This dataset is a bathymetric grid of the region 60E to 90E and 48.45S to 70S, created in a geographic coordinate system based on a WGS84 horizontal datum. The grid has a cell size of 0.005 degrees. Most of the work involved creating a bathymetric grid of the region 60E to 90E and 55S to 70S which was generated from the latest available multibeam swath bathymetry, fisheries' surveys and satellite altimetry data. A report outlining the development of this grid is available for download (see the related url below). This grid was then merged with the bathymetric grid described by the metadata record 'Bathymetric Grid of Heard Island - Kerguelen Plateau Region (2005)', which covers the region 68E to 80E and 48S to 56S. Hence the final grid has two 'No data' areas between 48.45S to 55S: 60E to 68E and 80E to 90E. The final grid is available for download as a geotiff and ArcInfo ascii file and contours derived from the grid are available for download as a shapefile (see the related urls below).

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 1263 See the link below for public details on this project. ---- Public Summary from Project ---- The project will involve making a series of measurements of the ice-sheet topography using GPS static and kinematic procedures so that they can be used to calibrate/validate measurements made from the new generation of satellite geoscience laser altimeter systems (GLAS). The measurements of the ice sheet topography will be made near-simultaneously (within 8-16 days) from both GPS and laser systems (and possibly also from an aircraft laser altimeter) and used to assess the error budgets of the GLAS satellite. The overall goal of the project is to determine the seasonal and interannual variation in surface elevation of the Antarctic ice sheet. This information is essential for predicting future changes in ice volume and sea-level. See the documentation provided in the dataset for more information.

We assembled tracking data from seabirds (n = 12 species) and marine mammals (n = 5 species), collected between 1991 and 2016, from across the Antarctic predator research community. See https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/SCAR_EGBAMM_RAATD_2018_Standardised and https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/SCAR_EGBAMM_RAATD_2018_Filtered for the tracking data. Habitat selectivity modelling was applied to these tracking data in order to identify the environmental characteristics important to each species, and to produce circum-Antarctic predictions of important geographic space for each individual species. The individual species maps were then combined to identify regions important to our full suite of species. This approach enabled us to account for incomplete tracking coverage (i.e., colonies from which no animals have been tracked) and to produce an integrated and spatially explicit assessment of areas of ecological importance across the Southern Ocean. The data attached to this metadata record include the single-species maps for Adelie, emperor, king, macaroni, and royal penguins; Antarctic and white-chinned petrels; black-browed, grey-headed, light-mantled, sooty, and wandering albatross; humpback whales; Antarctic fur seal, southern elephant seals, and crabeater and Weddell seals. The data also include the integrated maps that incorporate all species (weighted by colony size, and unweighted). See the paper and its supplementary information for full details on the modelling process and discussion of the model outputs.

The Retrospective Analysis of Antarctic Tracking Data (RAATD) is a Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) project led jointly by the Expert Groups on Birds and Marine Mammals and Antarctic Biodiversity Informatics, and endorsed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The RAATD project team consolidated tracking data for multiple species of Antarctic meso- and top-predators to identify Areas of Ecological Significance. These datasets constitute the compiled tracking data from a large number of research groups that have worked in the Antarctic since the 1990s. This metadata record pertains to the "standardized" version of the data files. These files contain position estimates as provided by the original data collectors (generally, raw Argos or GPS locations, or estimated GLS locations). Original data files have been converted to a common format and quality-checking applied, but have not been further filtered or interpolated. Periods at the start or end of deployments were identified and discarded if there was evidence that location data during these periods did not represent the animals' at-sea movement. For example, tags may have been turned on early (thereby recording locations prior to their deployment on animals) or animals may have remained at the deployment site, e.g. the breeding colony, for an extended period at the start or end of the tag deployment. Some tracks also showed a marked deterioration in the frequency and quality (for PTTs) of location estimates near the end of a track. Such locations were visually identified based on maps of each track in conjunction with plots of location distance from deployment site against time. This information is captured in the location_to_keep column appended to each species’ data file (1 = keep, 0 = discard). The code used to trim the tracks can be found in the https://github.com/SCAR/RAATD repository. This data set comprises one metadata csv file that describes all deployments, along with data csv files (17 files, one per species) containing the position data. For details of the file formats, consult the data paper. The data are also available in a filtered version (see https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/SCAR_EGBAMM_RAATD_2018) that have been processed using a state-space model in order to estimate locations at regular time intervals.

