Air-born investigation of Sediment-rIch Glacial Meltwater plumes and sediment delivery from the shoreline of recently deglaciated coasts at Maxwell Bay, King Georg Island, Antarctica (SIGMA-I)

Abstract

The campaign ANT-Land-SIGMA-I (December 2022 – March 2023) focused on the marine/ terrestrial transition zone at Westantarctic Peninsula (WAP) coasts and to gain detailed insides in the distribution and character of habitats influenced by sediment-loaded meltwater runoff in front of 7 glaciers at King George Island. From the Antarctic scientific stations Carlini, Escudero and Arctowski, we used a multispectral camera on a DJI P4 multispectral to baseline the processes involved in transforming a highly disturbed, glacially influenced to more stable and diverse landscape. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can fly under clouds at preferred times, capturing data at cm resolution, filling a significant gap between existing in situ, airborne and satellite remote sensing capabilities. The campaign aimed for (i) georeferenced mapping of marine glacial outflow areas (plumes) of in front of seven glaciers, (ii) analyzing the relationships between air- (multispectral) and water-born (salinity, temperature, turbidity, SPM, TOC, geochemistry, phytoplankton) data for calibration purposes, (iii) surveying erosional processes such as periglacial creeks at unglaciated coasts, which are directly linked to changes in the marine ecosystem (provision and delivery of sediment and solutes from the shore) by 1995. SPM, TOC, discharge volume measurements, and (iv) mapping implications for sediment and landscape stability by opportunistic vegetation succession in deglaciated areas. ANT-Land-SIGMA-I contributes to PoF IV subtopic 4.2 and was funded by AWI and the EU project CoastCarb (Marie Curie Action RISE, Research and Innovation Staff Exchange, H2020-MCSA-RISE 872690). The expedition has been logistically supported by the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA), Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), and Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IBB-PAS) for research stays at the Antarctic scientific stations Carlini, Escudero and Arctowski.