Long term data sets are useful for identifying temporal changes in the abundance of breeding populations of Antarctic seabirds. This data set is one of only two long term data sets existing for Snow Petrels. The data set comprises records of snow petrel activity for up to 109 nests clearly marked on the colony of Reeve Hill (near Casey station)between 1984 and 2003. A map of the exact nests locations is available as Arcview shapefile. In the database, the following information was recorded in an Excel worksheet: - For each colony check: observer(s) name(s), date and time of the nests check, weather before and during observations - For each nest: 1/nests condition (whether filled with ice/snow or (partially) accessible) 2/activity level in the nests: presence/absence of birds, what sex if known, other signs of activity (footprints, guano, stomach oil) 3/presence of an egg or chick, live or failed 4/presence of old remnants in the nest(egg, chicks) 5/Any specific comments No data are available for years 1987-1988 and 1988-1989. Data are only available for the early part of the breeding season for 1991-1992, 1992-1993 and 1999-2000. The fields in this dataset are: Field Season Date Type of Observation Time start Nest Number Nest condition Old Remnants Activity Egg/Chick Comments

The exact location of an Emperor Penguin Colony on Peterson Bank continually changes due to the changing ice conditions of where the colony is situated. The location confirmed on the 3rd of November 1994 on fast ice at Peterson Bank was 65.9333 S, 110.2 E, 41km NNW of Australia's Casey Station. The location was recorded by Ward Bremmers during a helicopter flight involved in the resupply operations from an ice-bound ship to Casey Station. The presence of chicks was confirmed on landing and an approximate count estimated chick numbers at 2000 with at least 1000 adults present. Many foraging animals were also observed in transit in the surrounding area. Approximately 100 dead chicks, ranging in age from a few weeks to 3 months old, were observed during a casual check in the immediate vicinity. The colony lies on fast ice amid grounded bergs in Peterson Bank. The surrounding icebergs are widely spaced (1-2km), so the colony site is relatively unsheltered from the prevailing easterly gales. The sea-ice thickness at the colony sites was 7-8m, suggesting the ice had been stable for the previous three or our seasons. However, during a second visit to the site on 24 December 1994, the ice at the colony site was breaking up, and 200 chicks in the process of moulting were observed drifting on a large ice floe. On the 24 of April in 1995, a large group of Adults on new ice amid grounded bergs in the Peterson Bank was sighted, suggesting that the colony was reforming. The fields in this dataset are: Date Latitude Longitude Number of Adults Number of Chicks Dead Chicks Comments

These data describe pack ice characteristics in the Antarctic sea ice zone. These data are in the ASPeCt format. National program: Australia Vessel: Icebird Dates in ice: 4 Nov 1989 - 2 Dec 1989 Observers: Rob Kiernan, Martin Higham, others Summary of voyage track: 4/11 Ice edge at 58d22mS, 78dE 4-10/11 Steamed SW to approx 60dE 10-23/11 Vessel stuck in pack ice near 60dE 24-28/11 Vessel steamed eastward to near 77dE (Davis station) 30/11-2/12 Vessel steamed north to ice edge at 61d33mS, 82dE The fields in this dataset are: SEA ICE CONCENTRATION SEA ICE FLOE SIZE SEA ICE SNOW COVER SEA ICE THICKNESS SEA ICE TOPOGRAPHY SEA ICE TYPE RECORD DATE TIME LATITUDE LONGITUDE OPEN WATER TRACK SNOW THICKNESS SNOW TYPE SEA TEMPERATURE AIR TEMPERATURE WIND VELOCITY WIND DIRECTION FILM COUNTER FRAME COUNTER FOR FILM VIDEO RECORDER COUNTER VISIBILITY CODE CLOUD WEATHER CODE COMMENTS

