Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent

The Antarctic outer coastal margin (i.e., the coastline itself, or the terminus/front of ice shelves, whichever is adjacent to the ocean) is the key interface between the marine and terrestrial environments. Its physical configuration (including both length scale of variation and orientation/aspect) has direct bearing on several closely associated cryospheric, biological, oceanographical and ecological processes, yet no study has quantified the coastal complexity or orientation of Antarctica’s coastal margin. This first-of-a-kind characterisation of Antarctic coastal complexity aims to address this knowledge gap. We quantify and investigate the physical configuration and complexity of Antarctica’s circumpolar outer coastal margin using a novel, technique based on ~40,000 random points selected along a vector coastline derived from the MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica dataset. At each point, a complexity metric is calculated at length scales from 1 to 256 km, giving a multiscale estimate of the magnitude and direction of undulation or complexity at each point location along the entire coastline.

General description of the data

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A shapefile of ~40,000 random points selected along a vector coastline derived from the MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica dataset. At each point coastal complexity is calculated including magnitude and orientation at multiple scales and features such as bays and peninsulas identified. The structure of the dataset is as follows:


Fields Definitions

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STATION………………………Station number

EASTING………………………Easting Polar Stereographic

NORTHING……………………Northing Polar Stereographic

X_COORD…………………….X geographic coordinate

Y_COORD…………………….Y geographic coordinate

COAST_EDGE……………….Type of coast ‘Ice shelf/Ground’

*FEAT_01KM – 256KM……...Described feature ‘Bay/Peninsula’

*AMT_01KM – 256KM……….Measure of complexity, Angled Measurement Technique 0-180 degrees

*MAG_01KM – 256KM………Measure of complexity - Magnitude on dimensionless scale 0-100

*ANG_01KM – 256KM………Angle (absolute angle of station points from reference 0, 0)

*ANGR_01KM – 256KM….…Angle of ‘Magnitude’ (relative to coastline - directly offshore being 0/360°)


*Repeated for length scales 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 and 256 kms at each point

Simple

Identification info

Alternate title
Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent
Date (Publication)
2019-08-14
Edition
1
Citation identifier
Dataset DOI

Title
Information and documentation - Digital object identifier system
Date (Publication)
2012-04-23
Citation identifier
ISO 26324:2012

Citation identifier
doi:10.26179/5d1af0ba45c03

Originator

Porter-Smith, R., Mckinlay, J., Fraser, A.D. and Massom, R.

Publisher

Australian Antarctic Data Centre

Principal investigator

PORTER-SMITH, RICHARD
Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC)
Private Bag 80
Hobart
Tasmania
7000
Australia

Principal investigator

MCKINLAY, JOHN
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia

Principal investigator

FRASER, ALEXANDER D.
Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC)
Private Bag 80
Hobart
Tasmania
7001
Australia

Principal investigator

MASSOM, ROB
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia

Collaborator

FRASER, ALEXANDER D.
Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC)
Private Bag 80
Hobart
Tasmania
7001
Australia

Collaborator

MASSOM, ROB
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia
Name
CAASM Metadata
Website
https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/AAS_4116_Coastal_Complexity

Purpose
This dataset has numerous applications for both geophysical and biological studies and will contribute to Antarctic research requiring quantitative information on and related to coastal complexity and configuration.
Status
Completed

Custodian

AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia - AADC, DATA OFFICER (DATA CENTER CONTACT)
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia
Topic category
  • Oceans

Extent

N
S
E
W


Extent

Description
Temporal Coverage

Temporal extent

TimePeriod
2012-07-01 2018-06-30
Title
The west coast of Britain: Statistical self-similarity vs characteristic scales in the landscape
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1996
Citation identifier
21

Author

Andrle, R.
Name
Earth Surf. Process. Landf.
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955-962
Title
Breakup of land-fast sea ice in Lützow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica, and its teleconnection to tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures
Date (Publication)
2017
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44

Author

Aoki, S.
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Geophysical research letters
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3219-3227
Title
Phytoplankton dynamics within 37 Antarctic coastal polynya systems
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2003
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Journal of Geophysical Research
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Title
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Citation identifier
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Author

Barber, D. G. and Massom, R. A.
Name
Elsevier Oceanography Series
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1-54
Title
Coastline complexity: a parameter for functional classification of coastal environments
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2001
Citation identifier
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Author

Bartley, J. D., Buddemeier, R. W., and Bennett, D. A.
Name
J. Sea Res.
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Title
Measured properties of the Antarctic ice sheet: surface configuration, ice thickness, volume and bedrock characteristics
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1982
Citation identifier
3

Author

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Name
Annals of Glaciology
Page
83-91
Title
East Antarctic landfast sea-ice distribution and variability
Date (Publication)
2011

Author

Fraser, A. D.

