Since 1998, station personnel have been recording the wildlife they''ve observed whilst living and working at Rothera Research Station, Antarctica, as part of the Rothera Time-Series (RaTS) project. Originally, this consisted of a daily count of animals seen recorded in a logbook. More recently, dedicated wildlife survey recording sheets have been made available. The handwritten raw data were then collated and input into a spreadsheet, creating a database of wildlife sightings. Funding source: These data have been collected by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) personnel as part of an on-going long-term monitoring programme supported by NERC core funding.

The application of Very-High-Resolution satellite imagery for the purpose of studying wildlife, particularly in remote regions, has gained significant traction in recent years. With this there has been an exponential increase in the volume of data, which has fostered a shift towards the use of automated systems to increase processing efficiency. However, these systems require manually annotated data on which to be trained, which is lacking. This dataset describes a total of 819 annotated and classified whale Features of Interest (FOIs) from a multi-season survey of Wilhelmina Bay on the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). These data are comprised of FOIs that have been annotated and classified based on existing protocols by seven individual observers who scanned ~1,900 km2 of WorldView-03 imagery acquired between 2018/2019 and 2021/2022. This work was supported by an Innovation Voucher from the British Antarctic Survey and grants from the World Wildlife Fund (GB107301) and NC-International NERC (NE/T012439/1).

This dataset comprises aerial surveys using remotely piloted aerial systems (RPAS) and derived annotations of albatrosses in colonies across South Georgia during the 2023/2024 season (austral summer). The dataset includes stitched orthomosaics and digital surface models (DSM), as well as annotated counts of black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses during their breeding season. Counts are assigned to respective colonies within larger sites. Surveys were conducted as part of an all-island albatross survey carried out every 10 years to monitor albatross trends across South Georgia. Flights were conducted by personnel at BAS and supported by the MV SG Pharos. This project was funded by the following: Friends of South Georgia Island, South Georgia Heritage Trust, Antarctic Research Trust, Peter Smith Charitable Trust for Nature, UK Blue Belt Programme.

This dataset comprises locational data highlighting the geographic position of emperor penguin colonies along the circumpolar Antarctic coastline as identified from satellite imagery (Sentinel2 and MAXAR VHR (Very High Resolution)) from August to December 2023. This dataset is part of the long-term monitoring of emperor penguin colonies and will support conservation efforts in Antarctica. This dataset was supported by NERC core funding and WWF grant GB095701.

Aerial survey of St Andrews Bay elephant seal colony, Mirounga leonina, during the 2023/24 season conducted using a remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS). The aerial survey was conducted as part of the Darwin Plus (DPLUS) 214 project: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA). Dataset includes the original images and log files, the original RINEX GNSS (global navigation satellite system) base station files, the post-processed global navigation satellite system and imagery data, along with the resulting georeferenced DSM (digital surface model) and an orthorectified mosaic of the imagery. This dataset is from flight number DPLUS_214_12 which was carried out on 2024-10-20. This work was supported by the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund under Grant Darwin Plus ref: DPLUS214: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA).

Aerial survey of St Andrews Bay elephant seal colony, Mirounga leonina, during the 2023/24 season conducted using a remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS). The aerial survey was conducted as part of the Darwin Plus (DPLUS) 214 project: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA). Dataset includes the original images and log files, the original RINEX GNSS (global navigation satellite system) base station files, the post-processed global navigation satellite system and imagery data, along with the resulting georeferenced DSM (digital surface model) and an orthorectified mosaic of the imagery. This dataset is from flight number DPLUS_214_24 which was carried out on 2024-10-28. This work was supported by the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund under Grant Darwin Plus ref: DPLUS214: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA).

Aerial survey of St Andrews Bay elephant seal colony, Mirounga leonina, during the 2023/24 season conducted using a remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS). The aerial survey was conducted as part of the Darwin Plus (DPLUS) 214 project: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA). Dataset includes the original images and log files, the original RINEX GNSS (global navigation satellite system) base station files, the post-processed global navigation satellite system and imagery data, along with the resulting georeferenced DSM (digital surface model) and an orthorectified mosaic of the imagery. This dataset is from flight number DPLUS_214_21 which was carried out on 2024-10-26. This work was supported by the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund under Grant Darwin Plus ref: DPLUS214: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA).

Aerial survey of Hound Bay elephant seal colony, Mirounga leonina, during the 2023/24 season conducted using a remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS). The aerial survey was conducted as part of the Darwin Plus (DPLUS) 214 project: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA). Dataset includes the original images and log files, the original RINEX GNSS (global navigation satellite system) base station files, the post-processed global navigation satellite system and imagery data, along with the resulting georeferenced DSM (digital surface model) and an orthorectified mosaic of the imagery. This dataset is from flight number DPLUS_214_20 which was carried out on 2024-10-25. This work was supported by the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund under Grant Darwin Plus ref: DPLUS214: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA).

Aerial survey of Hound Bay elephant seal colony, Mirounga leonina, during the 2023/24 season conducted using a remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS). The aerial survey was conducted as part of the Darwin Plus (DPLUS) 214 project: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA). Dataset includes the original images and log files, the original RINEX GNSS (global navigation satellite system) base station files, the post-processed global navigation satellite system and imagery data, along with the resulting georeferenced DSM (digital surface model) and an orthorectified mosaic of the imagery. This dataset is from flight number DPLUS_214_23 which was carried out on 2024-10-27. This work was supported by the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund under Grant Darwin Plus ref: DPLUS214: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA).

Aerial survey of St Andrews Bay elephant seal colony, Mirounga leonina, during the 2023/24 season conducted using a remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS). The aerial survey was conducted as part of the Darwin Plus (DPLUS) 214 project: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA). Dataset includes the original images and log files, the original RINEX GNSS (global navigation satellite system) base station files, the post-processed global navigation satellite system and imagery data, along with the resulting georeferenced DSM (digital surface model) and an orthorectified mosaic of the imagery. This dataset is from flight number DPLUS_214_25 which was carried out on 2024-10-29. This work was supported by the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund under Grant Darwin Plus ref: DPLUS214: Southwest Atlantic Elephant Seal Population Assessment (SAESPA).