Ice Station POLarstern [ISPOL] was a multi-national, interdisciplinary study coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany, involving scientists from different institutes and nations across a range of scientific disciplines. ISPOL had been planned as a 50-day drift station in the Western Weddell Sea. Due to particularly heavy sea-ice conditions, the start of the drifting ice station was delayed, so that the drift interval, originating at -68 degrees 10'N, -54 degrees 46'W, lasted only a total of 35 days (28.11.2004 - 01.01.2005). Data and auxiliary information presented here are on the sea-ice drift and deformation experiment, which was a collaborative research program involving the International Arctic Research Center [IARC] at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Australian Antarctic Division [AAD], the Finnish Institute of Marine Research [FIMR] and the Alfred Wegener Institute [AWI]. Buoy contributions came from all four institutions listed above. - This metadata record covers only AAD buoy data from the ISPOL 2004 experiment. To estimate the characteristics of the sea-ice drift and dynamics in the Western Weddell Sea a meso-scale array of 26 drifting ice buoys was deployed for about 30 days during late November and December 2004. Sea-ice drift was obtained from the horizontal GPS-derived location measurements, which were made at all buoys but collected at various temporal resolutions and different spatial accuracies. Auxiliary instruments were attached to some of the sea-ice drifters, including temperature probes for air and sea-ice temperatures, and air pressure sensors. Four of the buoys were left in the ice pack after the end of the ISPOL field phase to record the large-scale drift in the region around the ice station from late summer into winter. See the metadata record 'Ice Station Polarstern. Aerial photographs over sea ice taken during the ISLOP project' for more information on the ISPOL project. Also, see the URL given below for the ISPOL home page.

This dataset contains CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) and nutrient (nitrate, nitrite (insignificant concentrations), phosphate, silicate) data obtained from the Second International BIOMASS Experiment (SIBEX II) cruise of the Nella Dan, during January 1985. This cruise is the fourth in a series of six cruises, conducting a long term field survey on krill and other zooplankton. 64 CTD casts were taken in the Prydz Bay region, and nutrient data were collected at 44 of the stations. Casts were made to 1000 m or to near bottom if shallower. Oceanographic and nutrient sampling was done a supplement to the krill research program, and therefore was not always ideal for oceanographic purposes. The fields in this dataset are: cruise name station number date start time ship name station position cast depth sea bottom depth Depth Nitrate Nitrite Phosphate Silicate Manganese (Mn) Pressure Temperature Salinity Sigma-T Specific Volume Anomaly Geopotential Anomaly Number of samples Temperature Deviation Conductivity Deviation This dataset was updated by Angela McGaffin to include a summary excel file. This download file also contains the original datasets.

1992 Wintering Field Season at Heard Island. Taken from the report: Genesis of the Expedition The concept of the 1992 expedition arose from the need to gain access to animals at Heard Island for research at precise times of the year to deploy and retrieve time-depth recorders. An Antarctic Science Advisory Committee workshop on the Southern Ocean Ecosystem was held on 10-11 September 1989 to discuss future plans for ANARE areas of operation. The workshop was attended by myself (KG - Ken Green) and Harry Burton (HRB) for the Land-based Biology section. It became apparent that the two consecutive summers needed to deploy and retrieve the recorders (one leaving Heard Island in the autumn, the next arriving early in the spring) could not be accommodated in the planning process because of planned commitments in the eastern sector of the Australian Antarctic Territory. The suggestion was therefore made by us that if two summers were impossible then perhaps the best solution was a wintering party. A memo to this effect was drafted by us and submitted on 26 September 1989. This was considered at a Heard Island Committee meeting on 18 October 1989 when changes to the shipping program were suggested that would allow two consecutive summers on Heard Island and it was concluded that "this arrangement should.....negate the need for a wintering program in the near future". The suggested rearrangement did not fully match the times required and the Land-based Biology section was loathe to deploy equipment in one summer without guaranteed access to the animals in the following spring. It was felt that this could only be assured if the biologists were on the island through the whole period. An additional advantage was that dietary studies of the main fish predators could be continued throughout the winter period. To this effect the proposal for a wintering party was re-submitted on 26 February 1990 with the suggested personnel being three biologists and three people in