor to this project.”

“Welcoming Geoscience Australia as a partner marks a significant step forward in the global pursuit of a fully mapped ocean floor,” commented McMichael-Phillips. “This partnership underscores the power of collaboration across national and regional boundaries, drawing on Australia’s breadth of seabed data and expertise. Together, we are moving closer to achieving a comprehensive map of the ocean and look forward to working closely with Geoscience Australia to advance our ambitious vision.”

Seamless digital map

Head of Oceans, Reefs, Coasts and the Antarctic Branch, Dr Jodie Smith, explained that Geoscience Australia has committed to providing data into the Seabed 2030 project on behalf of the Australian seabed mapping community. This will support the global effort to compile seabed mapping data into a seamless digital map of the world’s ocean floor.

“Geoscience Australia has a national leadership role in coordinating, collating, quality assuring and publishing Australia’s seabed mapping data,” Dr Smith added. This includes leading the AusSeabed initiative, which is a national seabed mapping collaboration that aims to improve the coverage, quality, accessibility and usability of seabed mapping products in the Australian region.

“We publish seabed mapping data through the AusSeabed data portal, and this data supports decision-making across a range of marine applications, including offshore renewable energy, hazard modelling and marine park management.”

Filling large gaps

As an island nation, Australia has one of the largest marine jurisdictions in the world and is responsible for around 4% of the world’s oceans. “To manage this resource sustainably, seabed mapping data is necessary because it allows us to better understand the environment, which improves decision-making and supports the sustainable growth of Australia’s ocean economy,” Dr Smith explained.

Dr Smith added that new opportunities will come from the recently-announced Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity initiative, which will fill large gaps in existing maps of offshore areas of Australia and assess suitable sites for renewable energy and geological storage.

Geoscience Australia will reprocess, review and publish valuable archives of legacy offshore data, and collate it with new offshore data, to better understand the geology and geography of the seabed. “Geoscience Australia will make this data publicly available and will feed this data into the Seabed 2030 project.”

Bathymetry coverage displayed in the AusSeabed Marine Data Portal. (Image courtesy: Commonwealth of Australia/AusSeabed)
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