Coastal change data for the Antarctic Peninsula region, 1843 to 2008

• Main Authors: Cook, Alison, Fox, Adrian, Thomson, Janet
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre 2021
• Subjects: "EARTH SCIENCE","OCEANS","COASTAL PROCESSES","SHORELINES"; "EARTH SCIENCE","CRYOSPHERE","GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS"; "EARTH SCIENCE","LAND SURFACE","TOPOGRAPHY"; Antarctic Peninsula; Coastal-change; Glacier; Ice-shelf; USGS; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5285/07727663-9b94-4069-a486-67e4d82177d3; https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01558

The dataset records ice coast and ice shelf front positions and hence change for the period 1843 to 2008. Archival maps, aerial photographs and satellite images of the Antarctic Peninsula were used to reveal the past shape of the ice coastline. The coastlines were mapped in a GIS (ESRI Arc/Info) using a mosaic of Landsat TM imagery as a common reference. Over 2000 aerial photographs and over 100 satellite images were used to compile the dataset that includes the fronts of 244 glaciers and 20 ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula. As the coastlines were digitised on-screen, metadata for each coast segment were added to the attribute table. The dataset is part of a wider project by the U.S. Geological Survey to record coastal-change for the whole continent. : The coastlines from different sources and different epochs were digitised onto a common reference: a mosaic of Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite images with 30 m resolution created by Institut fur Angewandte Geodasie (IfAG), Germany. Georegistered images (e.g. Landsat ETM+) were digitised directly on-screen and adjusted to the base image mosaic. Other images (e.g. Landsat TM) were registered and rectified to the base mosaic first; non-digital images (e.g. Landsat MSS) were set up on a digitising table. For aerial photographs, the coastline positions were plotted onto the satellite image backdrop, using permanent rock features visible on the photographs and the photo-scale. The work used ESRI Arc/Info GIS software. This dataset is proposed in the following projection: Antarctic Polar Stereographic (EPSG 3031). : The accuracy of the data is variable and related to the quality and resolution of the source maps, aerial photographs and satellite images and how well the coastline positions could be extracted and related to the base image mosaic. The accuracy is listed in the attribute table as three classes. The methods used and accuracy assessment are described in detail in the publications in the references metadata.