Davis drone mapping surveys for Davis Aerodrome Project (DAP) suitable sites 2020/21/22

Full description

INTRODUCTION
As part of the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) Davis Aerodrome Project (5097), the ADF, under Operation Southern Discovery has been providing surveyors throughout the Antarctic summer field seasons. The aims of the surveying project for this data was mapping key areas identified. One site in the Vestfold Hills area (known as the ‘Ridge Site’) was considered suitable as a potential aerodrome site and as such required further assessment. As a result, the YRAA developed into the Davis Aerodrome Project (DAP), with the 2019/20 survey tasking focusing on the ‘Ridge Site’ and future station infrastructure sites for data gathering. The ‘Ridge Site’ is in the Vestfold Hills approximately 4km from Davis Station. The sites general location is included in Appendix A.

Following on from the 2019/20 season the initial expectation for the 2021/22 season, was to gather more detailed geospatial data around the ‘Ridge’ site and future station site. However, as the 2021/22 season got underway a decision was made by Government that the aerodrome project in its current format and scope was no longer an option. As a result the DAP project became defunct and Antarctic Futures (AF) was raised.

SURVEY SITES
As the season began there were initially 22 sites under consideration for further investigation. However, noting the short duration of the summer season and the lack of helicopter support, the 22 sites were narrowed down to 6 sites around Davis Station and Heidemann Valley. Towards the end of the season, the ‘Ridge’ site was also re-included as part of the sites under consideration. The general layout and location of the Options that were investigated are included in Annex A.

EQUIPMENT
Trimble R10 GPS antennas and a DJI Phantom 4 RTK (P4RTK) drone

SCOPE OF WORK
The survey work planned for the summer season, and undertaken at each site, included:
- Placement of 2 x ground control markers at each site.
- GPS co-ordination of the ground control markers at each site.
- At least one drone mapping flight over each site (3000m x 400m), although usually a number of flights were undertaken to cover the area.
- A drone video flight over the approximate centre line of each area.
- Processing of drone data to create orthomosaics, point clouds and contours (overall approximately 20,000 aerial images were processed).
- Remediation and removal of soil movement measurement rods on the ‘Ridge’ site.
- GPS Check of 2017/18 ground markers used to undertake initial aerial imagery of the Ridge site

DELIVERABLES/DATA
Contours at one and five meters, in .DXF format
Point cloud model of area in .LAS format
Orthophoto of the survey area
Flight video down the approximate centre line of the survey area in .MP4 format

Lineage

Progress Code: completed

Statement: RTK GNSS is generally considered to be accurate to +\- 50mm, although frequently achieves better than +\- 20mm in Horizontal