Orthomosaic, Digital Elevation Model and Point Cloud of Edgeworth David Base Camp (Denman Terrestrial Campaign), Bunger Hills, 27 December 2024 (AAS4620/4622)

Full description

Orthomosaic of the Denman Terrestrial Camp (DTC) at Edgeworth David Base on the 27th of December, 2024
The orthomosaic has a ground resolution of 1.27cm per pixel. The orthomosaic covers the entire DTC camp area. It shows the positions of 27 yellow (sleeping) tents, 4 polar pyramids, 5 melon huts, two oblong tents, the camp kitchen and associated facilities (3 * large arched platform tents). It captures the western portion of the melt lake, and the position and condition of the tide-crack. The scene is mostly snow-free across the main campsite with the exception of a few patches of snow covering the melt lake outlet drain and west of the survey mark NMS238.
No classification has been performed on the included point cloud (EDB_cloud_27Dec2024.laz; 1.97 Gb), and the DEM reflects the point cloud surface. The point cloud is also included as a model (EDB_Model_27Dec2024.glb).

Two versions of the DEM are included, one as a raw data tif (EDB_DEM_27Dec2024_13mm_allignedto2023.tif), and one as a rendered RGB .tif (EDB_DEM_Rendered_27Dec2024_13mm_allignedto2023.tif)

All outputs are saved in WGS 84 / UM 47S format.

Lineage

Progress Code: completed

Statement: Data Acquisition Dr Ross Whitmore flew a mapping mission with a DJI Phantom 4 quadcopter (RPAS / drone) over the Denman Terrestrial Camp at Edgeworth David Base on the 27th of December, 2024, as part of permitted activities for the AAS Project 4620 Towards a lighter touch: human impact assessments to support environmental stewardship. The dataset consists of 421nadir images and 13 oblique images (total of 434 images), all acquired with the inbuilt camera on the Phantom 4 RTK drone (FC6310R, 8.8mm, 5472 x 3648). The dataset includes the drone event log, raw ppk log, Rinex observation file and the image timestamp file. This dataset is available from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre: Whitmore, R. and McLennan, S.C. (2025) Remotely Piloted Aircraft imagery from the Bunger Hills field campaign, 2025, Ver. 1, Australian Antarctic Data Centre - doi:10.26179/ekqy-3h54 Data Context The dataset is the third acquisition in a six part time series of drone mapping missions over the Edgeworth David Base, acquired by AAS4622 and AAS4620 to partially meet their own project objectives and also to support the Australian Antarctic Program and AAS5219 Denman Terrestrial Campaign Operational Support 2023-2025. The timepoints are: Timepoint Date Mission Description Output description 1 22/12/2022 Terrain following mission (REMA), RTK on DTC camp during early establishment 2 6/02/2023 Terrain following mission (REMA), RTK on DTC camp during early establishment 3 27/12/2024 Mission undertaken at set altitude, RTK off DTC camp during season 2 4 30/01/2025 Terrain following mission (REMA2), RTK on DTC camp during decommissioning 5 1/02/2025 Terrain following mission (REMA2), RTK on DTC camp during decommissioning 6 4/02/2025 Terrain following mission (REMA2), RTK on DTC camp during decommissioning Other mission parameters for each time point: Timepoint Pilot Equipment Image count Nominal GSD cm 1 Bec McWatters DJI M300 RTK / Zenmuse P1 1538 1.3 2 Dan Wilkins DJI M300 RTK / Zenmuse P1 871 0.7 3 Ross Whitmore DJI P4 RTK 434 1.3 4 Bec McWatters / Kat East DJI M300 RTK / Zenmuse P1 1307 1 5 Bec McWatters / Kat East DJI M3E RTK 1500 1.1 6 Bec McWatters / Kat East DJI M3E RTK 1442 1.1   Data Processing Data was processed in Agisoft Metashape Professional Version 2.3.0 build 21868. All 434 images were used, aligned, and tie point generation was performed. 5 control points were added to the project. Each control point was a recognisable rock feature used to align the other flights in the time series. For more detail, including photographs of the features, see documentation in the file EDB_Feb_2023_tiepoints.pptx, available from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (doi:10.26179/46tk-a096). Control points used for this project were EDBFeb2023 points 01, 02, 07, 08 and 09 – noting that some other points were covered by snow/ice or outside the mission area. After being selected and positioned in 5+ photos, all 5 reference points were selected and used to optimise the camera positions (which did not have RTK accuracy/precision). All 434 images were unselected for the optimisation process. Following optimisation, the point cloud was generated, and the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Orthomosaic Produced. Prior to DEM and orthomosaic production, some edge effects and noise were removed (clipped) from the point cloud on the edges of the scene, and over the middle of the lake. Dataset Description The orthomosaic (EDB_Orthomosaic_27Dec2024_13mm_allignedto2023.tif ) has a ground resolution of 1.27cm per pixel. The orthomosaic covers the entire DTC camp area. It shows the positions of 27 yellow (sleeping) tents, 4 polar pyramids, 5 melon huts, two oblong tents, the camp kitchen and associated facilities (3 * large arched platform tents). It captures the western portion of the melt lake, and the position and condition of the tide-crack. The scene is mostly snow-free across the main campsite with the exception of a few patches of snow covering the melt lake outlet drain and west of the survey mark NMS238. No classification has been performed on the included point cloud (EDB_cloud_27Dec2024.laz; 1.97 Gb), and the DEM reflects the point cloud surface. The point cloud is also included as a model (EDB_Model_27Dec2024.glb). Two versions of the DEM are included, one as a raw data tif (EDB_DEM_27Dec2024_13mm_allignedto2023.tif), and one as a rendered RGB tif (EDB_DEM_Rendered_27Dec2024_13mm_allignedto2023.tif) All outputs are saved in WGS 84 / UM 47S format. Quality Image overlap is >9 for the majority of the scene, with the exception of the southern and south western parts of the scene, which featured higher terrain, resulting in less image overlap given the fixed altitude flight height. Calculated control point Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) for the project is 0.7cm, 1.8cm, and 5.6cm in the X,Y,Z axes respectively. This position error should be summed with the positioning error in the February 2023 project it is tied too (2.3/1.3/0.6cm X/Y/Z), giving a total RMSE error in the order of 9cm. Images were acquired with dewarp processing on (Dewarp flag of 1), which results in some image cropping. It is typically recommended to have dewarp turned off (flag of 0) to achieve the best possible photogrammetry.

Notes

Purpose
The dataset is the third acquisition in a six part time series of drone mapping missions over the Edgeworth David Base, acquired by AAS4622 and AAS4620 to partially meet their own project objectives and also to support the Australian Antarctic Program and AAS5219 Denman Terrestrial Campaign Operational Support 2023-2025.