Aerial imagery of Zavodovski Island, South Sandwich Islands, December 2023
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02254
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Summary
Abstract:
This dataset contains aerial imagery from Zavodovski Island, South Sandwich Islands, December 2023; three UAV-derived orthomosaics, and two photographs taken from an aircraft cockpit. The two .jpg photographs were taken at 500ft from an RAF Airbus A400M overflight flown on 12 December 2023, and depict Stench Point (-56.299002 deg N, -27.605631 deg E). The three high-resolution orthomosaics were derived from an aerial drone survey conducted 14 December 2023. A small multirotor drone was used to conduct surveys at an altitude of 70 to 100m, producing a ground sampling distance of 1.9 to 2.7 cm. Images were processed using the Pix4D photogrammetry software package. Covering the north, east, and south portions of the island, the orthomosaics together provide near-complete spatial coverage of Zavodovski Island during the 2023-24 breeding season.
These data were collected as part of a wider project to establish a baseline for monitoring penguin populations and terrestrial biodiversity on Zavodovski Island; a globally important but data-deficient area of high biodiversity. The orthomosaics were used to identify and map higher predator breeding colonies, producing an island-wide record of colony locations and extents for future comparison and monitoring.
Darwin Plus (DPLUS 186) 'Evidence-based conservation of key biodiversity in the South Sandwich Islands' funded the project, with contributions from the Antarctic Research Trust and Talesmith.
Keywords:
South Sandwich Islands, Zavodovski Island, aerial photography, drone survey
Citation
Ratcliffe, N., Dickens, J., & Clucas, G. (2026). Aerial imagery of Zavodovski Island, South Sandwich Islands, December 2023 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/e2f65907-7aaa-4a45-917c-6f31ca644ad6
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ASSOCIATED DATA SET(S)
- 10.5285/459597b2-ca0c-4110-b59c-62490867f348
- 10.5285/529808a4-3967-49fe-abf6-fdb4fe5a7e5e
- 10.5285/7220dc6b-2f52-4160-a6c0-e57c50963308
- 10.5285/96febb5d-1821-4f49-9b5f-32e489ae3839
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Constraints
| Access Constraints: | The data are under embargo until publication of the associated manuscript; estimated Nov 2026. |
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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/. |
Basic Information
| Creation Date: | 2026-08-06 |
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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 | Dr Norman Ratcliffe |
| Role(s) | Technical Contact, Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | John Dickens |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Dr Gemma Clucas |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
Additional Information
| Reference: | These data are used in an accepted article in Current Biology: 'Population declines and changes in community composition at the world's largest penguin colony'. | |
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| Quality: | The drone survey ground sampling distance was 1.9 - 2.7 cm. Coverage exceeded 90% of the area occupied by predators. | |
| Lineage/Methodology: | Zavodovski Island was visited during a yacht-supported expedition between 10 and 16 December 2023. A Mavic 3T quadcopter (DJI, Shenzhen, China) with a CMOS half-inch 48 mega pixel sensor and 24 mm lens was used to collect aerial imagery of penguin colonies across almost the whole island on 14 December 2023, which coincided with the incubation period of both chinstrap and macaroni penguin species. The flight plan was programmed in the DJI Pilot application to provide 70% image overlap at an altitude of 70m - 100 m above ground level, resulting in a ground sampling distance of 1.9 - 2.7 cm. The drone survey achieved almost complete coverage of the penguin-occupied area of the island, with the exception of chinstrap colonies on the southwestern plateau and at Stench Point. Drone images were processed into orthomosaics using the Pix4D 4.9.0 package (Lausanne, Switzerland) in three spatial blocks covering the north, east, and south sectors of the island. Both the digital elevation model (DEM) and orthorectified mosaic were then exported as GeoTIFF files, with the projection UTM 26S and EGM2008 geoid (EPSG 32726). In parallel to the ground expedition, on 12 December 2023 aerial photographs of the island were also taken from the cockpit of an RAF Airbus A400M flight from RAF Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, using a Canon R5 with 100-500 EFS lens. Two .jpg images of Stench Point (-56.299002 deg N, -27.605631 deg E) are supplied here, taken at an altitude of 500ft, and speed of 220 knots. One depicts the plateau above the cliffs, and the other the cliffs and the rocks below the cliffs. |
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Locality
| Temporal Coverage: | |
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| Start Date | 2023-12-14 |
| End Date | 2023-12-14 |
| Start Date | 2023-12-12 |
| End Date | 2023-12-12 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -56.32441 |
| Northernmost | -56.27715 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -27.62803 |
| Easternmost | -27.53531 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | 70m |
| Max Altitude | 100m |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -56.299 |
| Northernmost | -56.299 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -27.60563 |
| Easternmost | -27.60563 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | 500ft |
| Max Altitude | 500ft |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Data Resolution: | |
| Latitude Resolution | N/A |
| Longitude Resolution | N/A |
| Horizontal Resolution Range | < 1 meter |
| Vertical Resolution | N/A |
| Vertical Resolution Range | N/A |
| Temporal Resolution | N/A |
| Temporal Resolution Range | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | South Sandwich Islands |
| Detailed Location | Zavodovski Island |
Instrumentation
| Sensor(s): |
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| Source(s): |
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| Data Collection: | UAV imagery: Mavic 3T quadcopter (DJI, Shenzhen, China) with a CMOS half inch 48 mega pixel sensor and 24 mm lens. Aerial photos: Canon R5 with 100-500 EFS lens. |
Storage
| Distribution: | |
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| Distribution Media | Online Internet (HTTP) |
| Distribution Size | 35 MB |
| Distribution Format | JPEG |
| Fees | N/A |
| Distribution Media | Online Internet (HTTP) |
| Distribution Size | 26.9 GB |
| Distribution Format | TIFF |
| Fees | N/A |
| Data Storage: | Orthomosaics were split into three GeoTIFFs for convenience of processing and transfer. Note these are not perfectly aligned spatially in areas of overlap, particularly east and south. 3 x GeoTIFFs and associated files: zavodovski_north_transparent_mosaic.tif [8.3 GB] zavodovski_east_transparent_mosaic.tif [12 GB] zavodovski_south_transparent_mosaic.tif [6.6 GB] 2 x JPGs: stench_point_cliffs.JPG [18 MB] stench_point_plateau.JPG [17 MB] |