Publisher

University of Tasmania
Title
Generation of high-resolution East Antarctic landfast sea-ice maps from cloud-free MODIS satellite composite imagery
Date (Publication)
2010
Citation identifier
114

Author

Fraser, A. D., Massom, R. A., and Michael, K. J.
Name
Remote Sensing of Environment
Page
2888-2896
Title
East Antarctic landfast sea ice distribution and variability, 2000–08
Date (Publication)
2012
Citation identifier
25

Author

Fraser, A. D., Massom, R. A., Michael, K. J., Galton-Fenzi, B. K., and Lieser, J. L.
Name
Journal of Climate
Page
1137-1156
Title
Landfast ice controls on sea-ice production in the Cape Darnley Polynya: A case study.
Date (Publication)
2019

Author

Fraser, A. D., Ohshima, K. I., Nihashi, S., Massom, R. A., Tamura, T., Nakata, K., Williams, G. D., Carpentier, S., and Willmes, S.
Name
Remote sensing of Environment
Title
Fast-ice distribution in East Antarctica during 1997 and 1999 determined using RADARSAT data
Date (Publication)
2008
Citation identifier
113

Author

Giles, A. B., Massom, R. A., and Lytle, V. I
Name
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Title
The fractal nature of geographic phenomena
Date (Publication)
1987
Citation identifier
77

Author

Goodchild, M. F. and Mark, D. M.
Name
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
Title
Quantifying wave exposure in shallow temperate reef systems: applicability of fetch models for predicting algal biodiversity
Date (Publication)
2010
Citation identifier
417

Author

Hill, N. A., Pepper, A. R., Puotinen, M. L., Hughes, M. G., Edgar, G. J., Barrett, N. S., Stuart-Smith, R. D., and Leaper, R.
Name
Mar. Ecol.-Prog. Ser.
Page
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Title
Fractal analysis of the complexity of United States coastlines
Date (Publication)
1998
Citation identifier
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Author

Jiang, J. W. and Plotnick, R. E.
Name
Mathematical Geology
Page
535-546
Title
Spatial variability of factors influencing coastal change in the western Canadian Arctic
Date (Publication)
2005
Citation identifier
25

Author

Manson, G. K., Solomon, S. M., Forbes, D. L., Atkinson, D. E., and Craymer, M.
Name
Geo-Mar. Lett.
Page
138-145
Title
Examining the interaction between multi-year landfast sea ice and the Mertz Glacier Tongue, East Antarctica: Another factor in ice sheet stability?
Date (Publication)
2010
Citation identifier
115

Author

Massom, R. A., Giles, A. B., Fricker, H. A., Warner, R. C., Legrésy, B., Hyland, G., Young, N., and Fraser, A. D.
Name
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Title
The distribution and formative processes of latent-heat polynyas in East Antarctica
Date (Publication)
1998
Citation identifier
27

Author

Massom, R. A., Harris, P. T., Michael, K. J., and Potter, M. J.
Name
Annals of Glaciology
Page
420-426
Title
Effects of regional fast-ice and iceberg distributions on the behaviour of the Mertz Glacier polynya, East Antarctica
Date (Publication)
2001
Citation identifier
33

Author

Massom, R. A., Hill, K. L., Lytle, V. I., Worby, A. P., Paget, M. J., and Allison, I.
Name
Annals of Glaciology
Page
391-398
Title
Antarctic ice shelf disintegration triggered by sea ice loss and ocean swell
Date (Publication)
2018
Citation identifier
558

Author

Massom, R. A., Scambos, T. A., Bennetts, L. G., Reid, P., Squire, V. A., and Stammerjohn, S. E.
Name
Nature
Page
383-389
Title
Circumpolar mapping of Antarctic coastal polynyas and landfast sea ice: relationship and variability
Date (Publication)
2015
Citation identifier
28

Author

Nihashi, S. and Ohshima, K. I.
Name
Journal of climate
Page
3650-3670
Title
Antarctic Bottom Water production by intense sea-ice formation in the Cape Darnley polynya
Date (Publication)
2013
Citation identifier
6

Author

Ohshima, K. I., Fukamachi, Y., Williams, G. D., Nihashi, S., Roquet, F., Kitade, Y., Tamura, T., Hirano, D., Herraiz-Borreguero, L., and Field, I.
Name
Nature Geoscience
Page
235-240
Title
Bathymetry of the George Vth Land shelf and slope
Date (Publication)
2003
Citation identifier
50

