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Positions and dimensions of the A68 icebergs between September 2020 and April 2021

This dataset contains daily positions of the A68 family of giant icebergs during their drift through the Scotia Sea and South Atlantic between 2020-09-01 and 2021-04-16. Positions were obtained using optical imagery collected by MODIS Aqua and Terra satellites. For the parent iceberg A68A, the evolving dimensions (long and short axis length, area) are also provided, based on Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery acquired by Copernicus Sentinel 1A and 1B satellites. This data can be used to plot the trajectories of the A68 icebergs during their drift in the Scotia Sea and near South Georgia.

This data was collected during an MSc/MRes student project at the Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, in 2020/21. The work was not supported by any funding or research grants.

Simple

Date (Creation)
2023-04-11
Date (Revision)
2023-04-11
Date (Publication)
2023-04-11
Date (released)
2023-04-11
Edition
1.0
Unique resource identifier
https://doi.org/10.5285/d56d9e3f-80d2-4076-9e70-24f662c0e362
Codespace
doi
Unique resource identifier
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01732
Codespace
https://data.bas.ac.uk/
Other citation details
Please cite this item as: Smith, R., & Bigg, G. (2023). Positions and dimensions of the A68 icebergs between September 2020 and April 2021 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/d56d9e3f-80d2-4076-9e70-24f662c0e362
Credit
No credit.
Status
completed Completed
Author
  British Antarctic Survey - Smith, Roseanne ( Researcher )
Author
  University of Sheffield - Bigg, Grant ( Researcher )
Point of contact
  NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road , Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , CB3 0ET , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 221400
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
Maintenance and update frequency
asNeeded As needed
Maintenance note
completed Completed
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
  • EARTH SCIENCE > Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Icebergs
  • EARTH SCIENCE > Cryosphere > Sea Ice > Icebergs
  • EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Sea Ice > Icebergs
Theme
  • A68
  • Icebergs
  • South Georgia
  • satellite observations
  • trajectories
Place
  • Scotia Sea, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Atlantic South Sandwich Islands
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • Elevation
  • Oceanographic geographical features
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations to public access
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
Use constraints
license License
Other constraints
Open Government Licence v3.0
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
No restrictions apply.
Unique resource identifier
url
Codespace
url
Association Type
crossReference Cross reference
Unique resource identifier
url
Codespace
url
Association Type
crossReference Cross reference
Unique resource identifier
url
Codespace
url
Association Type
crossReference Cross reference
Spatial representation type
textTable Text, table
Metadata language
engEnglish
Character set
utf8 UTF8
Topic category
  • Oceans
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S
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W
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Begin date
2020-09-01
End date
2021-04-16
Supplemental Information
It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data, and that the author be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, please report them to polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk.
Date (Publication)
2008-11-12
Publisher
  European Petroleum Survey Group
https://www.epsg-registry.org/
Unique resource identifier
urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3031
Version
6.18.3

Distributor

Distributor
  NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road , Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , CB3 0ET , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 221400
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
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text/plain
Name
text/csv
Units of distribution
bytes
Transfer size
61440
OnLine resource
Get Data ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )

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OnLine resource
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dataset Dataset
Statement

Methodology:

The daily centre-point positions of the A68 icebergs, recorded as decimal degrees, were tracked using MODIS Aqua and Terra optical imagery displayed through NASA's EOSDIS Worldview tool (https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/). Where cloud cover precluded accurate iceberg positioning for a single day, the coordinates were interpolated based on the positions of the preceding and subsequent days, assuming constant speed. For the parent iceberg A68A, the positions of the two ends of the iceberg's major (long) axis are also provided, to give a sense of the iceberg's evolving orientation.

Lengths of A68A's major and minor axes, and area, were obtained using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data acquired by the European Space Agency (ESA) Copernicus Sentinel 1A and 1B satellites (https://scihub.copernicus.eu/). The dates and file codes of the 11 SAR images used are provided. The major axis is defined as two most distal points on the iceberg; the minor axis is 90 degrees perpendicular and at the widest point.

Data collection:

Positions were obtained using MODIS Aqua and Terra optical imagery displayed through NASA's EOSDIS Worldview tool (https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/).

Dimensions were obtained using 11 SAR images acquired by European Space Agency (ESA) Copernicus Sentinel 1A and 1B satellites and downloaded from https://scihub.copernicus.eu/. The SAR data were viewed and measurements performed using ArcGIS (version 10) software.

Data quality:

Where cloud cover precluded accurate iceberg positioning for a single day, the coordinates were interpolated based on the positions of the preceding and subsequent days, assuming constant speed. This occurred for less than 10 percent of the positions noted for each iceberg, and the error introduced is expected to be minimal, owing to the very large size of the tracked icebergs, and known currents, throughout the study period.

For the parent iceberg A68A, cloud cover prevented continuous daily tracking in the two final weeks of its lifetime, in April 2021. Owing to the relatively small size of this final remaining iceberg at this time, and the large (3-4 days) gaps in observations, the missing positions were not interpolated for this final period and instead are left unknown. This results in 'snapshot' positions in the final two week period, until the iceberg's final melt on 2021-04-16.

Wherever data is missing (due either to lack of interpolation as described, or more commonly due to an iceberg's non-existence on that day), a value of 9999 is provided for ease of filtering.

File identifier
d56d9e3f-80d2-4076-9e70-24f662c0e362 XML
Metadata language
engEnglish
Character set
utf8 UTF8
Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Hierarchy level name
dataset
Date stamp
2023-04-11
Metadata standard name
ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
ISO 19115:2003(E)
Point of contact
  NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road , Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , CB3 0ET , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 221400
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
 
 

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Spatial extent

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Keywords

A68 Icebergs South Georgia satellite observations trajectories
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
Elevation Oceanographic geographical features
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
EARTH SCIENCE > Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Icebergs EARTH SCIENCE > Cryosphere > Sea Ice > Icebergs EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Sea Ice > Icebergs

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