1 research outputs found
UAVs for Science in Antarctica
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.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio