Geoscience Australia surveyors Bart Thomas and Ryan Ruddick travelled to Macquarie Island on the Australian Antarctic Division's voyage VMI in November/December 2016. Survey work for a number of Australian Antarctic projects was undertaken at the station on Macquarie Island. Project 4092 - Geoscience Australia geodetic and geophysical monitoring program: - Upgrade and modernise the GNSS equipment. - Undertake a local monitoring survey of the GNSS equipment. Project 5067 – Tide Gauges: - Validate tide gauge reference marks on station and at tide gauge. Project 5092 – Modernisation and Infrastructure: - Survey the pits and lights between the ANARESAT dome and the fire hydrant. - Spot heights along the isthmus. - Survey the corners of the spa and sauna building and Riometer. Project 4036 – Remediation of petroleum contaminants in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic: - Provide heights on Piezo Tubes.

The broadscale distribution of flora (lichens, mosses, non-marine algae)and fauna (penguins, flying birds, seals)in the Stillwell Hills was mapped using GPS technology. Samples of flora were collected for taxonomic identification. Data were recorded and catalogued in shapefiles.

The ANARE Health Register, which has been in operation since 1987, is designed to gather, store, analyse and report on all health related events occurring in the ANARE population. The principal aims of the project are to: - quantify the occurrence of ill health in Antarctic personnel. - compare the incidence rates with those in the domestic population. - assess any trends in health events. - identify high risk groups, in order to modify conditions accordingly. - assess the role of pre-existing health conditions. - examine the causes of injury. - quantify the procedures performed and drugs administered. The results of all medical consultations are coded according to the International Classification of Diseases and analysed on both a monthly and an annual basis in order to assess any emerging trends. In addition to serving as a long-term data base for epidemiological studies, the Health Register is proving to be a useful tool in the day-to-day operations of the Polar Medicine Branch of the Australian Antarctic Division.

The 'Australian Antarctic Territory coastline 2003' dataset is a digital vector representation of the coastline of Antarctica, between 45 to 160 degrees east, based on both the edge of permanent ice and grounding line, derived by means of remote sensing interpretation. A 'proof of concept' methodology over a test area was carried out to compare a number of complementary remote sensing techniques, including interferometry and airborne ice radar profiling, to confirm validation of grounding line as mapped from Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery. This methodology concept then served to validate grounding line locations elsewhere along the coast of the AAT. The National Mapping Division of Geoscience Australia and the Australian Antarctic Division developed this dataset as a joint project. Where available, Australian Antarctic Division supplied large-scale vector data of various areas around the AAT, which were included as part of the main coastline dataset. These included: * Holme Bay 1:25,000 GIS dataset * Larsemann Hills - Mapping from aerial photography captured February 1998 * Rauer Group 1:50000 Topographic GIS Dataset * Vestfold Hills Topographic GIS Dataset * Windmill Islands 1:50000 Topographic GIS Dataset * Cape Denison and McKellar Islands GIS dataset from Ikonos satellite imagery Refer to the metadata record for each of these datasets for further information. The coastline dataset is comprised of three parts: one polygon coverage consisting of ice features, and another one consisting of coastal features. A third coverage consists of only island point features (islands too small to be shown as polygons). This dataset supersedes the Australian Antarctic Territory Coastline 2001 dataset which is also part of SCAR's Antarctic Digital Database (ADD) version 4 and version 5. It replaces data digitised from Landsat 4 and 5, with that from Landsat 7 ETM+, because of its more reliable positional accuracy and more recent acquisition. The Australian Antarctic Territory Coastline 2001 dataset and metadata record have been archived. Please contact the Australian Antarctic Data Centre if you would like a copy of this data and metadata.

