Australia’s offshore energy planning and regulation depends on a robust understanding of the seafloor and sub‑seafloor. Through the CSIRO Marine National Facility (MNF), Geoscience Australia (GA) is strengthening national marine geoscience capability by delivering high‑quality datasets that directly inform offshore energy assessments and strategic decision‑making.
This presentation outlines how MNF‑enabled marine geoscience surveys provide critical inputs to GA’s Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity initiative (RAPi). High‑resolution bathymetry, sub‑bottom profiling, and supporting geoscience data supply objective evidence to identify geohazards, assess likelihood and consequence, and evaluate appropriate controls for offshore energy activities. These data reduce uncertainty in seabed characterisation, improving confidence in assessments of seabed stability, infrastructure suitability, and environmental sensitivity.
Sustained collaboration through MNF surveys is central to building a consistent and trusted national marine geoscience evidence base. Coordinated survey planning, common acquisition standards, and consistent data delivery across agencies ensure datasets are comparable, interoperable, and reusable over time. This enables individual surveys to contribute to a cumulative national understanding of the seafloor and subseafloor. For Geoscience Australia, this collaborative approach strengthens regional assessments, reduces duplication, and underpins robust risk‑based frameworks such as RAPi, supporting offshore energy planning, regulation, and long‑term strategic decision‑making.