support. The proposal was re-submitted in more detail on 4 May 1990 and was examined by the ANARE Annual Planning Committee who referred it to the Assistant Director (Science) to "examine the options for conduct of this program and that following this the Heard Island Planning Committee and to the Assistant Director (Science) who was requested to prepare a paper for distribution to committee members for consideration at a meeting to be held on 17 July 1990. At this point the maiden voyage of the Aurora Australis took place with one aim being to deploy a party of four on Heard Island for a period of one month to undertake research into seals and penguins. This party included two of the subsequent wintering party (see Green 1990). This expedition returned in time for the Heard Island Planning Committee meeting which was held to hear reports on the 1990 expedition and to consider the proposals for 1993. A reduced complement of four expeditioners was suggested in a proposal appearing under the signature of the acting Assistant Director (Science). The committee voted to forward the proposal to the ANARE Annual Planning Committee on 26 July 1990 with the suggested alteration in timing so that the wintering expedition occurred in 1992 rather than 1993 to avoid clashing with science requirements for the Lambert Traverse. The ANARE Annual Planning Committee referred the matter to the executive and on 27 August 1990 the Heard Island Planning Committee agreed to "support a limited winter program on Heard Island in 1992 on the condition that it is to be a purely land-based exercise with work restricted to the Spit Bay area" with "a final decision on the conduct of a Heard Island wintering program (to) be made by the Executive in the near future.". Approval was given at the Heard Island Committee meeting of 24 September 1990, subject to approval by the Antarctic Research Evaluation Group (AREG) of the major programs suggested by the Land-based Biology section. At the Heard Island Planning Committee meeting of 12 December 1990 it was confirmed that AREG had provisionally approved the Land-based Biology programs and that the Executive "have supported the program subject to ASAC endorsement of the three proposals put forward." At this stage the Heard Island expedition was expected to proceed on that basis with additional programs to be considered by AREG. From this point the expedition had sufficient momentum to keep going and subsequent meetings of the Heard Island Committee dealt mainly with questions of logistics, infrastructure and procedures (these are covered in Antarctic Division file number 89/754). The final composition of the personnel for the party was not settled until 14 October 1991. The expedition sailed from Hobart on 8 January 1992 on board the Aurora Australis. Assessments of the possibility of landing by zodiac at Spit Bay were made on 24 and 28 January and on 28 January the party was deployed at Atlas Cove using three inflatable rubber boats. For a narrative of the expedition see the Log (later in the report). Scientific Background A commercial Soviet fishery has existed in the Iles Kerguelen region from the early 1970s and catches averaged about 20,000 tonnes per year between 1979 and 1986, dropping to 7886 tonnes in 1987 and 773 tonnes in 1988. Before 1978, the benthic species Notothenia rossi and N. squamifrons were mainstay of this fishery. The icefish, Champsocephalus gunnari increased in importance after that to constitute the majority of the catch. There has been little commercial fishing around Heard Island, and none since a 200 nautical mile Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ) was declared in 1979 (Williams and Ensor 1988). Catches of icefish by the Soviet research vessel RV Professor Mesyatsev on banks to the north-east of Heard Island indicated concentrations of this species in commercial interest, but other species, including benthic fishes also occurring in the diet of the seals, are not sufficiently abundant for commercial interest at this time (Williams and Ensor 1988). Results from the 1987/88 Heard Island ANARE suggested that there was a potential for competition between the increasing numbers of Antarctic Fur Seals and any future commercial fishery (Green et al 1990). Winter data were, however, lacking. In 1990 the first ANARE expedition to be present on the island into the winter period since the 1954 wintering expedition took place, with the main program being an attempt to examine the winter diet and feeding areas of Antarctic Fur Seals. Subsequent assessment of the diet of Southern Elephant Seals comparing Macquarie and Heard Islands (Green and Burton in press) also showed this species to be a potential competitor, both with Antarctic Fur Seals and with a potential fishery. Bearing in mind the possibility that a request for commercial fishing rights within the Heard Island AFZ might be made in the foreseeable future, probably as an adjunct to the Kerguelen or Antarctic fishery rather than a new venture, a full assessment of the role of fish predators was indicated. The analysis of a potential interaction between wildlife and fisheries depends on the collection of three