From the abstract of some of the referenced papers: An expert system is being developed which will apply knowledge-based techniques to the automated interpretation of remotely sensed sea-ice images taken over East Antarctica by the NOAA series of meteorological satellites. It is capable of accepting satellite images, deriving characteristic features from them and then performing knowledge-based reasoning to identify regions of cloud, land, open water and various categories of sea-ice. XXXXXXXXXXXXX This paper describes the system design of SPARTEX, a system developed to use information from remote sensing and geographic information systems linked to expert systems. It aims to automate the process of classifying information about the actual or potential use of part of the earth's surface. See the link below for public details on this project.

This data set contains the results from a study of the behaviour of Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddelli) at the Vestfold Hills, Prydz Bay, Antarctica. Three satellite transmitters were deployed on tagged female Weddell seals at the Vestfold Hills mid-winter (June) 1999. The transmitters were recovered in December, late in the pupping season. In total, the three transmitters were deployed and active 170 days, 175 days and 180 days. I used the first two classes of data to get fixes with a standard deviation less than 1 km. Most seal holes were more that 1 km apart (see Entry: wed_survey) so at this resolution we can distinguish between haul-out sites. We examine the number and range of locations used by the individual seals. We use all data collectively to look at diurnal and seasonal changes in haul-out bouts. None of the seals were located at sites outside the area of fast ice at the Vestfold Hills, although one seal was sighted on new fast-ice (20 - 40 cm thick). Considering the long bouts in the water, and that we only tracked haul-out locations, the results do not eliminate the possibility that the seals made long trips at sea. The original data are stored by the Australian Antarctic Division in the ARGOS system on the mainframe Alpha. The transmitter numbers are 23453, 7074 and 7075.

An occupancy survey in December 2009-February 2010 and January 2011 found a total of 6 islands along the Knox coast had populations of breeding Adelie penguins. The survey in 2009/10 was conducted from a fixed wing aircraft and oblique aerial photographs were taken of occupied sites. The aerial photographs were geo-referenced to satellite images or the coastline shapefile from the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA, tile E157) and the boundaries of penguin colonies were digitised from the geo-referenced photos. Details for each island are: Merrit: Photographs taken on 1 February 2010 and geo-referenced to LIMA tile E157 Cape Nutt: Photographs taken on 5 January 2010 and geo-referenced to a Quickbird satellite image taken on 17 February 2011 Ivanoff Head: Photographs taken on 27 December 2009 and geo-referenced to LIMA tile E157 Please refer to the Seabird Conservation Team Data Sharing Policy for use, acknowledgement and availability of data prior to downloading data.

An occupancy survey in December 2009-February 2010 and January 2011 found a total of 6 islands along the Knox coast had populations of breeding Adelie penguins. The survey in 2009/10 was conducted from a fixed wing aircraft and oblique aerial photographs were taken of occupied sites. The aerial photographs were geo-referenced to satellite images or the coastline shapefile from the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA, tile E157) and the boundaries of penguin colonies were digitised from the geo-referenced photos. Details for each island are: Merrit: Photographs taken on 1 February 2010 and geo-referenced to LIMA tile E157 Cape Nutt: Photographs taken on 5 January 2010 and geo-referenced to a Quickbird satellite image taken on 17 February 2011 Ivanoff Head: Photographs taken on 27 December 2009 and geo-referenced to LIMA tile E157 Please refer to the Seabird Conservation Team Data Sharing Policy for use, acknowledgement and availability of data prior to downloading data.

This dataset contains the results from satellite tracking the movements of Adelie Penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) from Magnetic Island near Davis Station, Antarctica. By the use of satellite fixes the foraging locations of the penguins were determined. Monitoring occurred during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 summer seasons. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 2205 (ASAC_2205), 'Adelie penguin research and monitoring in support of the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Project'. Further work in the Davis area was completed under other projects.

As seabirds emperor penguins spent a large proportion of their lives at sea. For food they depend entirely on marine resources. Young penguins rarely return to their natal colonies after their first year. Satellite tracking will give us insights into where foraging areas may be that are important for these birds. This tracking work is part of a multi-species study funded by the Integrated Marine Observation System (IMOS).

This dataset contains the results from satellite tracking the movements of Adelie Penguins (Pygoscellis adeliae) from Edmonson Point in the Terra Nova Bay region, Antarctica. By the use of satellite fixes the foraging locations of the penguins were determined. Monitoring took place between 1994 and 2001. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 2205 (ASAC_2205), 'Adelie penguin research and monitoring in support of the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Project'.