Taken from sections of the report: Introduction This report details the survey work carried out in Antarctica and Heard Island from December of 1996 to March of 1997 by AUSLIG on behalf of Australian Antarctic Divisions Mapping Program. The principle aim of this work was to acquire aerial photography of; the coastal areas west of Mawson, Scullin and Murray Monoliths, the immediate area around Davis station, Gaussberg and Heard Island. A number of other tasks were also carried out. In the following pages each task will be dealt with in terms of the technique employed and the results achieved and coordinates will be quoted as appropriate to the topic being discussed. Where these coordinates have been derived from GPS observations a detailed report on the processing of each baseline can be found at Appendix C. These result files have also been supplied in digital form. The survey work was carried out by the following people : Paul Digney Antarctic Division Volunteer Roger Handsworth Platypus Engineering Noel Ward AUSLIG This report does not cover the specifics of the work carried out by Roger Handsworth, that being the subject of separate reports to be submitted by him. Time Frame The survey field party departed Hobart at 5pm on Monday 9 December 1996 aboard RV Aurora Australis, Voyage 4 of the Antarctic re-supply season. Voyage 4 commenced cargo operations at Mawson on 22 December 1996. The survey party returned to Australia via Heard island from Davis Station departing Davis on 15 March 1997 aboard RV Aurora Australis, Voyage 5. Voyage 5 returned to Hobart on Saturday 29 March 1997. All passengers disembarked at about 5pm that day. The movements of the Survey party between operational areas whilst within Antarctica are as follows : 22 December 1996 - The Stillwell Hills field party, including the survey party, departed for the Stillwell Hills directly from RV Aurora Australis, 10 January 1997 - The Stillwell Hills field party, including the survey party moved to Kemp Peak depot, Stillwell Hills 11 January 1997 - The Survey party move to Mawson by S76 helicopter 29 January 1997 - Move to Davis Station via Sansom Island, by S76 helicopter, 13 February 1997 - 'Day trip' to Gaussberg ex. Davis by S76 helicopter. Aim and Project Brief Work was undertaken by AUSLIG for Antarctic Division in a number of operational areas this season. The principle areas of activity Mawson Station and the coastal areas west to Kloa Point, Davis Station and the Vestfold Hills, Gaussberg and Heard Island. The actual tasks to be carried out and the prioritisation of those tasks, at each location defined by Australian Antarctic Division and were detailed in their Brief to Surveyors(see Appendix A). As the season progressed variations both in the scope of the work programme and the relative priorities of tasks within the programme occurred. Such changes were forwarded from the Mapping Officer if originating in Kingston; or if originating in Antarctica were discussed with the Mapping Officer, if operational circumstances allowed, before implementation. At each location the major task was the acquisition of aerial photography and then establishment of ground control for that photography. Other significant tasks included vertical connections between tide gauge bench marks and the ARGN GPS sites.

Taken from sections of the report: Introduction This report details the survey work carried out on Macquarie Island during January of 1996 by AUSLIG on behalf of Australian Antarctic Divisions Mapping Program. The principle aim of this work was to acquire aerial photography of the island so that a new topographic map of the island can be produced. A number of other tasks were also carried out. In the following pages each task will be dealt with in terms of the technique employed and the results achieved. The survey work was carried out by the following people : Paul Boland Tasmania Department of Environment and Land Management, Troy Lee Antarctic Division Volunteer, Stuart Smith Antarctic Division Volunteer, Roger Handsworth Platypus Engineering, Noel Ward AUSLIG. This report does not cover the specifics of the work carried out by Paul Boland or Roger Handsworth, that being the subject of separate reports to be submitted by them. Time Frame The Macquarie Island survey field party departed Hobart at 3pm on Thursday 4th of January 1996 aboard MV Polar Bird, voyage 3.1 of the Antarctic re-supply season. Voyage 3.1 arrived at Macquarie island at about 5am eastern summer time (UT+11) on Sunday 7th of January 1996. The survey party departed Macquarie Island on 12th of January aboard MV Polar Bird, voyage 3.1, at about 0:50am local time. Voyage 3.1 returned to Hobart on Sunday the 14th of January. All passengers where disembarked at about 6pm that day. Aim and Project Brief The survey program, as detailed by Antarctic Division in its Brief to Surveyors, comprised the following tasks, this document is included as Appendix A 1. Attempt aerial photography of the whole island, 2. Mark the boundaries of the Historic Zone and Zone A in the vicinity of the Isthmus, 3. Field check the new station facilities information system, including the location of all masts, antennae, guys and walkways. 4. Positioning of ERS-1 and 2 corner cube reflectors, 5. Precise levelling, 6. Fix, by GPS, survey marks AUS 157 and AUS 158. 7. Precise GPS connection from the ARGN site to the Hurd Point Tide Gauge site.

