Australia's new ocean-going research vessel RV Investigator has discovered extinct volcanoes about 250 kilometres off the coast of Sydney in 4,900 metres of water. Professor Richard Arculus, from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences, an igneous petrologist and a world-leading expert on volcanoes said these particular types of volcanoes are windows into the seafloor.
Robotic torpedoes that are being trialled on the Great Barrier Reef are revolutionising the way scientists view the underwater world. A team of researchers from Macquarie University, the University of Sydney, James Cook University and the University of St Andrews in Scotland have this week launched two autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) shaped like torpedoes into the water to map the shallow-water corals off Lizard Island.
The ability to imagine the contours of the ocean floor led cartographer Marie Tharp to forever change our understanding of the forces shaping the planet. Revealed to the world in 1977, this is the first map of the Earth's ocean floor. Today we know more about the topography of the Moon and Mars than we do about our own planet's sea floor.
A James Cook University researcher in Cairns has completed detailed 3D depth maps of Australia’s Coral Sea reefs, shedding new light on the likely distribution of coral diversity and sea life in the area.
The yearlong search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has turned up no sign of the plane, but that doesn't mean it's been unproductive. It has yielded lessons and discoveries that could benefit millions, including coastal Australians, air and sea travelers and scientists trying to understand ancient changes to the earth's crust.
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