Title: An observatory of coastal sea ice and environment
Description:
Abstract:
Metadata record for data from AAS (ASAC) Project 3032.
Public
Antarctic fast ice is a crucial climate component, and of critical importance to the survival of higher predators and to shipping and (intra-continental fixed-wing) aircraft operations. Neither its base state nor its variability are well documented. We shall deploy several digital environmental monitoring systems to collect regional-scale* data on spatio-temporal variability of fast-ice. The aim is to initiate an ongoing high-resolution data series of fast-ice extent and meteorological parameters for our analysis of the fast ice response to atmospheric circulation changes. Our data on fast-ice variations will be well suited to study the variability in breeding success of Emperor penguins.
Project objectives:
- To develop a camera-based digital observing system for regular measurements of regional-scale* fast-ice extent;
- To measure environmental conditions at camera-deployment sites, using an automated weatherstation, and to derive the influence of local climates and of their changes on the local and regional fast-ice conditions;
- To initiate a long-term regional-scale* environmental monitoring programme incorporating the two systems above;
- To derive the spatio-temporal variability, including intra-seasonal changes, in fast-ice coverage, and to estimate the fast-ice volume at regional* scale.
- To provide information in support of Antarctic shipping and intra-continental aircraft operations.
- To provide key detailed information on fast-ice and environmental conditions in support of AAS project #3024 (proposed), for calibration/validation of larger-scale satellite-derived estimates of fast ice areal extent and thickness.
- To provide key information on fast-ice and environmental conditions in support of AAS projects #484 (approved) and #1252 (proposed) for analysis of the impact of interannual fast-ice variability on survival rates and breeding success of ice-based higher predators.
*: Note: Within this proposal we define regional-scale to be in the order of 1 kilometre to 10s of kilometres - this is to coincide with the area observed by our camera system.
Taken from the 2008-2009 Progress Report:
Progress against objectives:
During 2008 a proto-type fast-ice camera has been built by AAD's STS staff for this project (Objective 1). This camera together with an automatic weather station (Objective 2) have been shipped to Davis, where they have been deployed on a coastal island north of the Sorsdal Glacier. Analysis of the initial data showed that a relocation of this observing system was necessary, which was facilitated in early 2009. Data collection is underway during 2009 (Objective 3).
Theme_Keyword: ARWS > AUTOMATIC REMOTE WEATHER STATION
Theme_Keyword: CAMERAS
Theme_Keyword: AWS > AUTOMATED WEATHER SYSTEM
Theme_Keyword: Fast Ice
Theme_Keyword: Predators
Theme_Keyword: BIOTA
Theme_Keyword: ENVIRONMENT
Theme_Keyword: OCEANS
Theme_Keyword: TRANSPORTATION
Theme_Keyword: ENGLISH
Place:
Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: GCMD
Place_Keyword: OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN
Place_Keyword: CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA
Place_Keyword: GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR
Access_Constraints:
The data are currently not publicly available.
Use_Constraints:
This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at the URL below when using these data.
