Ocean Infinity (Australia) Pty Ltd (formerly iXblue Pty Ltd), in partnership with Deakin University’s Marine Mapping Group, University of Wollongong, Tellus4D Geoimaging, University of Newcastle, University of New South Wales, University of Tasmania, and Geoscience Australia, undertook a combined aerial and hydrographic survey as part of the Norfolk Island Nearshore and Coastal Habitat Mapping project under Parks Australia Grant Activity ID 4-FISKTDM. The work aimed to establish a detailed baseline of Norfolk Island’s nearshore coastal and shelf environments to inform management, conservation, and research. From 21 to 24 July 2021, 109 km² of the Norfolk Shelf was mapped using high-resolution multibeam sonar, along with two sub-bottom profiles. These were supplemented by 44 Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) deployments in the northeast and south of the island to assess fish assemblages and provide ground truthing data for interpretation of seabed nature. In November 2021, a separate coastal survey using high-resolution drone photogrammetry captured geomorphic and habitat information at seven coastal sites: Captain Cook Lookout, Anson Bay, Puppy’s Point, Headstone Point, Slaughter Bay and Bombora Beach, and Cemetery and Emily Bay. These locations span a variety of morphologies, from exposed basaltic shore platforms and dramatic cliffs to offshore stacks and pockets of rocky beach. The data collected by the project provides a detailed view of the marine and coastal geomorphology of Norfolk Island. The data provides an initial condition assessment of key areas to inform park management, habitat protection, and future targeted studies such as further bathymetric mapping in sensitive areas and expanded ground-truthing of seabed habitats.

Parks Australia - Our Marine Parks Grants Round 2 Project: Nearshore marine habitat mapping of the Norfolk Marine Park (Grant Activity ID: 4-FIZ391E) The Norfolk Marine Park is the is the eastern-most Park in the Temperate East Network of Australian Marine Parks, located between the NSW coast and Norfolk Island. The Park encompasses 188,444 km² of ocean and ranges in depth from 0 m at the Norfolk Island high tide mark to more than 5,00 m off the edge of the Norfolk Ridge. The Park includes two key ecological features – the Norfolk Ridge, and the Tasman Front and associated eddy field – both of which are valued for their high productivity, aggregations of marine life, biodiversity, and endemism. Norfolk Marine Park supports a range of species, including those listed as threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act (1999), and contains Biologically Important Areas for breeding, foraging, and migration of seabirds, marine turtles, and humpback whales. The objective of this project was to create the first marine habitat map for the nearshore shallow water surrounding Norfolk, Nepean, and Phillip Islands. This was conducted in collaboration with Norfolk residents to provide local knowledge input and to ground-truth the remotely-sensed habitat mapping. This high-level habitat map will be used for planning purposes, development applications, and EPBC Act referrals within the nearshore waters of the Norfolk Marine Park, where no specific zoning for recreational and commercial activities currently exists. The map provides a basis for any ongoing citizen-science-driven marine habitat impact and condition assessments, ecosystem monitoring, and to provide the Norfolk Island residents with ownership of any future zoning planning. The map can be further refined as more detailed information becomes available from subject matter experts in the future.

