During the 2019 ENRICH Voyage of the CSIRO vessel, RV Investigator, a digital photogrammetric video tracking system was used to collect precise surfacing locations during encounters with mainly Antarctic blue whales, but also some fin whales. The photogrammetric video tracking system is a modern digital video version based on the same operating principle as the that described by Leaper and Gordon 2001, and enables determination of the range and bearing to tracked objects relative to the ship. Video tracking was conducted on 24 occasions for a total of 18 hours. Focal follows were aborted when it was no longer possible to follow the focal animal due to ice or when the presence of other animals meant it was no longer possible to be sure which was the focal animal. Leaper, R. and Gordon, J. 2001. Application of photogrammetric methods for locating and tracking cetacean movements at sea. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 3: 131-141.

The RSV Aurora Australis V2 – Casey Resupply and Marine Science Voyage took place from 5 December 2014 to 25 January 2015. The voyage code is v2_201415020. The principal objective of the voyage was to undertake the Casey Resupply and then conduct marine science in the Dalton Polynya and near the Mertz Glacier. A downwards looking video camera system was fitted to the CTD and operated during most casts. The system was remotely controlled and typically operated only while the CTD was near the bottom although some videos show the complete descent through the water column. The video footage for each deployment was labelled as follows: VOYAGE_DATE_TIME_SITE.MTS Where: VOYAGE = v2_201415020 DATE = YYYY-MM-DD TIME = HHMMUTC (in 24 hr time) SITE = the CTD site name (e.g. SiteA5) Details on each site, including geographic coordinates and depth, are available in the Marine Data Voyage Report. The underway data from the voyage is available here: https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/201415020

During the 2015 New Zealand-Australia Antarctic Ecosystem Voyage a digital photogrammetric video tracking system was used to collect precise surfacing locations during encounters with some Antarctic blue whales. The photogrammetric video tracking system is a modern digital video version based on the same operating principle as the that described by Leaper and Gordon 2001, and enables determination of the range and bearing to tracked objects relative to the ship. Around 15 hours of video tracking were recorded of which 8 hours were classified as good quality of a single animal or in one case a pair of animals that stayed close together. Focal follows were aborted when it was no longer possible to follow the focal animal due to ice or when the presence of other animals meant it was no longer possible to be sure which was the focal animal. This resulted in 7 tracks of longer than 45 minutes with the longest around 2 hours. Leaper, R. and Gordon, J. 2001. Application of photogrammetric methods for locating and tracking cetacean movements at sea. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 3: 131-141.

This metadata record is a parent for all data collected during the 2013 Antarctic Blue Whale Voyage. Description of specific data sets can be found in the Voyage Science Plan and within child datasets.

This project aims to assess the vulnerability of and risks to habitats in Australian fisheries in the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)/Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ) of the Southern Ocean to impacts by different demersal gears - trawl, longline and traps. The project which is a collaborative initiative between the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), industry and research partners, and substantially funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, was developed in order to resolve outstanding questions relating to the potential impacts and sustainability of demersal fishing practices in the AFZ at Heard Island and the McDonald Islands (HIMI). It will also help resolve similar outstanding questions for other fisheries in the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in which Australian industry participates and provide technology for use in other fisheries to address similar questions. The proposed project will assess the degree to which demersal gears interact with and possibly damage benthic habitats. It will also assess the degree to which these habitats might be damaged within the AFZ in the HIMI region. The project is not intended to estimate rates of recovery of benthic habitats following damage by demersal gears. However, information from the literature on rates of recovery of different benthic species and habitats will be used to assess the risks of long-term sustainability of these habitats. Objectives To develop deep sea camera technologies that can be easily deployed during fishing operations, to facilitate widespread observations of demersal fishing activities (trawl, longline and trap) and their interactions with benthic environments. To assess the vulnerability of benthic communities in Sub-Antarctic (Australian AFZ) and high latitude areas of the Southern Ocean (Australian EEZ) to demersal fishing using trawls, long-lines or traps, using video and still camera technologies. To assess the risk of demersal fishing to long-term sustainability of benthic communities in these areas, based on the assessment of vulnerability and information from the literature on potential recovery of benthic species and habitats. To recommend mitigation strategies by avoidance or gear modification, where identified to be needed, and practical guidelines to minimise fishing impacts on benthic communities. Field work: Field work for this project is well advanced. Sampling of benthic habitats was conducted off East Antarctica from the AA in the summer season of 2009/10. Sampling yielded biological samples and camera footage over a number of sites spread across a large section of the East Antarctic coast and across a range of benthic habitats, however sampling was limited by the extent of ice and number of ship days (10) allocated (the project was originally planned for 16 ship days and later in the summer, when ice was predicted to be less extensive). The camera units are currently deployed on commercial vessels fishing the sub-Antarctic. The close of the 2010 commercial fishing season in September 2010 will mark the conclusion of field activities for this project.

This metadata record is a parent for all data on Antarctic blue whales collected during the 2015 New Zealand-Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage. Description of specific data sets can be found in the Voyage Science Plan and within child datasets.

AM01b borehole drilled mid-December 2003. Profiling measurements conducted over a period of a few days. Video recording of borehole walls and sea floor benthos. Sediment sample collected from sea floor. No long term monitoring instruments installed. AM01b borehole was drilled within a few hundred metres of where the ice shelf had carried the original AM01 borehole to, in the intervening 2 years. As the AM01 borehole had a mooring suite of instruments, none were emplaced in the AM01b borehole. There are several video files attached to this metadata record, and further details about them are provided in the accompanying readme document. The data file contains downcam video, sidecam video and miscellaneous video.