These data describe pack ice characteristics in the Antarctic sea ice zone. These data are in the ASPeCt format. National program: Australia Vessel: Aurora Australis Dates in ice: 17 Oct 1991 - 20 Oct 1991 Observers: Tony Worby Summary of voyage track: 17/10 Ice edge at 63d00mS, 137d52mE 17-18/10 Vessel steamed south to approx. 65S 19-20/10 Vessel steamed north to ice edge The fields in this dataset are: SEA ICE CONCENTRATION SEA ICE FLOE SIZE SEA ICE SNOW COVER SEA ICE THICKNESS SEA ICE TOPOGRAPHY SEA ICE TYPE RECORD DATE TIME LATITUDE LONGITUDE OPEN WATER TRACK SNOW THICKNESS SNOW TYPE SEA TEMPERATURE AIR TEMPERATURE WIND VELOCITY WIND DIRECTION FILM COUNTER FRAME COUNTER FOR FILM VIDEO RECORDER COUNTER VISIBILITY CODE CLOUD WEATHER CODE COMMENTS

Very little information is available on the geomorphology of areas surrounding Australian Antarctic stations. This type of information is generally collected during geological surveys. This metadata record gathers a range of descriptive geomorphological information of various nature: -Habitat surveys were conducted in the season 2002-2003 in the Windmill Islands in parallel with bird nest mapping (reported in metadata record BIRDSCASEY0203) in order to study selection of nest sites by a range of species. Habitat was described in the survey sites searched for bird nests following various methods (described in BIRDSCASEY0203). Information is stored as GIS files (Arcview 3.2) -polygon shapefile gathering all the geomorphological units. -line shapefile describing habitat along transects used for searching bird nests -polygon shapefile describing habitat in small 25*25m quadrats used for searching bird nests -A collection of 1309 digital photos showing the sites searched for bird nests indexed by grid site number. Plus another set of 194 photos showing region of the Windmill Islands or bird nests more in detail -A set of Digital Elevation Models (DEM) covering the entire Windmill Islands area generated separately for 18 regions. -200m*200m grid created from the coverage of ice-free areas (Aerial photography 93-94) providing site numbers for the photographic database -A series of Black and White aerial Photos (500 m, Zeiss, 1994) scanned at high resolution for the purpose of substrate study. See the word document in the file download for more information. This work has been completed as part of ASAC project 1219 (ASAC_1219). The fields in this dataset are: Date Boulderbig Bouldsmall Baresubst Morsed Scree Snowcover Permice Slope Aspect Photonumber Sitedotid Comments

These data describe pack ice characteristics in the Antarctic sea ice zone. These data are in the ASPeCt format. National program: Australia Vessel: Aurora Australis Dates in ice: 22 Apr 1995 - 27 Apr 1995 Observers: Arne Sorenson Summary of voyage track: From Casey to the ice edge. The fields in this dataset are: SEA ICE CONCENTRATION SEA ICE FLOE SIZE SEA ICE SNOW COVER SEA ICE THICKNESS SEA ICE TOPOGRAPHY SEA ICE TYPE RECORD DATE TIME LATITUDE LONGITUDE OPEN WATER TRACK SNOW THICKNESS SNOW TYPE SEA TEMPERATURE AIR TEMPERATURE WIND VELOCITY WIND DIRECTION FILM COUNTER FRAME COUNTER FOR FILM VIDEO RECORDER COUNTER VISIBILITY CODE CLOUD WEATHER CODE COMMENTS

These data describe pack ice characteristics in the Antarctic sea ice zone. These data are in the ASPeCt format. National program: United States Vessel: Kapitan Khlebnikov Dates in ice: 10 Nov 1995 - 22 Nov 1995 Observers: Steve Ackley Summary of voyage track: 10/11 At ice edge at approx. 60S, 44W 10-12/11 Heading east 13-17/11 Heading predominantly south along approx 10-15W 19-22/11 Heading north along approx same track as route south 22/11 Ice edge at approx. 60S, 27W The fields in this dataset are: SEA ICE CONCENTRATION SEA ICE FLOE SIZE SEA ICE SNOW COVER SEA ICE THICKNESS SEA ICE TOPOGRAPHY SEA ICE TYPE RECORD DATE TIME LATITUDE LONGITUDE OPEN WATER TRACK SNOW THICKNESS SNOW TYPE SEA TEMPERATURE AIR TEMPERATURE WIND VELOCITY WIND DIRECTION FILM COUNTER FRAME COUNTER FOR FILM VIDEO RECORDER COUNTER VISIBILITY CODE CLOUD WEATHER CODE COMMENTS

