All scientific data collected by the Australian Antarctic program (AAp) are eventually described in the Catalogue of Australian Antarctic and Subantarctic Metadata (CAASM). CAASM can be used to search through AAp data descriptions, and it also provides links to access publicly available datasets, which can either be immediately downloaded or obtained from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AADC).
These data describe pack ice characteristics in the Antarctic sea ice zone.
These data are in the ASPeCt format.
National program: Australia
Vessel: Aurora Australis
Dates in ice: 05 Nov 1998 - 18 Dec 1998
Observers: Matt Paget
Summary of voyage track:
5/11 Ice edge at approx. 60S, 113E
5-7/11 Ice edge to Casey
8-18/11 Casey to Davis (conducting survey of pack ice seals)
22-23/11 From Davis west to 74E
24-26/11 No obs - flying operations
27-30/11 Vicinity of 74E
1-12/11 No obs - ship stopped in ice due to propeller damage
13-18/2 Towed to ice edge by Shirase, ice obs conducted.
The fields in this dataset are:
SEA ICE CONCENTRATION
SEA ICE FLOE SIZE
SEA ICE SNOW COVER
SEA ICE THICKNESS
SEA ICE TOPOGRAPHY
SEA ICE TYPE
RECORD
DATE
TIME
LATITUDE
LONGITUDE
OPEN WATER
TRACK
SNOW THICKNESS
SNOW TYPE
SEA TEMPERATURE
AIR TEMPERATURE
WIND VELOCITY
WIND DIRECTION
FILM COUNTER
FRAME COUNTER FOR FILM
VIDEO RECORDER COUNTER
VISIBILITY CODE
CLOUD
WEATHER CODE
COMMENTS
Each parameter is assigned a data quality flag as defined below:
Flag 1: Error free
Flag 2: Dubious. Non-specific errors
Flag 3: Known errors exist that can be fixed
Flag 4: Known errors exist that cannot be fixed
Flag 5: No data - not observed
Flag 6: Data in analog format only
Time and position: 1
Total ice concentration: 1
Open water: 1
Pri ice concentration: 1
Pri ice type: 1
Pri ice thickness: 1
Pri floe size: 1
Pri topography: 1
Pri snow type: 1
Pri snow thickness: 1
Sec ice concentration: 1
Sec ice type: 1
Sec ice thickness: 1
Sec floe size: 1
Sec topography: 1
Sec snow type: 1
Sec snow thickness: 1
Ter ice concentration: 1
Ter ice type: 1
Ter ice thickness: 1
Ter floe size: 1
Ter topography: 1
Ter snow type: 1
Ter snow thickness: 1
Air temperature: 1
Water temperature: 1
Wind speed: 1
Wind direction: 1
Cloud: 1
Current weather: 1
Visibility: 1
Video reading: 1
Photo (film no.): 1
Photo (frame no.): 1
Comments: 1
These data are publicly available for download from the provided URL and from the ASPECT website. Note that to use the original log files, you will also need to download the provided software in order to extract the data.
This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=ASPECT_AA111298 when using these data.
Authors should acknowledge use of the ASPeCt data archive - "The ship-based sea ice and snow thickness data were provided by the SCAR Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt) program (aspect.antarctica.gov.au)".