AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia
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Ozone depletion over Antarctica increases UVB irradiances reaching the Earth's surface in the region. Marine microbes, that support the Antarctic food web and play an integral part in carbon cycling, are damaged by UVB. This research determines Antarctic UV climate, biological responses to UV from the molecular to community level, and combines these elements to predict UV-induced changes in Antarctic marine microbiology. A season of field work was undertaken over November and December 1994 based from Davis Station with the intention of making field measurements of ultraviolet radiation in the fast ice environment, as well as some of the lakes in the Vestfold Hills. Instrumentation The instrument for the measurements was a Macam spectral radiometer, owned by Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania. Field personnel were Dr Kelvin Michael (IASOS) and Mr Michael Wall (Honours student, Geography and Environmental Studies, UTas). The radiometer was equipped with a 25-metre quartz light pipe, with a cosine sensor attachment at the end. To make a measurement of ultraviolet irradiance, the sensor would be oriented so that its sensing surface was horizontal, and it would collect light which was then transmitted along the light pipe to the radiometer - a suitcase-sized unit which ran on battery power in the field. The radiometer was encased in a wooden box lined with polystyrene foam to provide protection from the elements and heat insulation. The radiometer was controlled via a laptop PC and the data were stored on the hard disk of the PC. Measurements Measurements of the attenuation of ultraviolet and visible radiation as a function of wavelength in water were made at the ice edge and lake measurement sites. At the ice edge, the light pipe was spooled over a wheel and lowered to preset depths (typically 1,2,4,8,16 and 32 m below the water surface). On a lake, a 25-cm augur hole was drilled, and the light pipe was lowered by hand to various depths, the exact depths chosen depended on the depth of the lake. Where the lake ice conditions permitted, a frame was lowered through the hole and used to lever the light pipe against the underside of the ice and a measurement of the ultraviolet and visible transmission of the sea ice was collected. In all cases, measurements of the ultraviolet and visible surface irradiance were collected before and/or after the sub-surface measurements. When the sky conditions were sufficiently clear, the direct and diffuse components of the ultraviolet and visible irradiance values were estimated, via the use of a shading apparatus. This would ensure that the radiometer would measure the diffuse component of the radiation field, allowing the direct component to be estimated by subtraction of the diffuse from the global (unshaded) measurement. On some occasions, the upwelling irradiance from the snow or ice surface was also measured, providing information on the spectral albedo of the surface. At each measurement, spectral irradiance values were generally collected for two spectral ranges: UV-B (280 - 400 nm, in 1-nm steps) and visible (400 - 700 nm, in 5-nm steps). In some cases, the wavelength boundaries were different - eg 280 - 350 nm for the UV-B, or 550 - 680 nm in the visible (corresponding to channel 1 of the NOAA AVHRR sensor). The data were stored by the PC as raw data files. The names of these files are automatically defined from the time on the logging PC as 'hhmmss.dti'. Note that the PC was operating on Australian Eastern Summer Time, 4 hours ahead of DLT. These data files were later read into Excel spreadsheets for manipulation. See the linked report for further information. The measurements are all in units of watts per metre squared per nanometre (Wm^-2 nm_-1) The heading UV-B refers to the fact that the data are collected in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum (280 - 400 nm) The heading AVHRR refers to the fact that the data are collected in the visible part of the spectrum (400 - 700 nm) The fields in this dataset are: UV Radiation Wavelength Depth AVHRR
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On every voyage of the Aurora Australis, approximately 50 onboard sensors collect data on average every 10 seconds. These data are known as the underway datasets. The type of data collected include water and air temperature, wind speeds, ship speed and location, humidity, fluorescence, salinity and so on. For the full list of available data types, see the website. These data are broadcast "live" (every 30 minutes) back to Australia and are available via the Australian Oceanographic Data Centre's portal (see the provided link). Once the ship returns to port, the data are then transferred to Australian Antarctic Division servers where they are then made available via the Marine Science Data Search system (see the provided URL). This dataset contains the underway data collected during Voyage 2 of the Aurora Australis Voyage in the 2017/18 season. Purpose of voyage: Casey Resupply, recover and deploy whale mooring, krill trawl. Leader: Mr. James Moloney Deputy Leader: Mr. Dave Pryce Underway (meteorological) data are available online via the Australian Antarctic Division Data Centre web page (or via the Related URL section).
