Abstract:
We present here the land cover change of the major proglacial regions in West Antarctica and the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the 21st century. We have used change vector analysis on Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images to an accuracy of 80 %.
This work is supported by the Leeds-York-Hull Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) Panorama under grant NE/S007458/1. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic project VAN 1/2022 and the Czech Antarctic Foundation funded fieldwork that contributed to part of this work.
Keywords:
Antarctica, Google Earth Engine, Landsat, land cover change, sediment
Stringer, C. (2025). 21st century land cover change across the major proglacial regions of West Antarctica and the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/d6721952-a9ab-4021-adc6-1ccb4d52f1f9
| Access Constraints: | None |
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| Use Constraints: | This data is governed by the NERC data policy http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/sites/data/policy/ and supplied under Open Government Licence v.3 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. |
| Creation Date: | 2023-06-01 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK Polar Data Centre |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Mr Christopher D Stringer |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | School of Geography, University of Leeds |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
| Reference: | List of Landsat 8 OLI images used for the study: Images acquired by Landsat-8 OLI: 02-02-2016 to 09-02-2020: Contemporary images - Date - cloud cover % *James Ross Island LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_215105_20170204 04/02/2017 13 LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_215105_20160202 02/02/2016 6 *Dry Valleys LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_056116_20191115 15/11/2019 0 LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_061115_20191118 18/11/2019 0 LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_061114_20191102 02/11/2019 0 *Alexander Island LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_217110_20191209 09/12/2019 0 LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_217111_20191107 07/11/2019 1 LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_216110_20191218 18/12/2019 0 *Deception Island LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_219104_20200209 09/02/2020 21 N/A *Byers Peninsula LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T2_TOA/LC08_219104_20200209 09/02/2020 21 *South Georgia LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T1_TOA/LC08_205098_20180116� 28/03/2018 2 LANDSAT/LC08/C01/T1_TOA/LC08_207098_20180404 04/04/2018 47 Legacy images - Date - cloud cover % *James Ross Island LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_216105_20000221 21/02/2000 15 *Dry Valleys LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_059115_20011228 28/11/2001 1 *Alexander Island LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_213111_20020104 04/01/2002 1 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_217111_20021202 02/12/2002 1 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_218110_20010104 04/01/2001 1 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_218111_20030211 11/02/2003 1 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_214110_20030130 30/01/2003 2 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_218110_20030211 11/02/2003 2 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_219109_20011229 29/12/2001 2 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_132133_20001123 23/11/2000 3 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_216111_20030112 12/01/2003 3 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_217111_20010214 14/02/2001 3 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_214110_20020127 27/01/2002 4 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_217110_20021202 02/12/2002 4 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_218111_20010104 04/01/2001 4 *Byers Peninsula LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T2_TOA/LE07_219104_20020130 03/01/2002 16 *South Georgia LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T1_TOA/LE07_206098_20020103 03/01/2002 65 LANDSAT/LE07/C01/T1_TOA/LE07_206098_20030207 07/02/2003 17 |
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| Quality: | First, we calculated the resubstitutuion error to assess the differences between the training data classes and predictions the classifier made. This shows the accuracy of the model based on the training data made available to it was 100.0 %. To validate the accuracy of our change maps, we reproduced the change detection analysis on Byers Peninsula with a 70/30 split of the training points between the classifier and validation. To ensure this split was unbiased, we randomly sorted the training points. This showed a total validation of accuracy of 80.1 %. | |