Taken from sections of the report: The aim of the survey and mapping program on V5.1 was to carry out various surveying tasks at Mawson and Casey as listed later in this report. The vessel used in Voyage 5.1 was The Polar Queen. Voyage 5.1 left Capetown on Thursday 18th February and arrived Fremantle Friday 19th. March. Depart Capetown Thursday 18th February Arrive Mawson Sunday 28th February Depart Mawson Tuesday 2nd March Arrive Davis Thursday 4th March Depart Davis Thursday 4th March Arrive Casey Monday 8th March Depart Casey Thursday 11th March Arrive Fremantle Thursday 18th March The survey team was: Henk Brolsma Australian Antarctic Division - surveyor. John Hyslop Australian Antarctic Division - volunteer surveyor. The surveying at Mawson and Casey included bringing the data representing the station infrastructure up to date. The station infrastructure data is available for download in GIS format (shapefiles) from Related URLs below. The data resulting from this survey has a Dataset_id of 15. The data is formatted according to the SCAR Feature Catalogue. For data quality information about a particular feature use the Qinfo number of the feature to search for information using the 'Search datasets and quality' tab at a Related URL below. Matt King, Rachel Manson and Lee Palfrey assisted with survey work at Casey. They carried out GPS surveys for aerial photo control, Casey and Wilkes, tide gauge bench marks at Casey, buildings detail at Wilkes and route markers around the station. Their work is not covered in this report.

In December 2008, the RSV Aurora Australis had an opportunity to visit Heard Island and McDonald Islands. A number of activities took place and included: - An aerial survey (16th December) from the north coast of Red Island (west end) to the end of The Spit. The helicopter flew approximately 1.5 km offshore and at an altitude of about 1900 ft. Then it flew directly to the west coast and surveyed from Henderson Bluff to Kildalke. Video, stereo photos and photos of wildlife colonies and areas of interest were taken. - An aerial survey (17th December) from The Spit travelling along the south coast. Then repeating the aerial survey of the 16th. The survey of the 16th was in dull light and was repeated on the 17th when light was better. - A ship-based survey from Atlas Roads to the north coast of The Spit was made on the 16th December and from Atlas Roads to Red Island on the 17th December. Stereo photos, photos of wildlife and named features and video were taken about 2nm offshore. - A team of people visited Atlas Cove and assessed the huts and ruins, took stereo photos of heritage items and elephant seals. - A small team flew around the Island and assessed and photographed the hut sites. - On the 17th December, the RSV Aurora Australis sailed past McDonald Islands. Visibility was poor so only a few photos were taken. - Water samples were taken for AAS Project 2899. More information is included in documents and spreadsheets, including some GPS locations of where photographs were taken, by whom and photo descriptions.