primary sets of data: the availability of commercial fish species, the diet of the predator, and the spatial overlap in the demands of the two competing interests. The aim of the 1992 ANARE was therefore to collect all of these data. The Marine Science cruises to the area collected data on fish location and relative abundance, continuing the work of previous voyages such as Professor Mesyatsev and the Aurora Australis on its maiden voyage. The work of the shore party would be to investigate the diet of fish predators through scat collections and examination of stomach contents. The main objectives of the 1992 ANARE program on Heard Island were therefore to collect data on the feeding ecology of the major warm-blooded predators of fish in the Heard Island region (excluding whales), to provide baseline data in their ecology in the absence of a nearby fishery, and to provide an estimate of the degree of interaction between these animals and a potential fishery. This was considered to be a major scientific program, both in resources and time and was expected to net valuable scientific information from a very small deployment of personnel. In addition to the main objectives, a number of additional research programs were to be conducted by the wintering party including meteorological observations, glaciology, coastal erosion surveys and marine debris surveys. Field Party Erwin Erb, Medical Officer Ken Green, Biologist Geoffrey Moore, Biologist David Slip, Biologist Attila Vrana, Engineer

NOTE - to access these data, please contact the AADC. The data can only be made available on request. This record provides a listing of meteorological data collected in the Australian Antarctic Territory by members of the Australian Antarctic program (and it's predecessors) and the Bureau of Meteorology. The data have been obtained by manual observations and by automatic weather stations. All data are available from the Bureau of Meteorology, and are considered to be the authoritative source of weather data in the Australian Antarctic Territory (as they have been quality checked). Raw data directly from the automatic weather stations at the stations is available at https://data.aad.gov.au/aws. The data available here includes: - Automatic Weather Station data from 7 sites - Casey, Davis, Macquarie Island, Mawson, Wilkins, Davis Whoop Whoop, and Casey Skiway South. Data resolution varies, but is approximately every 30 minutes. - Daily weather data from 48 sites. Note - not all of these sites are still operational. - Synoptic weather data from 53 sites. Note - not all of these sites are still operational. - Terrestrial soil data from 4 sites. Note - not all of these sites are still operational. - Upper air data from 5 sites. Note - not all of these sites are still operational. - High resolution, 1 minute automatic weather station data from 7 sites - Casey, Davis, Macquarie Island, Mawson, Wilkins, Davis Whoop Whoop, and Casey Skiway South. - Daily and Synoptic data from a number of decommissioned sites. Site details of 24 sites. For full site listings, seeing the file for station details within each dataset ("HM01X_StnDet"). Meteorology data from Wilkes Station, Antarctica 1960 - 1968 - data collected include: temperature (maximum and minimum; dry bulb; wet bulb; dew point), air pressure, wind (direction,speed and maximum gust; run (greater than 3 m)), phenomena, sunshine, cloud. Meteorology data from Casey Station (current) (300017), Antarctica 1989 ongoing, surface measurements - location 66.2792 S, 110.5356 E, with a barometric height of 42.3m. Data collected include the following: temperature (maximum and minimum; dry bulb), air pressure, wind (direction;speed), humidity, rainfall, sunshine, cloud, visibility. An AWS is now in operation at Casey station. Meteorology data from Davis Station (300000), Antarctica 1957 ongoing, surface measurements - location 68.5772 S, 77.9725 E, with a station height of 16.0m and a barometric height of 22.3m. - location 66.2792 S, 110.5356 E, with a barometric height of 42.3m. Data collected include the following: temperature (maximum and minimum; dry bulb; terrestrial minimum, soil temperature), air pressure, wind (direction, speed; run), rainfall, sunshine, cloud, humidity, visibility. An AWS is now in operation at Davis station. Meteorology data from Mawson Station (300001), Antarctica 1954 ongoing, surface measurements - location 67.6014 S, 62.8731 E, with a station height of 9.9m and a barometric height of 16.0m. Data collected include the following: temperature (maximum and minimum; dry bulb), air pressure, wind (direction,speed), humidity, cloud, rainfall, sunshine. An AWS is now in operation at Mawson station. Meteorology data from Macquarie Island Station (300004), 1948 ongoing, surface measurements - location 54.4997 S, 158.9522 E, with a station height of 6.0m, a barometric height of 8.3m and an aerodrome height of 6.0m. Data collected include the following: temperature (maximum and minimum; dry bulb; wet bulb; terrestrial minimum; soil 10cm,20cm,50cm,100cm), air pressure, wind (direction; speed; run), rainfall, sunshine, cloud, visibility, humidity, sea state, radiation. An AWS is