UAVs for Science in Antarctica

Abstract

Remote sensing is a very powerful tool that has been used to identify, map and monitor Antarctic features and processes for nearly one century. Satellite remote sensing plays the main role for about the last five decades, as it is the only way to provide multitemporal views at continental scale. But the emergence of small consumer-grade unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the past two decades has paved the way for data in unprecedented detail. This has been also verified by an increasing noticeable interest in Antarctica by the incorporation of UAVs in the field activities in diversified research topics. This paper presents a comprehensive review about the use of UAVs in scientific activities in Antarctica. It is based on the analysis of 190 scientific publications published in peer-reviewed journals and proceedings of conferences which are organised into six main application topics: Terrestrial, Ice and Snow, Fauna, Technology, Atmosphere and Others. The analysis encompasses a detailed overview of the activities, identifying advantages and difficulties, also evaluating future possibilities and challenges for expanding the use of UAV in the field activities. The relevance of using UAVs to support numerous and diverse scientific activities in Antarctica becomes very clear after analysing this set of scientific publications, as it is revolutionising the remote acquisition of new data with much higher detail, from inaccessible or difficult to access regions, in faster and cheaper ways. Many of the advances can be seen in the terrestrial areas (detailed 3D mapping; vegetation mapping, discrimination and health assessment; periglacial forms characterisation), ice and snow (more detailed topography, depth and features of ice-sheets, glaciers and sea-ice), fauna (counting penguins, seals and flying birds and detailed morphometrics) and in atmosphere studies (more detailed meteorological measurements and air-surface couplings). This review has also shown that despite the low environmental impact of UAV-based surveys, the increasing number of applications and use, may lead to impacts in the most sensitive Antarctic ecosystems. Hence, we call for an internationally coordinated effort to for planning and sharing UAV data in Antarctica, which would reduce environmental impacts, while extending research outcomes.

Using machine learning to count Antarctic shag (Leucocarbo bransfieldensis) nests on images captured by Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems

“…In recent years, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) have become common tools for wildlife monitoring (Schad and Fisher, 2023) and have proved especially helpful for surveying habitats that are otherwise difficult to access, such as many areas of Antarctica (Pina and Vieira, 2022). RPAS are used to monitor many different wildlife species in the Antarctic environment, including whales, surface-nesting birds and pinnipeds (Fudala and Bialik 2022; Tovar-Sánchez et al 2021; Zmarz et al 2018).…”

The vertical atmospheric structure of the partially glacierised Mittivakkat valley, southeast Greenland

“…However, understanding the complex relationship between temperature inversions and glacier ablation remains difficult and requires further research. The recent development of small, lightweight and low-cost unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with meteorological sensors open up new opportunities for (micro-)meteorological measurements (Elston and others, 2015; Villa and others, 2016; Kral and others, 2018; Kimball and others, 2020; Tikhomirov and others, 2021; Pina and Vieira, 2022). The advantages of UAV-based measurements include low operating costs per single atmospheric profile, fine vertical resolution, spatial flexibility, good control over flight parameters, less manpower, ease of operation and low environmental impact.…”

Fixed-Wing UAV Flight Operation under Harsh Weather Conditions: A Case Study in Livingston Island Glaciers, Antarctica

“…During recent years, and following the data collection for our study (2014/2015), there have been great technological advances in the world of drones, and most of such advances have been applied to Antarctic-focused research. A good compilation can be found in [16]. Such studies include development of flight platforms [17,18], use of positioning systems (e.g., GNSS integration [19], RTK [20]), use and development of various sensors (LIDAR [21], multispectral [22], hyperspectral [23], thermal cameras [24,25]), use of different types of radar [26], monitoring volcanic gas emissions [27], monitoring fauna [28,29], and many more.…”