Geoscience Australia's Continental Geophysics Project is an active concentration of specialists engaged in the acquisition, processing, archiving, enhancement, presentation and interpretation of airborne geophysical and gravity data as well as the development of new computational methods which can be applied to geophysical data.
Geoscience Australia maintains the Australian Fundamental Gravity Network (AFGN) which is made up of about 900 documented gravity stations situated at or near 250 localities throughout Australia and its Territories. All stations in the network have been linked as a consistent framework to which all other gravity surveys can be related. The national network has been accurately tied to the worldwide network to ensure international consistency of Australia's gravity data.
The Seismic Acquisition and Processing Project is part of the National Research Facility for Earth Sounding (ANSIR) - a joint venture between Geoscience Australia and the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University. (It is Australia's first major national research facility dedicated to the Earth sciences). Geoscience Australia has over 40 years' experience in land seismic surveys and, since 1980, has acquired more than 8,000 kilometres of onshore deep seismic reflection profiles and numerous 2D seismic refraction profiles.
Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) data are one of the geophysical data types acquired by Geoscience Australia. AEM systems work by transmitting an electromagnetic signal from a system attached to a plane or helicopter. The signal induces eddy currents in the ground that are detected by receiver coils that are towed below and behind the aircraft, in a device called a 'bird'. Depending on the system used and the subsurface conditions, AEM is able to detect variations in the conductivity of the ground to a depth of around 300 metres.