now in operation at Macquarie Island station. Meteorology data from Heard Island (Atlas Cove) Station (300005), first installed 1948 - location 53.02 S, 73.39 E, with a station height of 3.0m, and a barometric height of 3.5m. Data collected include the following: temperature, air pressure, rainfall. Meteorology data from Heard Island (The Spit) Station (300028), installed 1992 - location 53.1069 S, 73.7211 E, with a station height of 12.0m and a barometric height of 12.5m. Data collected include the following: temperature (air and minimum terrestrial), air pressure, humidity, wind direction, sunshine, cloud. Meteorology data from Casey Station (current) (300017), Antarctica 1989 ongoing, upper atmosphere measurements - location 66.2792 S, 110.5356 E, with a barometric height of 42.3m. Data collected include the following: upper atmospheric temperature (via a radiosonde), upper atmospheric wind (using a wind find radar). Meteorology data from Davis Station (300000), Antarctica 1957 ongoing, upper atmosphere measurements - location 68.5772 S, 77.9725 E, with a station height of 16.0m and a barometric height of 22.3m. Data collected include the following: upper atmospheric temperature (using radiosonde), upper atmosphere wind (using wind find radar). Meteorology data from Mawson Station (300001), Antarctica 1954 ongoing, upper atmosphere measurements - location 67.6014 S, 62.8731 E, with a station height of 9.9m and a barometric height of 16.0m. Data collected include the following: upper atmosphere temperature and wind (using sounding processor and GPS). Meteorology data from Macquarie Island Station (300004), 1948 ongoing, upper atmosphere measurements - location 54.4997 S, 158.9522 E, with a station height of 6.0m, a barometric height of 8.3m and an aerodrome height of 6.0m. Data collected include the following: upper atmosphere temperature and wind (collected using wind find radar and radiosondes). Meteorology data from Knuckey Peaks Station (300009), 1975 - 1984 - location 67.8 S, 53.5 E. Meteorology data from Heard Island (Atlas Cove) Station (300005), first installed 1948, upper atmosphere measurements - location 53.02 S, 73.39 E, with a station height of 3.0m, and a barometric height of 3.5m. Data recorded include: upper atmosphere temperature, upper atmosphere wind. Meteorology data from Mount King Satellite of Mawson Station (300010), Antarctica, 1975 - 1984 - location 67.1 S, 52.5 E, with a station height of 112.5m. Data recorded include: temperature (dry bulb), air pressure, humidity, visibility, and some upper atmosphere measurements. Meteorology data from Lanyon Junction Station (300011), Antarctica 1983 to 1987 - location 66.3 S, 110.8667 E, with a station height of 470.0m. Observational records include: humidity charts, thermograph charts, pilot balloon flights, and surface observations. Meteorology data from Haupt Nunatak (Casey) Automatic Weather Station (site 300012), installed 1994 - located at 66.5819 S, 110.6939 E near Casey station, with a station height of 81.4m and a barometer height of 83.4m. Data recorded include: barometric pressure, wind direction, speed and gust, and air temperature. Meteorology data from Depot Peak site (300013), Antarctica, installed 1990 - location 69.05 S, 164.6 E, and has a station height of 1600 m. Instruments at the site include: barometer, cup anemometer and humicap (temperature and humidity). Meteorology data from Edgeworth David (Bunger Hills) Station (300014), Antarctica, 1986 to 1989 - location 66.25 S, 100.6036 E, with a station height of 6.0m and a barometric height of 7.0m. Meteorology data from Law Base Station (300015),Antarctica, 1989 - 1992 - location 69.4167 S, 76.5 E, with a station height of 77.0m. Meteorology data from Dovers Station (300016), Antarctica, 1988 to 1992 - located at 70.2333 S, 65.85 E, with a station height of 1058.0m and a barometric height of 1059.0m. Data recorded include: Air pressure, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, cloud, visibility and upper atmosphere data. Meteorology data from Balaena Island Automatic Weather Station (300032), installed 1994 - location 66.017 S, 111.0833 E, 22.21 Nm NE of Casey, with a station height of 8.0m and a barometric height of 10m. Data collected from this AWS include: Wind speed and direction, wind gust, air temperature and barometric pressure. Meteorology data from Snyder Rocks Automatic Weather Station (300033), Antarctica, installed 1994 - located at 66.55 S, 107.75 E, with a station height of 40m and a barometric height of 42m. Data collected include: air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, direction and gust. Meteorology data from Law Dome Summit South Automatic Weather Station (300034), Antarctica, installed 1995 - location 66.717 S, 112.9333 E, with a station height of 1375.0 m. Data collected include: air pressure, air temperature, wind speed and direction. Meteorology data from Casey(old) Station, Antarctica 1969 - 1989. Data collected include: temperature (maximum and minimum; dry bulb; wet bulb; dew point), air pressure, wind (direction,speed and maximum gust; run (greater than 3 m)), phenomena, sunshine, cloud, radiation (global,diffuse).