Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent
The Antarctic outer coastal margin (i.e., the coastline itself, or the terminus/front of ice shelves, whichever is adjacent to the ocean) is a key interface between the ice-sheet and terrestrial environments and the Southern Ocean. Its physical configuration (including both length scale of variation...
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2021
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:36799 2023-05-15T13:42:39+02:00 Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent Porter-Smith, R McKinlay, J Fraser, A Massom, R 2021 application/pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/1/essd-2019-142.pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/2/143517%20-%20Coastal%20complexity%20of%20the%20Antarctic%20continent.pdf https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2019-142/ en eng Copernicus GmbH https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/1/essd-2019-142.pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/2/143517%20-%20Coastal%20complexity%20of%20the%20Antarctic%20continent.pdf Porter-Smith, R orcid:0000-0002-0047-6880 , McKinlay, J, Fraser, A orcid:0000-0003-1924-0015 and Massom, R orcid:0000-0003-1533-5084 2021 , 'Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent' , Earth System Science Data , pp. 1-16 , doi:10.5194/essd-2019-142 <http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essd-2019-142>. coastal morphology Antarctic coastal complexity Article PeerReviewed 2021 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2019-142 2021-10-04T22:20:20Z The Antarctic outer coastal margin (i.e., the coastline itself, or the terminus/front of ice shelves, whichever is adjacent to the ocean) is a key interface between the ice-sheet and terrestrial environments and the Southern Ocean. Its physical configuration (including both length scale of variation and orientation/aspect) has direct bearing on several closely associated cryospheric, biological, oceanographical and ecological processes, yet no study has quantified the coastal complexity or orientation of Antarctica’s coastal margin. This first-of-a-kind characterisation of Antarctic coastal complexity aims to address this knowledge gap. We quantify and investigate the physical configuration and complexity of Antarctica’s circumpolar outer coastal margin using a novel, technique based on ∼ 40,000 random points selected along a vector coastline derived from the MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica dataset. At each point, a complexity metric is calculated at length scales from 1 to 256 km, giving a multiscale estimate of the magnitude and direction of undulation or complexity at each point location along the entire coastline. Using a cluster analysis to determine characteristic complexity ‘signatures’ for random nodes, the coastline is found to comprise three basic groups or classes: (i) low complexity at all scales; (ii) most complexity at shorter scales; and (iii) most complexity at longer scales. These classes are somewhat heterogeneously distributed throughout the continent. We also consider bays and peninsulas separately and characterise their multi-scale orientation. This unique dataset and its summary analysis have numerous applications for both geophysical and biological studies and will contribute to Antarctic research requiring quantitative information on, and related to, coastal complexity and configuration. All these data are referenced by https://doi.org/10.26179/5d1af0ba45c03 and are available free of charge at https://data.antarctica.gov.au. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Southern Ocean University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
English |
topic |
coastal morphology Antarctic coastal complexity |
spellingShingle |
coastal morphology Antarctic coastal complexity Porter-Smith, R McKinlay, J Fraser, A Massom, R Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent |
topic_facet |
coastal morphology Antarctic coastal complexity |
description |
The Antarctic outer coastal margin (i.e., the coastline itself, or the terminus/front of ice shelves, whichever is adjacent to the ocean) is a key interface between the ice-sheet and terrestrial environments and the Southern Ocean. Its physical configuration (including both length scale of variation and orientation/aspect) has direct bearing on several closely associated cryospheric, biological, oceanographical and ecological processes, yet no study has quantified the coastal complexity or orientation of Antarctica’s coastal margin. This first-of-a-kind characterisation of Antarctic coastal complexity aims to address this knowledge gap. We quantify and investigate the physical configuration and complexity of Antarctica’s circumpolar outer coastal margin using a novel, technique based on ∼ 40,000 random points selected along a vector coastline derived from the MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica dataset. At each point, a complexity metric is calculated at length scales from 1 to 256 km, giving a multiscale estimate of the magnitude and direction of undulation or complexity at each point location along the entire coastline. Using a cluster analysis to determine characteristic complexity ‘signatures’ for random nodes, the coastline is found to comprise three basic groups or classes: (i) low complexity at all scales; (ii) most complexity at shorter scales; and (iii) most complexity at longer scales. These classes are somewhat heterogeneously distributed throughout the continent. We also consider bays and peninsulas separately and characterise their multi-scale orientation. This unique dataset and its summary analysis have numerous applications for both geophysical and biological studies and will contribute to Antarctic research requiring quantitative information on, and related to, coastal complexity and configuration. All these data are referenced by https://doi.org/10.26179/5d1af0ba45c03 and are available free of charge at https://data.antarctica.gov.au. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Porter-Smith, R McKinlay, J Fraser, A Massom, R |
author_facet |
Porter-Smith, R McKinlay, J Fraser, A Massom, R |
author_sort |
Porter-Smith, R |
title |
Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent |
title_short |
Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent |
title_full |
Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent |
title_fullStr |
Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent |
title_sort |
coastal complexity of the antarctic continent |
publisher |
Copernicus GmbH |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/1/essd-2019-142.pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/2/143517%20-%20Coastal%20complexity%20of%20the%20Antarctic%20continent.pdf https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2019-142/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/1/essd-2019-142.pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/36799/2/143517%20-%20Coastal%20complexity%20of%20the%20Antarctic%20continent.pdf Porter-Smith, R orcid:0000-0002-0047-6880 , McKinlay, J, Fraser, A orcid:0000-0003-1924-0015 and Massom, R orcid:0000-0003-1533-5084 2021 , 'Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent' , Earth System Science Data , pp. 1-16 , doi:10.5194/essd-2019-142 <http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essd-2019-142>. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2019-142 |
_version_ |
1766170568842805248 |