The Retrospective Analysis of Antarctic Tracking Data (RAATD) is a Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) project led jointly by the Expert Groups on Birds and Marine Mammals and Antarctic Biodiversity Informatics, and endorsed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The RAATD project team consolidated tracking data for multiple species of Antarctic meso- and top-predators to identify Areas of Ecological Significance. These datasets constitute the compiled tracking data from a large number of research groups that have worked in the Antarctic since the 1990s. This metadata record pertains to the "filtered" version of the data files. These files contain position estimates that have been processed using a state-space model in order to estimate locations at regular time intervals. For technical details of the filtering process, consult the data paper. The filtering code can be found in the https://github.com/SCAR/RAATD repository. This data set comprises one metadata csv file that describes all deployments, along with data files (3 files for each of 17 species). For each species there is: - an RDS file that contains the fitted filter model object and model predictions (this file is RDS format that can be read by the R statistical software package) - a PDF file that shows the quality control results for each individual model - a CSV file containing the interpolated position estimates For details of the file contents and formats, consult the data paper. The data are also available in a standardized version (see https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/SCAR_EGBAMM_RAATD_2018_Standardised) that contain position estimates as provided by the original data collectors (generally, raw Argos or GPS locations, or estimated GLS locations) without state-space filtering.

Taken from sections of the report: In recent years, Geoscience Australia (GA) has increased its capability on the Antarctic continent with the installation of Continuous Global Positioning System (CGPS) sites in the Prince Charles Mountains and Grove Mountains. Over the course of the 2006/07 Antarctic summer, Alex Woods and Nick Brown from Geoscience Australia (GA) collaborated with Dan Zwartz of the Australian National University (ANU) to install new CGPS sites at the Bunger Hills and Richardson Lake and perform maintenance of the CGPS sites at the Grove Mountains, Wilson Bluff, Daltons Corner and Beaver Lake. The primary aim of the CGPS sites is to provide a reference frame for Antarctica, which is used to determine the long-term movement of the Antarctic plate. Data from Casey, Mawson and Davis is supplied to the International GPS Service (IGS) and in turn used in the derivation of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). The sites also open up opportunities for research into post-glacial rebound and plate tectonics. In many respects CGPS sites in Antarctica are still in their infancy. Since the mid 1990's Geoscience Australia and the Australian National University have been testing new technology and various methods to determine the most effective way of running a CGPS site in Antarctica. A more detailed review of Australia's involvement in Antarctic GPS work can be found in (Corvino, 2004) In addition, a reconnaissance survey was undertaken at Syowa Station to determine whether a local tie survey could be performed on the Syowa VLBI antenna in the future. Upgrades were made to the Davis and Mawson CGPS stations and geodetic survey tasks such as reference mark surveys, tide gauge benchmark levelling and GPS surveys were performed at both Davis and Mawson stations. In addition, work requested by Geoscience Australia's Nuclear Monitoring Project, the Australian Government Antarctic Division (AGAD) and the University of Tasmania (UTAS) were completed. The 2006/07 Geoscience Australia Antarctic expedition proved to be one of the most successful Antarctic seasons by geodetic surveyors from Geoscience Australia. All intended field locations were visited and all work tasks were completed. Background The primary aim of the CGPS sites is to provide a reference frame for Antarctica, which is used to determine the long-term movement of the Antarctic plate. Data from Casey, Mawson and Davis is supplied to the International GPS Service (IGS) and in turn used in the derivation of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). The sites also open up opportunities for research into post-glacial rebound and plate tectonics. In many respects CGPS sites in Antarctica are still in their infancy. Since the mid 1990's Geoscience Australia and the Australian National University have been testing new technology and various methods to determine the most effective way of running a CGPS site in Antarctica. Dr John Gibson from The University of Tasmania requested that Alex Woods and Nick Brown collect moss samples from any locations visited during the Antarctic summer field season. While working in the field only a few moss specimens were found. No moss or lichen specimens were observed at locations such as Wilson Bluff, Dalton Corner, Beaver Lake or the Grove Mountains. Moss samples were collected at Richardson Lake and Mawson Station and these samples were frozen after collection and returned to Australia. This work contributed towards AAS (ASAC) project 1159.