INDICATOR DEFINITION Count of all adult females, fully weaned pups and dead pups hauled out on, or close to, the day of maximum cow numbers, set for October 15. TYPE OF INDICATOR There are three types of indicators used in this report: 1.Describes the CONDITION of important elements of a system; 2.Show the extent of the major PRESSURES exerted on a system; 3.Determine RESPONSES to either condition or changes in the condition of a system. This indicator is one of: CONDITION RATIONALE FOR INDICATOR SELECTION Elephant seals from Macquarie Island are long distance foragers who can utilise the Southern Ocean both west as far as Heard Island and east as far as the Ross Sea. Thus their populations reflect foraging conditions across a vast area. The slow decline in their numbers (-2.3% annually from 1988-1993) suggests that their ocean foraging has been more difficult in recent decades. Furthermore, interactions with humans are negligible due to the absence of significant overlap in their diet with commercial fisheries. This suggests that changes in 'natural' ocean conditions may have altered aspects of prey availability. It is clear that seal numbers are changing in response to ocean conditions but at the moment these conditions cannot be specified. DESIGN AND STRATEGY FOR INDICATOR MONITORING PROGRAM Spatial Scale: Five beaches on Macquarie Island (lat54 degrees 37' 59.9' S, long 158 degrees 52' 59.9' E): North Head to Aurora Point; Aurora Point to Caroline Cove; Garden Cove to Sandy Bay; Sandy Bay to Waterfall Bay; Waterfall Bay to Hurd Point. Frequency: Annual census on 15th October Measurement Technique: Monitoring the Southern Elephant Seal population on Macquarie island requires a one day whole island adult female census on October 15 and a daily count of cow numbers, fully weaned pups and dead pups on the west and east isthmus beaches throughout October. Daily cow counts during October, along the isthmus beaches close to the Station, provide data to identify exactly the day of maximum numbers. The isthmus counts are recorded under the long-established (since 1950) harem names. Daily counts allow adjustment to the census totals if the day of maximum numbers of cows ashore happens to fall on either side of October 15. Personnel need to be dispersed around the island by October 15 so that all beaches are counted for seals on that day. This has been achieved successfully for the last 15 years. On the day of maximum haul out (around 15th October) the only Elephant seals present are cows, their young pups and adult males. The three classes can be readily distinguished and counted accurately. Lactating pups are not counted, their numbers are provided by the cow count on a 1:1 proportion. The combined count of cows, fully weaned pups and dead pups provides an index of pup production. The count of any group is made until there is agreement between counts to better than +/- 5%. Thus there is always a double count as a minimum; the number of counts can reach double figures when a large group is enumerated. The largest single group on Macquarie Island is that at West Razorback with greater than 1,000 cows; Multiple counts are always required there. RESEARCH ISSUES Much research has been done already to acquire demographic data so that population models can be produced. Thus there will be predicted population sizes for elephant seals on Macquarie Island in 2002 onwards and the annual censuses will allow these predictions to be tested against the actual numbers. The censuses are also a check on the population status of this endangered species. LINKS TO OTHER INDICATORS

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 1117 See the link below for public details on this project. ---- Public Summary from Project ---- The aim of this project is to determine how feasible it is to regularly sample the pelagic under-ice community during winter at a coastal site near Mawson. Very few attempts have been made to sample the water column under the ice during the winter months and the processes that occur during this period remain critical gaps in our knowledge of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. ------------------------------------- The pelagic community under the Mawson sea ice was sampled during the winter of 2001 using 'light trap' sampling devices. The 'light traps' were tested at various depths in a range of configurations to determine whether they were an appropriate instrument to sample the winter pelagic community under the ice. Fourteen successful deployments of the light traps were made on seven separate occasions from 12 June to 12 September 2001. The light traps were deployed at three different depths - the underside of the sea ice, mid water, and just above the sea floor. Two different light sources were used to attract the animals, namely fluorescent tubes and cyalume sticks. Two different configurations of the traps were tested to retain the animals inside the trap - one with plastic flaps to trap the animals, the other with no flaps, allowing the animals to move freely inside the trap. The light traps were deployed and retrieved during darkness to avoid any influence of ambient light. The objectives of the project were met and it is assessed that the pelagic community in winter can be effectively sampled using this methodology. A result of particular interest is the success of the traps in capturing Pleuragramma antarctica, a species which has proven difficult to capture using traditional sampling methods such as nets.