| Lineage/Methodology: | Our methodology is based on: Xu, R., Lin, H., Lü, Y., Luo, Y., Ren, Y., Comber, A., 2018. A Modified Change Vector Approach for Quantifying Land Cover Change. Remote Sens. 10, 1578. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10101578. We acquired images from 2001-2003 from Landsat 7 ETM+ (legacy image) and from 2016-2020 from Landsat 8 OLI (contemporary image) to create a pair of image mosaics for each site. Suitable images had low cloud cover and limited snow cover. We selected six bands representing the visual and infrared wavelengths from the images for classification and topographically corrected the images. We added three further bands to the image in the form of normalised difference snow index (NDSI), normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), and normalised difference water index (NDWI). We then merged each image pair to create single 18-band imaged, and added 3 further bands to describe the Euclidean distance, change vector angle and spectral angle mapper of each pair. This resulted in a 21-band image. Using a modern classification of Byers' Peninsula (available from: Stringer, C. (2022). Contemporary (2016 - 2020) land cover classification across West Antarctica and the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/5A5EE38C-E296-48A2-85D2-E29DB66E5E24 ) and a legacy classification of Byers' Peninsula produced using the same methodology as Stringer (2022). We identified a series of class to class (ClTCl) changes using these classified images. We removed any ClTCl changes that represented less than 1 % of the points to reduce the risk of misclassification. The remaining points described 12 ClTCl change classes: wet ice to coarse/wet sediment (WITC), ice to fine & dry sediment (ITF), ice to coarse/wet sediment (ITC), ice to turbid water (ITT), coarse/wet sediment to turbid water (CTT), coarse/wet sediment to wet ice (CTWI), fine & dry sediment to bedrock (FTB), coarse/wet sediment to bedrock (CTB), coarse/wet sediment to fine & dry sediment (CTF), coarse/wet sediment to vegetation (CTV), bedrock to coarse sediment (BTC), fine and dry sediment to coarse/wet sediment (FTC). Using 8,500 randomly selected points, we identified the spectral properties of each class to class change using the 21-band image. We then used a random forest classifier (500 trees) to classify the 21-band image at each site. We modified the training dataset for each of our five-proglacial sites to ensure that only changes between classes present in the modern land classification were possible. Class to class changes should be considered in the context of the process they represent (e.g. land to water, ice to land, etc.) and not solely the ClCl value assigned to them. The legacy land classification is described by band values of: 0 = No data 1 = Water 2 = Turbid water 3 = Wet ice 4 = Ice 5 = Land (non-differentiated) 6 = Bedrock 7 = Coarse/wet sediment 8 = Fine & dry sediment 9 = Vegetation The land change classification is described by band values of: 0 = No change 12 = Wet ice to coarse/wet sediment (WITC) 16 = Ice to turbid water (ITT) 18 = Ice to coarse/wet sediment (ITC) 19 = Ice to fine & dry sediment (ITF) 25 = Bedrock to coarse/wet sediment (BTC) 29 = Coarse/wet sediment to turbid water (CTT) 30 = Coarse/wet sediment to wet ice (CTWI) 32 = Coarse/wet sediment to bedrock (CTB) 33 = Coarse/wet sediment to fine & dry sediment (CTF) 34 = Coarse/wet sediment to vegetation (CTV) 39 = Fine & dry sediment to bedrock (FTB) 40 = Fine & dry sediment to coarse/wet sediment (CTW) |
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| Temporal Coverage: | |
|---|---|
| Start Date | 2016-02-02 |
| End Date | 2020-02-09 |
| Start Date | 2000-02-21 |
| End Date | 2003-02-11 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -73.74 |
| Northernmost | -70.26 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -72.4 |
| Easternmost | -63 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -63 |
| Northernmost | -62.16 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -62 |
| Easternmost | -60 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -78.7 |
| Northernmost | -78 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | 68.5 |
| Easternmost | 74.8 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -64.92 |
| Northernmost | -63.4 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -59.2 |
| Easternmost | -55.75 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -63 |
| Northernmost | -62.2 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -61.98 |
| Easternmost | -60 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -56 |
| Northernmost | -53 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -39.1 |
| Easternmost | -33.7 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Data Resolution: | |
| Latitude Resolution | N/A |
| Longitude Resolution | N/A |
| Horizontal Resolution Range | 30 meters - < 100 meters |
| Vertical Resolution | N/A |
| Vertical Resolution Range | N/A |
| Temporal Resolution | N/A |
| Temporal Resolution Range | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | James Ross Archipelago |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Byers Peninsula |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Snow Island |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Alexander Island |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | west Palmer Land |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | McMurdo Dry Valleys |
| Distribution: | |
|---|---|
| Distribution Media | Online Internet (HTTP) |
| Distribution Size | 3.4 GB |
| Distribution Format | TIFF |
| Fees | N/A |
| Data Storage: | This dataset consists of 6 single band tif files and a readme file: - alexIslandChange.tif - land change classification of Alexander Island and west Palmer land/Antarctic Peninsula (1.7GB) - byersPeninsulaChange.tif - land change classification of Byers Peninsula and Snow Island (94 MB) - dryValleyChange.tif - land change classification of McMurdo Dry Valleys (458 MB) - JRIChange.tif - land change classification of James Ross Archipelago (295 MB) - southGeorgiaChange.tif - land change classification of Alexander Island (898 MB) - landClassificationBP_legacy.tif - legacy land classification of Byers Peninsula (11.5 MB) - changeDetection_readme.txt: readme file |