Capabilities

Last updated:7 June 2023

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Partnerships and ground infrastructure - for assurance of continuous data availability

  • Geoscience Australia is an active contributor to international bodies that coordinate the acquisition and use of Earth observation data. Geoscience Australia is an associate member of the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), and is Australia's principal representative to the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observation.
  • Geoscience Australia operates a ground station in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, to downlink data directly from the Landsat 7, Landsat 8, NOAA, TERRA, AQUA, and Suomi NPP satellites on a daily basis. Recent infrastructure refurbishments have now enabled Geoscience Australia to monitor and report on satellite health back to mission control, which it currently does for Landsat 8.
  • Partnerships with international operators of EOS satellite programmes, including the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the European Commission and European Space Agency, also grant Geoscience Australia online access to historical data archives, the most recent acquisitions, as well as input to future acquisition scheduling.
  • The data is stored by Geoscience Australia in a national archive and is utilised in production of current and next generation EOS products.

Computational infrastructure - for efficient data management and processing

  • Geoscience Australia has developed extensive infrastructure and advanced systems for efficient processing and storage of large volumes of multi-temporal data.
  • Geoscience Australia is leading the way in managing, cataloguing and processing large volumes of satellite and spatial imagery. This is enabled through Geoscience Australia working with the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), CRCSI and other scientific collaborators to develop the next generation of EOS products and services. The result of this collaboration can be seen in the development of the Open Data Cube.

Science expertise - for maximum utilisation of earth observation resources

  • Highly skilled and experienced scientific and technical staff allows Geoscience Australia to participate in a wide range of environmental analysis projects, collaborate on spatial policy and capability development with a wide range of partners, including the United States Geological Survey, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and many others.

Emergency response - for enhancing safety of the Australian community

  • During times of natural disasters, Geoscience Australia coordinates acquisition of satellite imagery for emergency response purposes under the Australian Government Disaster Response Plan. This includes:
    • activation of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters
    • provision of specialised products to Australian Government Crisis Coordination Centre and relevant State and Federal authorities, including emergency imagery