Author

Porter-Smith, R.
Name
Deep-Sea Res. Part II-Top. Stud. Oceanogr.
Page
1337-1341
Title
Mesoscale coastal complexity and its relationship to structure and forcing from marine processes
Date (Publication)
2012
Citation identifier
323-325

Author

Porter-Smith, R. and McKinlay, J.
Name
Marine Geology
Page
1–13
Title
Structural and Lithological Controls on Coastline Profiles in Fife, Eastern Britain
Date (Publication)
1994
Citation identifier
6

Author

Ringrose, P. S.
Name
Terr. Nova
Page
251-254
Title
On the origin and influence of Adélie Land Bottom Water
Date (Publication)
1985
Citation identifier
75

Author

Rintoul, S. R.
Name
Ocean, Ice, and Atmosphere: Interactions at the Antarctic Continental Margin
Page
151-171
Title
MODIS-based Mosaic of Antarctica (MOA) data sets: Continent-wide surface morphology and snow grain size
Date (Publication)
2007
Citation identifier
111

Author

Scambos, T. A., Haran, T. M., Fahnestock, M. A., Painter, T. H., and Bohlander, J.
Name
Remote Sensing of Environment
Page
242-257
Title
Mapping of sea ice production for Antarctic coastal polynyas
Date (Publication)
2008
Citation identifier
35

Author

Tamura, T., Ohshima, K. I., and Nihashi, S.
Name
Geophysical Research Letters
Title
Sea ice: a critical habitat for polar marine mammals and birds, Sea ice
Date (Publication)
2010

Author

Tynan, C. T., Ainley, D. G., and Stirling, I.
Page
395-424
Title
The suppression of Antarctic bottom water formation by melting ice shelves in Prydz Bay
Date (Publication)
2016
Citation identifier
7

Author

Williams, G. D., Herraiz-Borreguero, L., Roquet, F., Tamura, T., Ohshima, K. I., Fukamachi, Y., Fraser, A. D., Gao, L., Chen, H., and McMahon, C. R.
Name
Nature communications
Page
12577
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > GEOMORPHIC LANDFORMS/PROCESSES > COASTAL LANDFORMS
  • EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > BOUNDARIES
Keywords
  • COMPLEXITY
  • MODIS
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • Computer > Computer
  • MODIS > Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • SATELLITES
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • ACE/CRC
  • CEOS
  • AMD/AU
  • AMD
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR
  • OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN
  • CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA

Resource constraints

Use limitation
This metadata record is publicly available.

Resource constraints

Access constraints
licence
Other constraints
These data are publicly available for download from the provided URL.

Resource constraints

File type
Portable Network Graphic
Linkage
Creative Commons by Attribution logo

Title
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Website
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Legal code for Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 International license

Use constraints
licence
Other constraints
This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=AAS_4116_Coastal_Complexity when using these data.
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor

Distributor

AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia - AADC, DATA OFFICER (DATA CENTER CONTACT)
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia

Distributor

Fees
Free
Planned available datetime
2019-08-14T00:00:00
Units of distribution
MB
Transfer size
5.7
Distribution format
  • Shapefiles

OnLine resource
GET DATA > DIRECT DOWNLOAD

Download the dataset.

OnLine resource
GET DATA > DIRECT DOWNLOAD

Download the data directly from the AADC's S3 data service

OnLine resource
PROJECT HOME PAGE

Public information for AAS project AAS_4116

OnLine resource
VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset.

Maintenance and update frequency
As needed
Maintenance note
2019-07-02 - record created by Rick Smith. 2019-08-14 - record updated by Rick Smith. 2019-08-14 - record updated by Dave Connell to publicly release the data. 2020-05-07 - record updated by Dave Connell to include a direct link to the S3 download service. 2022-04-29 - record updated by Dave Connell for ISO compliance.

Metadata

Metadata identifier
string/AAS_4116_Coastal_Complexity

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Author

PORTER-SMITH, RICHARD
Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC)
Private Bag 80
Hobart
Tasmania
7000
Australia

Sponsor

Australian Antarctic Division

Owner

AADC

Type of resource

Resource scope
Dataset

Alternative metadata reference

Title
gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
Citation identifier
6ad51cae-cb4a-4cbf-a73c-530115263bb6

Alternative metadata reference

Title
gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
Date (Last Revision)
2022-04-29T15:55:30

Identifier

Description
metadata.extraction_date

Alternative metadata reference

Title
gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
Citation identifier
8.6

Metadata linkage
http://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/AAS_4116_Coastal_Complexity

Point of truth for the metadata record

Date info (Creation)
2019-06-24T00:00:00
Date info (Last Update)
2022-04-29

Metadata standard

Title
ISO 19115-3
Edition
2014
Other citation details
Version 1
Title
DIF to ISO 19115-1 Profile
 
 

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