Introduction The purpose of the 97/98 Antarctic survey season was to provide survey control and vertical and oblique aerial photography around Mawson, Davis, Beaver Lake, and the Prince Charles Mountains in support of the ANARE mapping program as well as providing survey support for other ANARE science programs. The following team carried out this survey work: Christopher Watson - Antarctic Division Volunteer Surveyor, John Hyslop - LANDINFO Surveyor. Project Outline The Antarctic Division's Brief to Surveyors which outlines the details of the program is included in Appendix A. The survey program for Antarctica 97/8 was divided into two main areas of interest. Mawson station from Voyage 2 to 4 which included photo control of offshore islands, aerial photography of penguin colonies with the Linhof camera, Mawson tide gauge network and updating the station map. Davis station from Voyage 4 to 5 which included aerial photography of the Rauer Group and Larsemann Hills, aerial photography and tide gauge work at Beaver Lake, and vertical and oblique aerial photography in the Southen Prince Charles Mountains. Also photo control at Scullin and Murray Monoliths and photography at Mount Brown, Mirny offshore island and features between Mirny and Davis. At Davis station surveys included Station detail surveys tide gauge connections and lake water levels in the Vestfold Hills. At Casey station during V2 stop over survey work was requested at the wharf area, levelling and detail survey updates. Recommendations: Aerial photography. The following suggestions are made. 1. The flight program be upgraded to allow a digital map to be shown on the screen. 2. The pilots display did not work in the helicopter and the problem needs to be fixed. I suspect it may have been due to the setting in the flight program. I had difficulty understanding what all the settings meant and perhaps more documentation may help. 3. Because of 2. more reliance was placed on the air crew navigating from the monitor and hence felt the need for more control over the display eg. Zooming in and out and run selection. 4. A video drift sight would be a great advantage. If this were somehow attached directly to the camera there would be more room and less leads involved. 5. Some of the film spools were too tight on the cogged drive shaft. At Beaver Lake when loading film in a black camera bag in the helicopter I had to wind the new film onto another spool that would fit. The spools need to be checked. Logistics. The need to return the helicopter to Davis each day seems to me to be an extremely expensive requirement. To get to the Southern Prince Charles Mountains is an eight hour return trip. 11 hour flying is about all the pilots can do in a day which does not leave much time for productive work. We did have an opportunity to do aerial photography on the way but on the two days we went to the PCMs we decided to make the first priority the main destination and hope for time on the return trip, but each occasion we were too late and returned by the most direct route. I could not help thinking how much more work we could have done if the helicopters had been based at Beaver Lake for a few days. There were also days when the weather was fine and suitable for flying in the PCMs but we could not leave Davis through bad weather on the way. This method of operation also understandably placed pressures on using the helicopters to the fullest. The last days flying in the PCMs was done with 4 people in the back of the S76. We then were asked if we could take 300kg of equipment back from a Mawson Escarpment camp. That made photographic operation a bit cramped but by then the weather was against further photography. I felt that through Joe Johnson, station leader and Jim Wilson, chief pilot we got excellent support for the photographic program but with the S76 deployed in the area of operation we could have achieved a lot more.

Taken from sections of the report: Introduction This report details the survey work carried out on Voyage 4 during November and December 1998 by LANDINFO on behalf of the Australian Antarctic Division's MAGIP Field Program. The principle aim of this work was to acquire aerial photography of penguin rookeries near Australia's three Antarctic Stations and to carry out survey work associated with the Antarctic Tide Gauge Network. A number of other tasks were also carried out. This report details each task carried out and the results achieved. The following people carried out the survey work: Richard Lemon LANDINFO Pty Ltd Roger Handsworth Antarctic Division Instrument Engineer This report covers the fieldwork associated with the MAGIP Field Program. Some non survey aspects of the tide gauge work will be the subject of a separate report to be submitted by Roger Handsworth. Time Frame The survey party departed Hobart at 5:15pm on Thursday 29th October 1998 aboard the Aurora Australis on Voyage 4 of the 1998-99 summer season. The survey party arrived at Casey Station via helicopter from the Aurora Australis just before 12pm (UTC+8) on Saturday 7th November. After spending a period of about 25 hours at Casey the survey team returned to the Aurora Australis at about 1pm on Sunday 8th November 1998. The Aurora Australis arrived off Davis Station on the morning of Wednesday 18th November 1998. The survey party had access to the station from about 2.30pm (UTC+7) the same day. The survey team had four full days in which to carry out its tasks at Davis. The Aurora Australis left Davis on the morning of Sunday 22nd November on route to Sansom Island. The survey party returned to the Aurora Australis by helicopter at about 7:30pm on Sunday 22nd November. The survey party was flown to Sansom Island at about 9:30am on Monday 23rd November and returned to the Aurora Australis at about 3:30pm the same day. Due to problems with Aurora Australis' propeller pitch control, the survey party was flown to Mawson Station by long range helicopter on Wednesday 2nd December and arrived at about 8:30am (UTC+6). The survey team had eight full days at Mawson station before departing for the Ship on Thursday 10th December at about 11am. The Aurora Australis returned to Fremantle at about 11am Western Standard Time (UTC+8) on Monday 28th December 1998. Project Outline The Antarctic Division's Brief, which outlines the details of the program, is included in Appendix A. The program of work was divided into four specific sites, Casey, Davis, Mawson and Sansom Island. The work at each of the Antarctic stations was divided into two main areas of interest. These being the aerial photography of the penguin rookeries using the Linhof camera and survey work associated with the tide gauges and tide gauge bench marks. The work at Sansom Island involved the coordination of photo control points. A list of the individual tasks and a summary of the achievements can be found at Appendix B.