These data describe pack ice characteristics in the Antarctic sea ice zone. These data are in the ASPeCt format. National program: Australia Vessel: Aurora Australis Dates in ice: 26 Oct 1992 - 14 Nov 1992 Observers: Ian Allison, Tony Worby, Martin Higham Summary of voyage track: 26/10 Ice edge at approx. 60S, 85E 26/10 -1/11 Vessel steamed to Mawson 4-9/11 Vessel steamed from Mawson to Davis, transect in Prydz Bay 11-14/11 Vessel steamed from Davis to ice edge at approx. 61S, 86E. The fields in this dataset are: SEA ICE CONCENTRATION SEA ICE FLOE SIZE SEA ICE SNOW COVER SEA ICE THICKNESS SEA ICE TOPOGRAPHY SEA ICE TYPE RECORD DATE TIME LATITUDE LONGITUDE OPEN WATER TRACK SNOW THICKNESS SNOW TYPE SEA TEMPERATURE AIR TEMPERATURE WIND VELOCITY WIND DIRECTION FILM COUNTER FRAME COUNTER FOR FILM VIDEO RECORDER COUNTER VISIBILITY CODE CLOUD WEATHER CODE COMMENTS

These data describe pack ice characteristics in the Antarctic sea ice zone. These data are in the ASPeCt format. National program: Australia Vessel: Polar Bird Dates in ice: 23 Nov 2000 - 19 Dec 2000 Observers: Mel Fitzpatrick, Ian Allison Summary of voyage track: 23/11 Ice edge at approx. 63S, 111E 23-27/11 Ice edge to Casey fly off 28/11 - 17/12 Ship stuck in ice, drifting slowly westward 18-19/12 Steamed north to ice edge at approx. 64S, 104E The fields in this dataset are: SEA ICE CONCENTRATION SEA ICE FLOE SIZE SEA ICE SNOW COVER SEA ICE THICKNESS SEA ICE TOPOGRAPHY SEA ICE TYPE RECORD DATE TIME LATITUDE LONGITUDE OPEN WATER TRACK SNOW THICKNESS SNOW TYPE SEA TEMPERATURE AIR TEMPERATURE WIND VELOCITY WIND DIRECTION FILM COUNTER FRAME COUNTER FOR FILM VIDEO RECORDER COUNTER VISIBILITY CODE CLOUD WEATHER CODE COMMENTS

These data describe pack ice characteristics in the Antarctic sea ice zone. These data are in the ASPeCt format. National program: Australia Vessel: Aurora Australis Dates in ice: 29 Mar 1993 - 30 Mar 1993 Observers: Tony Worby, Vicky Lytle, Rob Massom, Paul Scott, Kelvin Michael Summary of voyage track: Short transect south of the ice edge at approx 65S, along approx 140E. This voyage was cut short due to a medical emergency only one day after entering the pack ice. The fields in this dataset are: SEA ICE CONCENTRATION SEA ICE FLOE SIZE SEA ICE SNOW COVER SEA ICE THICKNESS SEA ICE TOPOGRAPHY SEA ICE TYPE RECORD DATE TIME LATITUDE LONGITUDE OPEN WATER TRACK SNOW THICKNESS SNOW TYPE SEA TEMPERATURE AIR TEMPERATURE WIND VELOCITY WIND DIRECTION FILM COUNTER FRAME COUNTER FOR FILM VIDEO RECORDER COUNTER VISIBILITY CODE CLOUD WEATHER CODE COMMENTS