AusSeabed: Collaborating to maximise Australian seabed mapping efforts

AusSeabed is a national seabed mapping coordination program aiming to serve the Australian community relying on seabed data by providing an open collaboration space where data creators and users can connect to develop initiatives and products that will contribute to our vision. This poster outlines the vision and current focus areas (including the design of a state-of-the-art portal that will facilitate the program. Australia’s marine jurisdiction, including the Antarctic Territory, covers over 10 million square kilometres and less than 25% of its seafloor has been mapped at high-resolution. In Australia, seafloor mapping is primarily driven by safety of navigation and environmental management requirements. Data acquisition relies on relatively few players from government agencies, universities and industry, but with considerably more end-users. Until recently, there has been limited coordination of the mapping activities which has resulted in duplication of effort, lack of consistency, loss of efficiency and limited use of the data. To address this situation and contribute to the global effort, AusSeabed, a National Seabed Mapping Coordination Program was developed. AusSeabed is a consortium of Australian and New Zealand representatives from federal and state government, universities and industry and is facilitated by Geoscience Australia. Driven by the principle of “collect once, use many times”, the consortium developed and published the Australian multibeam guideline, a government priority plan for data acquisition in Australia, an upcoming survey register and a series of resources available on its own website. AusSeabed is now focused on developing a cloud-based data sharing infrastructure to enable better data discoverability and accessibility as well as common seabed mapping tools, such as quality assurance software with automated workflows to assist in the survey planning process. In addition, GA is collaborating nationally and internationally to develop a common geomorphic mapping approach for the interpretation of seabed data and field manuals to standardise marine monitoring practices. This presentation highlights the progress of these initiatives and demonstrates how collaboration is crucial to the development of standards and coordination of mapping efforts. Presented at the 2018 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting