The need for monitoring and understanding change across Antarctica has never been greater with rapid changes in sea ice, ice sheets and the oceans now observed and forecast to increase over coming decades. These changes have far-reaching consequences for Australian and global climate, sea level rise, ocean processes and unique ecosystems. Continued satellite monitoring, and the development of infrastructure that ensures data discovery and analysis, is critical for supporting the science and analytical tools that will underpin robust decision making to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of changing climate.
Digital Earth Antarctica is an exciting new platform being developed by Geoscience Australia, funded through a new Australian government commitment to support Earth Observations into the future. The platform will address the challenges of Antarctic Earth Observations by providing free and easy access to corrected, continental-scale satellite data for Antarctica and its surrounding areas of sea ice. Time-series data that has been corrected and validated for Antarctic conditions will be openly accessible to users for the first time, unlocking a vast resource of data spanning decades. Until now, the ability to observe Antarctica systematically at a continental scale has been constrained by difficulties accessing, storing and pre-processing satellite imagery to suit Antarctic conditions. The corrections that are applied to satellite data in other regions and in existing global products result in poor data quality when applied to Antarctica. By implementing novel processing techniques tailored to Antarctic conditions, we will significantly improve the quality of surface reflectance data from Landsat and Sentinel-2.
The sustained winter darkness and extensive periods of cloud cover over Antarctica restrict the use of optical data. Synthetic aperture radar data is therefore critical for year-round monitoring of the ice sheet and surrounding areas of sea ice. We will be providing the first Antarctic continental scale products from Sentinel-1 for both backscatter and interferometric data to monitor surface change and displacement. We are currently working with researchers who are applying our processed data to map the distribution of stationary sea ice (‘fast ice’) that is attached to the land, icebergs or the seafloor around the Antarctic continent, providing new understanding of this vital habitat.
This presentation will provide an overview of Digital Earth Antarctica and its potential to transform our understanding of Antarctic systems. By empowering researchers and policymakers with enhanced access to high-quality data, we can better anticipate and mitigate the impacts of climate change on Australia and the global community.
Abstract prepared for the 2025 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 3 - 8 August 2025, Brisbane, Australia.