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 933 See the link below for public details on this project. Australian Antarctic and Southern Ocean Profiling Project (AASOPP) was the outcome of a government decision in 1999 that it would carry out the necessary work to place Australia in a position to be able to prepare a submission defining the outer limit the 'extended Continental Shelf' (ECS) off the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT). The ECS is the area of seabed/subsoil jurisdiction extending beyond the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone, and is defined by Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. AASOPP was set up in 2000, under the management of the Department of Finance and Administration and in consultation with the Australian Antarctic Division, to undertake the acquisition and interpretation of the data that would underpin a UN submission. Technical aspects of the work were largely the responsibility of the Australian Geological Survey Organisation and the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (later Geoscience Australia). Marine geophysical surveys were conducted in 2001/2 and 2002/3 by the primary contractors, FUGRO Geoteam supervised by AGSO (Geoscience Australia) using the vessels Geoarctic and Polar Duke (survey numbers GA227, GA228 and GA229). Data collected were seismic reflection, sonobuoy seismic refraction, magnetic and gravity profiles. Data processing was supervised by Geoscience Australia where they are archived. Seismic data were lodged with the SCAR Seismic Data Library. Law of the Sea interpretations were lodged as part of the Australian submission to the United Nations by November, 2004 with a request not to examine the Antarctic case until requested.

Current meter S4_211b is one of four current meters deployed off the coast of Casey Station, Australian Antarctic Territory. S4_211a was located in Shannon Bay at 66 degrees 16.727 minutes South, 110 degrees 31.434 minutes West. Further deployment details can be found in the 'Mooring Details' section of the data, as well as a 'Location Map'. The data includes: current speed components, current speed and current direction, a progressive vector diagram of displacement, and water temperature. The data were recorded by the Australian Antarctic Division, and processed by Oceanographic Field Services Pty Ltd. Data was recorded between 3:30am 18 November 1997 (GMT) and 7:30am 29 December 1998 (GMT). The fields in this dataset include: Date Time Speed (centimetres per second) Direction (degrees) Temperature (degrees)

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2592 See the link below for public details on this project. The Southern Ocean is one the most significant regions on earth for regulating the build up of anthropogenic carbon in the atmosphere, and the capacity for carbon uptake in the region could be altered by climate change. The project aims to use repeat ocean sections to detect anthropogenic carbon storage, identify key processes regulating the amount of storage, and to test models that predict future uptake. The data are broken down by season and voyage, and a word document providing further details about the project is also available as part of the download file.

CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) Statistical Reporting Subareas. GIS data representing the boundary (line) and centroid (point with the area name as an attribute) of each area. The southern boundary of the areas adjacent to Antarctica is the coastline of Antarctica. The coastline has not been included with this data. This dataset is no longer maintained by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre as the CCAMLR Statistical Reporting Subarea boundaries are now available from CCAMLR's Online GIS (see the Related URL).

Current meter S4_211a is one of four current meters deployed off the coast of Casey Station, Australian Antarctic Territory. S4_211a was located in Shannon Bay at 66 degrees 16.727 minutes South, 110 degrees 31.434 minutes West. Further deployment details can be found in the 'Mooring Details' section of the data, as well as a 'Location Map'. The data includes: current speed components, current speed and current direction, a progressive vector diagram of displacement, and water temperature. The data were recorded by the Australian Antarctic Division, and processed by Oceanographic Field Services Pty Ltd. Data was recorded between 3:30am 18 November 1997 (GMT) and 7:30am 29 December 1998 (GMT). The fields in this dataset include: Date Time Speed (centimetres per second) Direction (degrees) Temperature (degrees)

Current meter S4_212b is one of four current meters deployed off the coast of Casey Station, Australian Antarctic Territory. S4_211a was located in Shannon Bay at 66 degrees 16.727 minutes South, 110 degrees 31.434 minutes West. Further deployment details can be found in the 'Mooring Details' section of the data, as well as a 'Location Map'. The data includes: current speed components, current speed and current direction, a progressive vector diagram of displacement, and water temperature. The data were recorded by the Australian Antarctic Division, and processed by Oceanographic Field Services Pty Ltd. Data was recorded between 3:30am 18 November 1997 (GMT) and 7:30am 29 December 1998 (GMT). The fields in this dataset include: Date Time Speed (centimetres per second) Direction (degrees) Temperature (degrees)

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2320 See the link below for public details on this project. ---- Public Summary from Project---- The project explores the extent to, and the manner in, which the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon influences the Antarctic and subantarctic region, particularly in the Pacific sector. Recent changes in Antarctic climate will be assessed in light of changes in ENSO activity. In this project, the NCEP reanalysis datasets were sourced from: NOAA/National Weather Service, National Centers for Environmental Prediction (5200 Auth Road, Camp Springs, Maryland, 20746 USA). Two NCEP reanalysis data sets were used in this study. The first was NCEP/NCAR, with 6-hourly data available from 1958 (see the URL provided below for further information). The second was the NCEP/DOE set, with 6-hourly data available from 1979 (see the URL provided below for further information). In this project the following model/analysis was applied: Application of The University of Melbourne cyclone tracking scheme (Simmonds et al., 2003, Monthly Weather Review, 131, 272-288) and a broad range of statistical tests. Brief details are provided in the Summary. See the link for the pdf document for more detailed information. These complex statistical analyses were run over the entire length of the project (2002/2003 - 2004/2005). They were run on the Sun Workstation cluster in the School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne.

A polygonised bathymetric dataset covering the Southern Ocean. The dataset was compiled from data sourced from the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) Digital Atlas, 2003 edition, and the Antarctic Digital Database, version 4.