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This annotated library contains both a data set and a data product. The data set contains a sub-sample of underwater recordings made around Antarctica from 2005-2017. These recordings were curated and sub-sampled from a variety of national and academic recording campaigns. Recordings were made using a variety of different instruments, and sub-samples span 11 different combinations of site and year. Spatial coverage of the recordings includes sites in the Western Antarctic Peninsula, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific sectors. Temporal coverage of recordings covers a representative sample throughout each recording year for the years of 2005, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017. The focus is on low-frequency sounds of blue and fin whales, so curated recordings have been downsampled to sample rates of either 250, 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz. Recordings are all in 16-bit wav format. The file name of each wav file contains a timestamp with the date and time of the start of that file. Recordings are contained in the /wav/ subfolder for each site-year (e.g. Casey2014/wav). The data product is in the form of annotations that describe the times within each WAV file that contain detections of blue and fin whale sounds. Each annotations are stored as a row in a tab-separated text file (with descriptive column headers), and each text file describes a particular type of sound. These annotation text files are formatted as Selection Tables that can be directly imported into the software program Raven Pro 1.5 (Cornell Bioacoustics Laboratory). Full description of the details of the creation and use of this dataset are described in the draft manuscript contained in the documentation folder.
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Water depth measurements were taken in Long Fjord during early winter in 2007. The measurements were collected by Graham Cook, station leader at Davis Station in the Australian Antarctic Territory. The measurements were made by dropping a weighted line off the back of a quad bike, after drilling a hole through the sea ice. Measurements were made approximately every 100 metres. The download file contains a csv spreadsheet which lists each waypoint, plus the corresponding water depth and any comments. The text file contains the waypoint information collected by the Garmin GPS unit. Data in the text file are comma separated and are interpreted as follows: WP,D,001 (waypoint) , -68.51341000, 78.06903000,(Latitude and Longitude) 05/25/2007, 10:25:35, (Date and time Downloaded to Computer) 24-MAY-07 11:40:42 (Date and time of reading). Time is in local time. Vegetation was found on the weight that we used when we first started at the seaward end of the Fjord and then again in shallow water between Brookes Hut and a small island 800 or 900 metres out from Brookes. The weight is quite smooth and does not pick up a lot. The reference given below provides some further information about previously collected bathymetry data in Long Fjord. Furthermore, also see the metadata records: 'Bathymetric data of Long and Tryne Fjords at Vestfold Hills, Antarctica, collected in December 1999 [VH_bathy_99]' 'Interpolated bathymetry of Long and Tryne Fjords, Vestfold Hills, Antarctica [long_tryne_bathy]' The fields in this dataset are: Waypoint Latitude Longitude Water Depth Date Time
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This dataset is a description of the shallow coastal marine fauna found in the Vestfold Hills and Rauer Island area, Antarctica. The results are from various surveys in this region over a 12 month period in 1981-82, and a full listing of species (with photographs) is given in the documentation. It includes benthic, pelagic and planktonic organisms of the coast as well as those that inhabit the ice-water interface.
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Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2792 See the link below for public details on this project. Australia's Census of Antarctic Marine Life project. This project is a part of the international "Census of Antarctic Marine Life" (CAML) which is to be conducted during the International Polar Year. It is a collaborative contribution by Australia and France to understand the biodiversity of the oceans surrounding Antarctica, with particular emphasis on the fishes of the eastern part of the Australian Antarctic Territory. The biodiversity data, when added to that obtained by all other nations participating in the CAML, will serve as a robust reference for future examinations of the health of the Southern Ocean, and assist in the conservation and management of the region. 2007/2008 Season A. Plankton 1. The impact of climate change on the plankton. The pelagic ecosystem in the Southern Ocean has taken the brunt of human impact in the region and there is evidence that it is already responding to the effects of global climate change. Plankton is particularly sensitive to climate change and change in their biodiversity is expected to have serious ramifications through the rest of the ecosystem including the survival of higher predators. Some species are adapted to cold waters of Antarctic where some are supposedly cosmopolitan. Which will survive global warming? For how long will there be an Antarctic marine ecosystem? 2. Consequences of environmental change driven by past and current exploitation of living resources in the region, e.g. current scale fish and krill fisheries, fishery by-catch species, recovery of whales and seals. 3. "Ecosystem services" - The role of Southern Ocean plankton as source of human food (krill fishery or other) carbon draw down/mediation, bio-climate feedback though dimethyl sulphide production, bioproducts, sensitive indicators of ocean health, and foundation of the Antarctic marine ecosystem - no plankton, no ecosystem. B. Fish 1. What is the composition of the epipelagic, mesopelagic and benthic ichthyofaunas between the Antarctic Divergence and the coast at Dumont d'Urville? 2. How does the physical and biological structure of the water column, conditions of ice-cover and bottom topography influence the composition and distribution of these ichthyofaunas? 3. What changes in the community structure of the benthic ichthyofauna as a result from the passage of large icebergs? C. Benthos 1. What are the ecological and historical factors affecting benthic diversity? 