Antarctic Benthic Community Survey Images from the Mertz Glacier Region, 2011

Over 1800 high-resolution seafloor images collected from 75 successful camera deployments on the Antarctic continental shelf and slope in January 2011. The survey was conducted by Geoscience Australia and the Australian Antarctic Division to establish a benchmark for monitoring environmental changes after the Mertz Glacier calving event. Images document benthic community composition, substrate type, and areas affected by iceberg scours.

Use Cases

• Classifying benthic community composition based on seafloor imagery from the area previously covered by the Mertz Glacier tongue.
• Detecting the presence or absence of life in areas of known iceberg scours based on image analysis.
• Mapping the lateral extent of hydrocoral communities along the shelf break using georeferenced images.

Strengths

• Over 1800 high-resolution still images of the sea floor provide detailed visual data.
• Data was collected shortly after the 2010 Mertz Glacier calving event, providing a temporal benchmark.
• Survey addressed three specific scientific objectives for focused analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data files are in PDF and HTML formats, which may require extraction for image analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Benthic community survey using a camera system deployed from the RSV Aurora Australis.

Time Range

January - February 2011

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 02:17:06.884588; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Mertz Glacier Region, East Antarctica (continental shelf and slope)