Mapping and Geopositioning Methods in Ice-Free Areas Antarctica

Abstract

Mapping is an activity which can register the occurrence of phenomenons related to land cover. ere are several methods of map registry. In Antarctic areas, the mapping gives importance to registry of the land cover of plants in ice-free areas. e maps are tools to understand the dynamics of plants in those areas. e Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is an important tool to reach this objective, such as the plotting of georeference points in any place in the world including Antarctic locations. is study aims to contribute to the research of mapping in ice-free areas making a comparison with map builds for Hennequin Point and Keller Peninsula at King George Island, Antarctica. e study was carried out using GNSS L1/L2 and L1 receivers to record points in ice-free areas with plant coverage and post processing using speci c so ware. e post processed data were exported to CAD so ware. With the points plotted, they were connected using polylines to draw the vegetation patches. e maps obtained were overlapped to identify the growth or retraction between the patches. e resulting maps are presented. e results show di erences between the patches sampled during di erent polar years. Probably, these divergences are due to the di erent methodologies used to obtain the points in these areas. To better understand these variations, we need to produce more maps of the same place, obtained with the same methodologies or compare them using Satellite Images with high spatial resolution.