3D | ANTARTIDA - MONITORING OF ANTARCTIC PERMAFROST ENVIRONMENTS

At Project 3D-ANTÁRTIDA we propose to buy an UAV (ebee – sensefly) to monitor ice-free terrestrial environments in Antarctica.

The Antarctic Peninsula region has been suffering significant environmental changes in the last decades, having recorded a warming of ci 2.5 ºC in the mean annual temperatures over the last 50 years. In some locations winter average temperature have increased up to 6 ºC! The effects over the environment have been very significant and well described for glaciers, ice-shelves and sea-ice. Our team works with perenially frozen ground – permafrost – and in this component of the cryosphere, changes are much more difficult to identify, since permafrost is to be found mainly in the subsurface. Portuguese research teams on permafrost have been working in an interdisciplinary approach with scientists from various countries (Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Spain, Russia, South Korea, USA, United Kingdom), in order to improve knowledge on changes in the permafrost environment in Western Antarctic Peninsula. In recent years, significant steps have been achieved (see e.g. Vieira et al. 2010, Bockheim et al. 2013).

The fast technological development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and their cost reduction currently allow for huge advances in their applications for studying Earth surface changes. In the regions where we are conducting research, such as the Antarctic Peninsula, changes have been very fast and using UAVs to obtain detailed maps of the vegetation, geomorphological units, snow and runoff allows for important advances that were impossible a few years ago. Our team has got, therefore, a HUGE INTEREST in obtaining na UAV platform allowing to obtain such cartographic data of high scientific significance. However, recent funding constraints have limited our capacity to obtain such an UAV and that’s why we have decided to advance with this proposal, for which we ask for your support.

Our team currently operates in the Antarctic Peninsula region every year and is involved in competitive projects. However, the UAV which we are proposing for this project would result in an important step forward, contributing to increase the international impact of our science. It would also be used in doctoral research at IGOT and IST, contributing to the PhDs of Alexandre Nieuwendam, Alice Ferreira and Maura Lousada, which are also members of the team.

At Project 3D-ANTÁRTIDA we propose to buy an UAV (ebee – sensefly) costing the total amount requested in the crowdfunding proposal. The UAV will allow us to make detailed topographical surveying, as well as collecting very high resolution aerial imagery, which will be orthorectified for analytical purposes. The advances that this technology will provide are enormous, since in the regions where we work there are not good topographical surveys and it is extremely complex to fly with regular helicopters for aerial photography surveys.

The project will be implemented in two Antarctic campaigns:

a)     February – March 2014. Preliminary tests in Barton Peninsula (King George Island). This phase will also depending on the timing of the finishing of the crowdfund raising, which should take place until February 2014.

b)     January – February 2015. Detailed surveys in Livingston, Deception and King George Islands, with possible application in Cierva Cove – Antarctic Peninsula.

We will also use the UAV in detailed surveying campaign in serra da Estrela (Central Portugal) in the summer of 2014, as well as in the Canadian Arctic in July 2014. Depending on logistical possibilities, after 2015, we should be able to extend the application of the UAV surveying to all permafrost monitoring observatories that we maintain in the Antarctic Peninsula between Palmer and King George Islands.

Last Reward: 

(1) All of the above + MAIN SPONSOR STATUS with special focus of the company logo at all activities related to the project. Possibility of lectures at your company on Polar research, climate change and Polar science expeditions by team members. Company logo in the project t-shirt.

3D Antartida has the support of Agência Ciência Viva:

About the author

The Polar Group of the University of Lisbon joins 3 teams (CEG/IGOT, CERENA/IST and CQE/IST) that have a wide expertise in research in permafrost terrains in Antarctica and the Arctic. Our main research topics are permafrost and climate change, remote sensing of permafrost environments and contaminants. The team also coordinates the Portuguese Polar Program, responsible for providing support to about 20 Portuguese scientists each year in Antarctica and to transport over 100 scientists and technicians of partner programs.

Websites:

http://www.antecc.org/

http://planetsci-cerena.weebly.com/

Gonçalo Vieira | Associate Professor at IGOT and Head of the Research Group on Antarctic Environments and Climate Change of the CEG. Expert on permafrost and climate change. 7 Antarctic and 2 Arctic campaigns. Coordinator of the Portuguese Polar Program and Co-Chair of the Expert Group on Permafrost of SCAR.

Pedro Pina | Principal Researcher at IST and Head of the Group on Imagery Analysis and Remote Sensing of Planetary Surfaces at CERENA. Expert in remote sensing and pattern detection. 2 Antarctic and 2 Arctic field campaigns.

João Canário | Principal Researcher at CQE – IST. Expert in environmental contaminants. 2 Antarctic and 2 Arctic field campaigns.

Julio Martín-Herreo | Associate Professor at the University of Vigo. Expert in remote sensing and artificial vision. 1 Antarctic campaign. Cooperates with the team since 2011.

Carla Mora | Post-doctoral researcher at CEG/IGOT. Expert on mountain climatology and remote sensing. 1 field campaign in the Arctic and 1 in the Antarctic.

Lourenço Bandeira | Post-doctoral researcher at IST. 1 campaign in the Arctic and 1 in the Antarctic. Expert on multi-platform image processing and pattern recognition.

Mário Neves | Assistant Professor at IGOT and reseacher at CEG. 3 Antarctic campaigns and 1 Arctic campaign.

Inês Fonseca | Assistant researcher at CEG-IGOT. PhD in Physical Geography at King’s College on spatial modelling of soils.

Gonçalo Prates | Adjunct Professor at ISE/UALG and post-doctoral researcher at CEG/IGOT. 2 campaigns in the Antarctic.

Marc Oliva | Post-doctoral researcher at CEG/IGOT. 3 Antarctic campaigns and 2 Arctic campaigns. Expert on paleoenvironmental reconstruction on Polar and mountain environments.

Alexandre Nieuwendam | PhD student at CEG/IGOT. 5 Antarctic and 1 Arctic campaign. President of the Permafrost Young Researchers Network. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction on polar and mountain environments.

Alice Ferreira | PhD student at CEG/IGOT. 2 Antarctic and 1 Arctic campaign. Spatial modelling of permafrost.Maura Lousada | PhD student at IST. 2 Arctic campaigns. Analysis of soil patterns in permafrost soils using remote sensing imagery.

Maura Lousada | PhD student at IST. 2 Arctic campaigns. Analysis of soil patterns in permafrost soils using remote sensing imagery.

João Branco | Commercial airline pilot and geographer. Collaborates with 3D Antartida in remote sensing studies.

Vanessa Batista | Geologist and post-graduate in Physical Geography. Two Antarctic campaigns. Collaborates with the Polar Group of the University of Lisbon since 2007 on research on permafrost in the South Shetlands.

Budget and due dates

Images

Documents

• Principais projetos de deteção remota do Grupo Polar da Universidade de Lisboa

  pdf • 773.93 KB

• Convite para a Festa no dia 24/01 pelas 21h na Fábrica Braço de Prata

  pdf • 118.24 KB