RAPPLS: Multisensor Helicopter Surveys of Antarctic Sea Ice from SIPEX II, 2012

RAPPLS surveys deployed a helicopter-mounted sensor suite to record sea ice properties during the 2012 SIPEX II Antarctic voyage. The system combined a 2-8 GHz radar, a high-resolution aerial camera, a pyranometer, and a scanning LiDAR, all geo-located with an inertial navigation system. Data collection occurred between September and November 2012 as part of Australian Antarctic Division project 07006.

Use Cases

• Deriving sea ice surface roughness and elevation profiles based on LiDAR and radar measurements.
• Analyzing high-resolution aerial imagery for sea ice morphology and floe distribution.
• Mapping skin surface temperature variations over sea ice using pyranometer data.
• Correlating multi-sensor data for integrated studies of snow-ice interface properties.

Strengths

• Data from four distinct sensor types (radar, camera, pyrometer, LiDAR) provides complementary measurements.
• All data is geo-located using a combined inertial navigation and GPS system (OxTS RT-4003).
• Aerial photographs have a reported ground resolution of about 13 centimeters.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Last updated 2012-11-06 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Division (AU_AADC), collected during the SIPEX II voyage.

Collection Method

Data gathered via helicopter-mounted sensors (RAPPLS system) flying over sea ice.

Time Range

September to November 2012.

Freshness

Data collected and last updated in 2012.

Geography

Antarctic sea ice regions surveyed during the Aurora Australis SIPEX II voyage.