Application of UAV BVLOS remote sensing data for multi-faceted analysis of Antarctic ecosystem

A photogrammetric flight was performed in December 2016 as BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) operation over Penguin Island (South Shetland Islands, Western Antarctica). Images were taken by the PW-ZOOM fixed-wing UAV equipped with a digital SLR Canon 700D camera. The flight was performed at 550 m ASL and covered a total distance of 231.58 km. The plane take-off and landing site was near the H. Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station (Arctowski) on King George Island, South Shetlands. The main aim of the mission was to collect environmental data to estimate the size of penguin and pinniped breeding populations and to map vegetation cover and landforms. The plane returned to Arctowski with 1630 images of Penguin Island with the ground sample distance (GSD) lower than 0.07 m. The analysis of developed ortophoto allowed us to locate and identify individuals of two penguin species (Adélie and chinstrap), and individuals of two species of pinnipeds (Southern elephant seal and Weddell seal). Three types of tundra communities were mapped together with numerous landforms such as: volcanic, mass movement, fluvial, coastal and aeolian ones. The UAV BVLOS photogrammetric operation proved to be very robust in gathering valuable qualitative and quantitative data necessary for monitoring distant and isolated polar environments.