At the inception of our project, no study had examined particle fluxes in the Subantarctic Zone (SAZ) of the Southern Ocean, despite the fact that the SAZ represents a large portion of the total area of the Southern Ocean, serve as a strong sink for atmospheric (~1G t C yr-1 [Metzl et al., 1999]), and is central to hypotheses linking particle fluxes and climate change [Francois et al., 1997; Kumar et al., 1995; Sigman et al., 1999]. The SAZ serves as an interface between the cold nutrient-rich waters to its south and the nutrient-depleted subtropical gyres to its north. SAZ upper layers are marked by a thick layer of relatively homogenous Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW), which overlies Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW). Both water masses are subducted northward beneath the subtropical gyres. Thus particles leaving the surface in these regions contribute to carbon redistribution via both the fraction that reaches the deep sea by settling and the fraction that is remineralized within SAMW or AAIW and subsequently subducted. The SAZ exhibits surface water carbon dioxide partial pressures well below atmospheric equilibrium, but PFZ waters are closer to atmospheric equilibrium in this sector [Metal et al., 1999; Poppet al., 1999]. The relative physical and biological contributions to these carbon dioxide partial pressure variations are unclear, but it is important to determine them because physical and biological carbon dioxide transfers are expected to show different responses to climate change [ Matear et al., 1999; Sarmiento and LeQuere, 1996]. For these reasons we focused on the SAZ and, for comparative purposes, on the PFZ to its south. We measured particle fluxes using moored sinking particle traps at three sites in the SAZ, in the PFZ, and beneath the Subantarctic Front (SAF), which separates them. This record describes particle flux data collected between 2000 and 2001. The NetCDF data contains the following variables. Please note not all variables are supplied in all files, specifically there are not uncertainty estimates and no quality control flags for this data. -----DATA DICTIONARY----- Name, description, units, standard name TIME, time, YYYY-MM-DD, time of sample midpoint TIME_START, time sample open, YYYY-MM-DD, time sample open NOMINAL_DEPTH, depth, m, nominal depth LATITUDE, latitude, degrees_north, latitude of anchor LONGITUDE, longitude, degrees_east, longitude of anchor pressure_actual, actual, dbar, actual pressure sample, sample number, 1, sample number sample_quality_control, quality flag for sample number, unitless, quality flag for sample number mass_flux, <1mm, mg m-2 d-1, particulate total mass flux mass_flux_uncertainty, uncertainty for particulate total mass flux, mg m-2 d-1,), uncertainty for particulate total mass flux mass_flux_quality_control, quality flag for particulate total mass flux, unitless, quality flag for particulate total mass flux SAL_BRINE, supernatant, 1, sample supernatant practical salinity SAL_BRINE_uncertainty, uncertainty for sample supernatant practical salinity, 1, uncertainty for sample supernatant practical salinity SAL_BRINE_quality_control, quality flag for sample supernatant practical salinity, unitless, quality flag for sample supernatant practical salinity pH_BRINE, supernatant, 1, sample supernatant pH NBS scale pH_BRINE_uncertainty, uncertainty for sample supernatant pH NBS scale, 1, uncertainty for sample supernatant pH NBS scale pH_BRINE_quality_control, quality flag for sample supernatant pH NBS scale, unitless, quality flag for sample supernatant pH NBS scale PC_mass_flux, <1mm, mg m-2 d-1, particulate total carbon mass flux PC_mass_flux_uncertainty, uncertainty for particulate total carbon mass flux, mg m-2 d-1, uncertainty for particulate total carbon mass flux PC_mass_flux_quality_control, quality flag for particulate total carbon mass flux, unitless, quality flag for particulate total carbon mass flux PN_mass_flux, <1mm, mg m-2 d-1, particulate total nitrogen mass flux PN_mass_flux_uncertainty, uncertainty for particulate total nitrogen mass flux, mg m-2 d-1, uncertainty for particulate total nitrogen mass flux PN_mass_flux_quality_control, quality flag for particulate total nitrogen mass flux, unitless, quality flag for particulate total nitrogen mass flux POC_mass_flux, <1mm, mg m-2 d-1, particulate organic carbon mass flux POC_mass_flux_uncertainty, uncertainty for particulate organic carbon mass flux, mg m-2 d-1, uncertainty for particulate organic carbon mass flux POC_mass_flux_quality_control, quality flag for particulate organic carbon mass flux, unitless, quality flag for particulate organic carbon mass flux PIC_mass_flux, <1mm, mg m-2 d-1, particulate inorganic carbon mass flux PIC_mass_flux_uncertainty, uncertainty for particulate inorganic carbon mass flux, mg m-2 d-1, uncertainty for particulate inorganic carbon mass flux PIC_mass_flux_quality_control, quality flag for particulate inorganic carbon mass flux, unitless, quality flag for particulate inorganic carbon mass flux BSi_mass_flux, <1mm, mg m-2 d-1, particulate biogenic silicon mass flux BSi_mass_flux_uncertainty, uncertainty for particulate biogenic silicon mass flux, mg m-2 d-1, uncertainty for particulate biogenic silicon mass flux BSi_mass_flux_quality_control, quality flag for particulate biogenic silicon mass flux, unitless, quality flag for particulate biogenic silicon mass flux TIME_END, time sample closed, YYYY-MM-DD, time sample closed Reference, citable reference DOI, DOI

Location of the Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) outplant trial sites. This is part of a collaborative project between IMAS, The Nature Conservancy, CSIRO and NRM South to restore giant kelp forests in Tasmania.