A report and images taken as part of ASAC (AAS) project 380 - Archaeological Investigation of Sealing Sites at Heard Island. Taken from the report: From November 1986 to January 1987 the authors participated in the ANARE expedition to Heard Island. Our objectives were: 1) To undertake a survey of historic archaeological sites of Heard Island and to compile an inventory of sites. 2) At the request of the Antarctic Division to salvage certain sealing-era artefacts identified in the 1985/86 ANARE report as being at risk. 3) At the request of the Antarctic Division, to record the site of the historic ANARE station at Atlas Cove, to assess the significance of surviving site features and make recommendations for the conservation of significant elements. 4) To provide a report to the Australian Heritage Commission documenting the location, description and assessment of the various sealing and other historic places located during the 1986-87 expedition. Sealing sites on Heard Island can be categorised into five types based on structural and functional differences. These five types are: a) stone platforms b) hut footings or ruins c) occupied caves d) barrels e) grave All types of sites are found on the various beaches around the island, except that stone platforms appear to be confined to the southern beaches, and only one grave is known.

Heard Island Expedition, 16 November 1986 to 21 January 1987, report written by Rod Ledingham, Officer in Charge. Taken from the report: The 1986-87 expedition was the second in a series of three consecutive expeditions planned to conduct new scientific work and to check on changes since the early wintering years from 1948-1954 and more recent sporadic visits by various government and private expeditions. We were dropped off at Heard Island on the 14th November 1986 by the Nella Dan. The main thrust of this expedition was originally to have been geological but this was later expanded to cover biology and archaeology. Transport was provided by three Hughes 500 helicopters, old faithfuls VH-BAD piloted by John Robertson and VH-BAG piloted by Doug Crossan, and a new arrive from NZ, VH-HED flown by Phillip Turner, to provide speedy access to all areas of rock, either coastal or at high altitude on the mountain. Of particular interest to the geologists were the lavas of the January 1985 Big Ben eruption spotted by observers including Dick Williams, on the French vessel Marion Dufresne. Despite some initial doubts about the possibility of flying, or even holding, aircraft at Heard for any length of time, and numerous relatively minor problems with weather and wind blown volcanic sand, the operation went very well and a great deal of new ground was covered, including several flights to the summit of Big Ben and the discovery of a new active crater and the expedition lava flows on the south-western slopes at Cape Arkona. Two geologists accompanied the expedition, Jane Barling and Graeme Wheller. Geological mapping of the whole island was carried out by Jane where access was not too difficult or dangerous. Jane had previously worked on the samples brought back from Long Ridge and the summit by the Heard Island Expedition (private) on Anaconda II in 1983. The original map produced by Ainsworth in 1947 will be greatly improved when the material has been studied in more detail. The second geologist Graeme studied the relationships of the more recent lavas and attempted to get samples from the summit vent. The failure to do so was somewhat ameliorated by the finding of the new lava which it appears had emanated from the summit vent pipe and samples of summit rock were therefore available from 700m above Cape Arkona. Further information about the botanical and biological work is available in the report.

Report of the 1985 A.N.A.R.E to Heard Island. This document contains the following scientific reports: Zoology - elephant seals, fur seals, General Zoology - leopard seals, fish, insects, birds; Botany - lant communities, lichens and mosses; Limnology - Zooplankton and phytoplankton; Earth Sciences - meteorology, geomagnetism, glaciology, general mapping, general phenomena; Miscellaneous Collections; History; Environmental Impact Assessment; Site Clean up; Building report and Camp inventory; Logistics; Field Operations; Recommendations; Bibliography; Appendix. Taken from the report: The 1985 ANARE to Heard island was of greater duration than any since 1963, although brief stopovers have been made by other ANAREs more recently. It was also the first time since the 1950s that biological research was the major scientific endeavour of two ANARE parties working simultaneously at both ends of the island. This reflects renewed interest in The Territory of Heard Island and The McDonald Islands and its surrounding Exclusive Economic Zone, which has a significant fishery potential. As studies on the population of the Island's Elephant Seals may offer methods of monitoring major changes in the relative balance of high level consumers in the marine ecosystem (See below), the expedition had as its highest priority the thorough censusing of Elephant Seals on the Island over the pupping period, as part of an international program aimed at monitoring the total population of these seals. A census of the whole island, by counting seals hauled out on beaches, necessitated two parties; one at Atlas Cove and the other at Spit Bay. The expedition was also given the tasks of carrying out a limited clean up of the old Atlas Cove camp (following an explicit brief which recognised its heritage value), of making a site survey for the proposed camp, and of producing an Environmental Impact Assessment of the proposed site. Other tasks included the deployment of magnetometers and the regular measurement of absolute magnetic values, a comparative meteorological program at either end of the island, an assessment of seal blubber by ultrasound, a collection of Elephant Seal blood samples for electrophoretic analysis, a Fur Seal census, a botanical survey and a general biology program made up of many small sections.

Antarctica is the world's greatest remaining wilderness area. It plays a significant role in many global environmental issues such as wind and water currents and world weather patterns. State of the Environment Reporting: - provides a 'snap-shot' of the status of the Antarctic environment - relies on long-term monitoring of environmental and other variables - allows the detection of trends and patterns, which may be due to natural variability or human-induced (anthropogenic) pressures Why are we interested? State of the Environment Reporting allows us to: - assess the quality of the Antarctic environment - identify threats to the Antarctic environment - monitor the pressures we exert on it and track the impact and efficiency of our activities in the Antarctic. How do we do it? State of the Environment Reporting is based on environmental indicators. Indicators: - are data that summarise physical, chemical, biological or socio-economic factors which best represent the key elements of the environment - are grouped into themes We have developed a web-accessible computer system called SIMR that manages the indicator data, metadata, and custodian information. The system automatically prompts custodians for data and evaluations when required and can produce reports on indicators via the web whenever requested.

State of the Environment bibliography, compiled by Ewan McIvor. Contains 51 records. The fields in this dataset are: author year journal title volume pages publisher place of publication copy on file URL keywords

The snapshot (originally produced on CD for a conference) was produced by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre for distribution to Heard Island expeditioners in the 2003/2004 season. The snapshot contained all publicly available data held by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre related to Heard Island at the time of production. The snapshot also contained all metadata held by the AADC at the time of production. Furthermore, information is also included from: AADC's gazetteer biodiversity database satellite image archive gis shapefiles heard island wilderness reserve management plan Finally, freely available software needed to browse some of the data are also included.