BANZARE Antarctic Expedition Ship Logs and Station Lists 1929-1931

Historical records from the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition voyages between 1929 and 1931. The dataset includes five tables documenting ship noon positions, biological sampling stations, and full-speed net logs. Data were compiled by T. Harvey Johnston in the BANZARE Reports series.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct daily ship routes using noon positions from the `banzare_noon_log` tables with `log_date`, `latitude`, and `longitude`.
• Analyze biological sampling locations and depths from the `banzare_stations` tables using `odate`, `latg`, `long`, and `depth`.
• Study net deployment operations from `full_speed_nets_1930_1931` using `time`, `distance`, `depth`, and `tow_speed`.
• Map expedition progress over two consecutive Austral summers by joining log and station tables on date fields.

Strengths

• Data covers two consecutive Austral summer expeditions from 1929 to 1931.
• Positions in `banzare_stations` tables were refined using Google Earth and a Kerguelen map for accuracy.
• Includes multiple data facets: ship navigation, station metadata, and net deployment logs across 5 tables.

Limitations

• Exact row counts and total data volume are unknown.
• Temporal data is incomplete, as station dates (`odate`) lack specific times.
• Data is stored in a legacy Microsoft Access database format, which may require specific tools to access.

Provenance

Source

Biological Organisation and Station List by T. Harvey Johnston, BANZARE Reports, Series B, Vol I, Part 1, pages 1-48.

Collection Method

Digitized from original expedition reports and logs, with some geographic coordinates refined using modern maps.

Time Range

1929 to 1931.

Freshness

Historical dataset with a last updated date of 1931-03-24.

Geography

Antarctic region, with specific references to the Kerguelen area.