This project will determine the downburst thunderstorms over Tasmania from the Severe Storms Archive, investigate the atmospheric condition during those downburst thunderstorms and determine the probability of meteorological conditions suitable for downburst thunderstorms over Tasmania during 1990-2019. This project will use the recently completed Bureau of Meteorology Atmospheric high-resolution Regional Reanalysis for Australia (BARRA) dataset, which offers more than 100 atmospheric model variables at higher resolution in space and time than existing global reanalyses (Jakob et al. 2017). The hourly temporal resolution, 70 levels vertical resolution and 1.5 km horizontal resolution, which has been developed specifically for Tasmania and other three regions, makes it particularly powerful in comparison to larger scale reanalyses for analysis of short-term phenomena like thunderstorms and their environments in Tasmania.

Voyage IN2019_V04 contributed an additional 29,000 kms2 of seafloor survey data to the Coral Sea knowledge base. From this new bathymetric data individual seamounts have been extracted and have been classified to the Geoscience Australia Geomorphology Classification Scheme. This dataset contains two layers representing the classification layers- 1) Surface (Plain, Slope, Escarpment) and 2) fine scale Geomorphology of the seamount for the Fregetta Seamount. Ongoing research with this survey data will provide new insights into the detailed geomorphic shape and spatial relationships between adjacent seabed features. This information will be released in future publications to show the potential of how the scale of such seafloor data can be used for predictive habitat modelling when analysed with the biological data overlays.

Interaction uncertainties between tidal energy devices and marine animals have the potential to disrupt the tidal energy industry as it advances. Best-practices for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) must be explored that are able to provide conclusive recommendations for mitigating environmental impact concerns of tidal energy developments. As the tidal energy industry is moving closer to commercial-scale array installations, the development of standardised EIAs would allow for potential impact concerns for the marine environment to be identified and minimised early in the site-development process. In an effort to help formulate a standardised EIA framework that addresses knowledge gaps in fish-current interactions at tidal energy candidate sites, this study investigated changes in fish aggregations in response to tidal currents at a tidal energy candidate site in Australia prior to turbine installation. Here, we present the dataset collected for this study that includes tidal current information from Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements, volume backscattering strength from a four-frequency biological echosounder (Acoustic Zooplankton and Fish Profiler – AZFP) as an indicator for fish biomass, and fish aggregation metrics calculated from volume backscatter in post-processing. ADCP and AZFP were installed on a bottom-mounted mooring and engaged in a concurrent sampling plan for ~2.5 months from December 2018 to February 2019. The mooring was deployed in the Banks Strait, a tidal energy candidate site located in the northeast of Tasmania, Australia, at a location favourable for tidal turbine installations considering current speed, depth, substrate, sediment type and proximity to shore. The ADCP dataset includes current velocity and direction measurements at a 1 m vertical and 1-sec time intervals. The raw AZFP dataset includes volume backscattering strength collected at 4-sec time intervals with a vertical resolution of 0.072 m in raw, and 0.1 m in pre-processed form. Fish aggregation metrics were derived in post-processing and are presented by the minute along with corresponding environmental conditions for current speed, shear, temperature, diel stage, and tidal stage compiled from both AZFP and ADCP datasets.

Data describing post-recruit (adult) fish assemblages and the abundance of recruiting cryptobenthic species associated with 28 artificial reefs of different sizes and supporting different densities of transplanted kelp (Ecklonia radiata) off the west coast of Maria island. Adult assemblages were assessed using diver-based visual surveys conducted at three times (early: spring 2015, middle: autumn: 2016, late: spring 2016). At each time, 2 surveys were conducted, and the results were averaged. Recruiting cryptobenthic fishes were assessed using SMURF (standard Monitoring Units for the Recruitment of Fishes) collectors that were deployed for a six-week period in the centre of each reef on four consecutive occasions (November 2015 to March 2016).

Intraspecific variation in the thermal tolerance of microscopic giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) sporophytes was tested using a common garden experiment, where 49 unique family-lines were raised under four different water temperatures (12, 16, 20, and 24°C). The unique family-lines were taken from ongoing giant kelp gametophyte cultures held at IMAS, and represented F1 offspring from seven 'selfed' individuals collected from 6 sites across ~250km in Tasmania, Australia, in addition to a site-level cross from each of the sites, and a panmictic cross using the 42 pure family lines. Survivorship of the selected warm-adapted family-lines after outplanting trials at restoration sites can be found here with the associated dataset "NESP Marine Hub Project E7 outplanted kelp survivorship". https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/908afd8c-cc7a-4ea3-a87e-4497ae8da87a

This flythrough highlights canyon environments within the Gascoyne Marine Park offshore northwestern Australia. The Cape Range Canyon is a relatively narrow, linear canyon that initiates on the continental slope, but is connected to the shelf via a narrow channel. The walls of the canyon are steep and reveal a history of slumping and retrogressive failure, that have broadened the canyon over time. The floor contains a series of deep plunge pools, indicative of the action of sediment-laden turbidity currents in further eroding this canyon. Epibenthos within the canyons was relatively sparse and likely regulated by disturbance associated with sedimentation in the canyons. Rock overhangs often supported the highest densities of benthic suspension feeders, including glass sponges, octocorals, and ascidians. Bathymetry data and seafloor imagery for this flythrough was collected by the Schmidt Ocean Institute during survey FK200308. Funding was provided by Schmidt Ocean Institute, Geoscience Australia, the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub, the Director of National Parks, and the Foundation for the WA Museum through a Woodside Marine Biodiversity Grant.

This record describes the following: 1) Code for detecting surface temperature mean and variance linear trend from 1982 to 2016. 2) Metrics (mean intensity, duration, and frequency) linear trend of marine cold spells from 1982-2016. This data can be used to plot a global data map of marine cold spell metrics linear trend.

Voyage IN2019_V04 contributed an additional 29,000 kms2 of seafloor survey data to the Coral Sea knowledge base. From this new bathymetric data individual seamounts have been extracted and have been classified to the Geoscience Australia Geomorphology Classification Scheme. This dataset contains two layers representing the classification layers- 1) Surface (Plain, Slope, Escarpment) and 2) fine scale Geomorphology of the seamount for the Sula Seamount. Ongoing research with this survey data will provide new insights into the detailed geomorphic shape and spatial relationships between adjacent seabed features. This information will be released in future publications to show the potential of how the scale of such seafloor data can be used for predictive habitat modelling when analysed with the biological data overlays.