Airborne Research South Australia Ltd

ARA enabled a considerable number of mainly environmental scientists, institutions and agencies nationally and internationally to conduct their research using ARA's research capabilities, expertise and facilities to conduct their research projects all around Australia. There is no other entity in Australia that comes even close to ARA capabilities in terms of available research tools and expertise to use these. It is also noteworthy that the airborne platforms ARA uses for this research are by far the most environmentally friendly and economically efficient such platforms available in Australia and the region. Typical examples of ARA's work during the Reporting Period include (in its own right and through collaborations): (1) measurements of fugitive methane emissions from opencut coal mines in the Bowen Basin in Queensland for UNEP/EDF; (2) Vegetation mapping of vulnerable coastal wetlands in SA for environmental management in defencecontrolled lands; (3) hyperspectral imaging of lands managed by a mining company in Queensland, for vegetation assessment and management; (4) high resolution lidar mapping of native forest in southern Queensland for forest structural assessment and longterm monitoring, for the Qld Department of Environment, Science and Innovation. ARA was also active in educational activities by hosting several work experience students and working with and cosupervising a PhD student from the University of South Australia investigating eucalypt dieback in South Australia's Adelaide Hills.