Maps of East Antarctic landfast sea-ice extent, generated from approx. 250,000 1 km visible/thermal infrared cloud-free MODIS composite imagery (augmented with AMSR-E 6.25-km sea-ice concentration composite imagery when required). Because of imperfections in the MODIS composite images (typically caused by inaccurate cloud masking, persistent cloud in a given region, and/or a highly dynamic fast-ice edge), automation of the fast-ice extent retrieval process was not possible. Each image was thus classified manually. A study of errors/biases of this process revealed that most images were able to be classified with a 2-sigma accuracy of +/- ~3%. More details are provided in Fraser et al., (2010). *Version 1.2 with extra QC around the Mawson coast and Lutzow-Holm Bay The directory named "pngs" contains browsable maps of fast-ice extent, in the form of Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images. Each of the 159 consecutive images (20-day intervals from Day Of Year (DOY) 61-80, 2000 to DOY 341-366, 2008) contains a map of fast-ice extent along the East Antarctic coast, generated from MODIS and AMSR-E imagery. The colour scale is as follows: Dark blue: Fast ice, as classified from a single 20-day MODIS composite image Red: Fast ice, as classified using the previous or next 20-day MODIS composite images Yellow: Fast ice, as classified using a single 20-day AMSR-E composite image White: Antarctic continent (including ice shelves), as defined using the Mosaic of Antarctica product. Light blue: Southern ocean/pack ice/icebergs These maps are also provided as unformatted binary fast ice images, in the directory named "imgs". These .img files are all flat binary images of dimension 4300 * 425 pixels. The data type is 8-bit byte. Within the .img files, the value for each pixel indicates its cover: 0: Southern Ocean, pack ice or icebergs, corresponding to light blue in the PNG files. 1: Antarctic continent (including ice shelves), as defined using the Mosaic of Antarctica product, corresponding to white in the PNG files. 2: Fast ice, as classified from a single 20-day MODIS composite image, corresponding to dark blue in the PNG files 3: Fast ice, as classified using a single 20-day AMSR-E composite image, corresponding to yellow in the PNG files 4: Fast ice, as classified using the previous or next 20-day MODIS composite images, corresponding to red in the PNG files To assist in georeferencing these data, files containing information on the latitude and longitude of each pixel are provided in the directory named "geo". These files are summarised as follows: lats.img: File containing the latitude of the centre of each pixel. File format is unformatted 32-bit floating point, 4300 * 425 pixels. lons.img: File containing the longitude of the centre of each pixel. File format is unformatted 32-bit floating point, 4300 * 425 pixels. The .gpd Grid Point Descriptor file used to build the projection is also included. It contains parameters which you can use for matching your projection. To refer to the time series, climatology, or maps of average persistence, please reference this paper: Fraser, A. D., R. A. Massom, K. J. Michael, B. K. Galton-Fenzi, and J. L. Lieser, East Antarctic landfast sea ice distribution and variability, 2000-08, Journal of Climate 25, 4, pp. 1137-1156, 2012 In addition, please cite the following reference when describing the process of generating these maps: Fraser, A. D., R. A. Massom, and K. J. Michael, Generation of high-resolution East Antarctic landfast sea-ice maps from cloud-free MODIS satellite composite imagery, Elsevier Remote Sensing of Environment, 114 (12), 2888-2896, doi:10.1016/j.rse.2010.07.006, 2010. To reference the techniques for generating the MODIS composite images, please use the following reference: Fraser, A. D., R. A. Massom, and K. J. Michael, A method for compositing polar MODIS satellite images to remove cloud cover for landfast sea-ice detection, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 47 (9), pp. 3272-3282, doi:10.1109/TGRS.2009.2019726, 2009. Please contact Alex Fraser (adfraser@utas.edu.au) for further information.

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 -------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------- 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

These datasets contain the results from satellite tracking the movements of Adelie Penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) from the following locations in Antarctica: Bechervaise Island, Magnetic Island, Shirley Island, Edmonson Point in Terra Nova Bay, Dumont D'Urville area. By the use of satellite fixes the foraging locations of the penguins were determined. See the child metadata records for further information. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 2205 (ASAC_2205), 'Adelie penguin research and monitoring in support of the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Project'.