2. How will benthic communities respond to change? We do not know how sensitive the Antarctic benthic communities are to global climate change, or to localised environmental change as seen in the Antarctic peninsula area, or to the impacts of increased trawling. We have no benchmark to compare the effects of change, although the effects of iceberg scouring and rate of recovery/re-colonisation will serve as a useful analogy for trawling perturbation. 3. What are the links between Antarctic and other faunas? This includes benthic-pelagic coupling, the benthos as a foraging zone for higher predators, and through the Antarctic Circumpolar Current - connections with other southern continents. Field sampling for this project was undertaken in the 2007/08 season, commencing in December and finishing in February 2008. Consequently, sample processing has only been underway for one or two months for plankton and pelagic fish samples. The demersal fish and benthic samples have only recently arrived at the National Natural History Museum (MNHN) in Paris ready for distribution to taxonomists and analysts. However, key CEAMARC collaborators who attended the recent post-field season CEAMARC workshop, Calvi April 2008, agreed that the use of three vessels for the field programme, instead of one ship as originally proposed, more than met expectations should sufficiently address all the objectives. Specifically, we have collected a substantial number of samples with sufficient sampling intensity and resolution to set the required benchmark of biodiversity in the survey for the pelagic, mesobathypelagic and benthic environments. This biodiversity benchmark will allow us to: - Compare changes in biodiversity with future CAML surveys and also with past surveys - Define legacy sites in the survey area for future CAML surveys and interim annual or biennial monitoring programmes to continuing the effects of climate change - Which species are most likely to be affected by climate change and those most likely to survive - Contribute to models looking at long term changes in species composition, ecosystem structure and function, survivorship of key species, effects of global warming, ocean acidification, and impacts on ecosystem service - Studies of the impact of trawling and iceberg scouring on the benthic and demersal communities - Compare pelagic, demersal and benthic communities in the survey area with those in the other CAML survey areas around Antarctica Sufficient samples of plankton, fish and benthos were also collected for genetic and molecular analyses to improve our taxonomic knowledge and address the CAML objective on understanding species radiation. Taken from the 2008-2009 Progress Report: Public summary of the season progress: This project is a part of the international "Census of Antarctic Marine Life" (CAML) conducted during International Polar Year. It is a collaborative contribution by Australia, France, Japan and Belgium to understand the biodiversity of Antarctic waters, with particular emphasis on plankton, fish and benthos of eastern Antarctica. In 2007/08, three ships surveyed this area with a range of traditional and modern sampling gear. The biodiversity data from this survey will be added to other CAML projects to serve as a robust reference for future examinations of the health of the Southern Ocean, and assist in its conservation and management.
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This data set was collected from a ocean acidification minicosm experiment performed at Davis Station, Antarctica during the 2014/15 summer season. It includes: - description of methods for all data collection and analyses. - flow cytometry counts; autotrophic cells, heterotrophic nanoflagellates, and prokaryotes
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Oceanographic measurements were conducted in January 1994 (on voyage 7 of the 1993/1994 summer season) along WOCE Southern Ocean meridional section SR3 between Tasmania and Antarctica, and along a northward section lying between 82 and 86 deg.E and crossing the Princess Elizabeth Trough. Additional measurements were made at mooring locations, and at a time series station. A total of 102 CTD vertical profile stations were taken, most to near bottom. Over 2000 Niskin water bottle samples were collected for the measurement of salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients (phosphate, nitrate+nitrite, silicate), dissolved inorganic and organic carbon, carbon 13, dimethyl sulphide/dimethyl sulphoniopropionate, iodate/iodide, and biological parameters, using a 24 bottle rosette sampler. Measurement and data processing techniques are described, and a summary of the data are presented in graphical and tabular form. The fields in this dataset are: oceanography ship station number date start time bottom time finish time cruise start position bottom position finish position maximum position bottom depth pressure sigma-T temperature (C) (ITS-90) salinity (PSS78) density-1000 (kg.m-3) specific volume anomaly x 108 geopotential anomaly dissolved oxygen (mmol.l-1) number of data points used in the 2 dbar averaging bin standard deviation of temperature values in the 2 dbar bin standard deviation of conductivity values in the 2 dbar bin fluorescence photosynthetically active radiation CTD pressure (dbar) CTD temperature (C) (ITS-90) reversing thermometer temperature (C) CTD conductivity (mS.cm-1) CTD salinity (PSS78) bottle salinity (PSS78) bottle quality flag (-1=rejected, 0=suspect, 1=good) niskin bottle number
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Taken from sections of the report: Introduction: The following report is a detailed summary of the surveying and mapping tasks undertaken in the Vestfold Hills and Mac. Robertson Land regions of the Australian Antarctic Territory during the period from 22 December 1978 to 25 February 1979. A copy of the project instruction detailing the tasks originally intended to be undertaken is attached at Annex 37. The entire report is available as a pdf download from the URL given below.
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This dataset contains the underway data from Voyages 9 and 9.1 1992-93 (WOES and WORSE) of the Aurora Australis. These were dedicated marine science voyages. Meteorological, bathymetric, fluorometer and thermosalinograph data are available via the AADC web page (see Related URL section). The Marine Science Support Data Quality Report can also be accessed via the Related URL section. CTD data were also obtained along the WOCE SR3 line.