Search

This search returns aerial photography flight lines that are partly or totally within the spatial coverage.
The results link to the photos taken along the flight lines where the centre of each photo is within the spatial coverage.

Viewing or obtaining photography

Copyright

Copyright for the Australian Antarctic Data Centre's aerial photography collection rests with the Commonwealth of Australia.

Viewing prints

The Australian Antarctic Data Centre maintains a reference collection of prints of most of the the aerial photography catalogued.
Prints may be viewed at the Data Centre. This can be arranged by submitting a request, selecting the Map Curator area.
You may be able to scan the prints in the Data Centre.

Obtaining copies of prints

Negatives of aerial photographs in the Australian Antarctic Data Centre's aerial photography collection are stored at United Photo and Graphic Services (UPGS) in Melbourne. When ordering prints from United Photo and Graphic Services quote the Film number, Run number and Frame number(s).
If you don't have the details of the film number, run number and frame number to order the aerial photography then contact the Australian Antarctic Data Centre before contacting UPGS.
Negatives of Operation Highjump photography taken by the USA in 1947 of the Australian Antarctic Territory do not exist but the prints in the AAD collection have been scanned.

Viewing flight lines and photo centres

The Australian Antarctic Data Centre's aerial photography collection is described by the metadata record 'The collection of aerial photographs held by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre' which can accessed by a search.
Shapefiles representing the aerial photography flight lines and photo centres are linked from this metadata record for downloading and viewing in GIS software. These shapefiles are updated approximately every six months if necessary. The online catalogue is the most up to date source of flight line and photo centre information.

Camera details

Camera details

Aerial photography cameras

Cameras used to take aerial photos can be metric or non metric.

Metric cameras

Metric cameras, also referred to as mapping or cartographic cameras, "are single lens frame cameras designed to provide extremely high geometric image quality. They employ a low distortion lens system held in a fixed position relative to the plane of the film." (1)

A summary of photography available, by metric cameras, over the Australian Antarctic Territory.

The Australian Antarctic Division owns a Zeiss UMK1318/18 camera. It is deployed in small helicopters as part of a medium format aerial photography system for large scale mapping.  It was first used for complete coverage of the Windmill Islands from which a 1:25 000 scale data set was produced. The camera has  been used for aerial photography in the Larsemann Hills, Windmill Islands, Framnes Mountains, northern Macquarie Island, and all the Australian Antarctic stations. It has also been used for biological, geological and Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) mapping.

Non-metric cameras

Non-metric cameras record image detail without necessarily providing the geometric fidelity of metric cameras. From the late 1970's, expeditioners have been using Hasselblad and Linhof cameras from rotary wing aircraft. Both cameras are small format single-lens frame cameras. Photography from these cameras is usually intended for life science research programs, for example, counting penguin populations. The photography was not intended for mapping but maps have been compiled with varying results. The cameras can be hand held but are mounted vertically through the bubble of a Hughes 500 helicopter (Hasselblad) and in a gymbol through the floor of a Squirrel or S76 helicopter (Linhof).

The Linhof camera was purchased by the Biology Program at the Antarctic Division. There were thousands of photographs taken over a 10 year period and only some of these are available. All photographs held by the Data Centre are catalogued. The flying height of the photography is between 300—1000 metres above the ground. No accurate altitude information is known. The Linhof camera uses 70mm film, a 60 x 90 mm format and stores 350 shots in its magazine.

Vertical and oblique cameras

Vertical photographs are taken with the camera axis as near to vertical as possible. If the axis was perfectly vertical, the photograph plane would be parallel with the datum plane. This is rarely the case, due to the aircraft tilting.

Vertical aerial photography of extremely steep cliff faces is not capable of showing the detail which geologists require. The alternative to vertical photography is to take oblique aerial photography.

Oblique aerial photographs are taken with an intentional tilt away from the vertical. There are generally two types of oblique photography; low oblique which does not include the horizon and high oblique which shows the horizon in the photograph.

Trimetrogon aerial photography "was used extensively for small scale mapping from about 1940 to 1960. This type of photography was obtained with a three-camera system. Two cameras exposed high oblique photos aimed at the flanks while a third camera simultaneously took a vertical photo. The three photos provided horizon-to-horizon ground coverage transverse to the direction of flight." (2)

All three cameras can be of the same type or, as was done in 1960, two K17 cameras were used for high oblique photography and the Wild RC9 camera for vertical photography.

Diagram of three types of aerial photography (vertical, low and high oblique)

Cameras currently in use

Zeiss UMK 1318

The primary aerial camera is the Zeiss UMK. This camera is basically a terrestrial photogrammetric adapted for aerial work. It has format of 120mm x 160mm and uses a non standard film width of 190mm. For an aerial camera it is relatively light and compact. It has been used either in a Squirrel helicopter mounted externally, or in a Sikorsky S76, mounted internally. To expose and advance the film it uses an electronic controller which has been adapted to interface to a computer navigation system. The focal length of the lens is 100mm which is ideal for mapping work but produces images that are too small for good animal census work. This camera has normally been used in the Zeiss aerial mount, but recently a special mount has been made to mount the camera internally in a Squirrel helicopter. The film magazines hold about 90 shots.

As the Australian Antarctic Program uses helicopters for logistic support, a decision was made in 1992 to buy a suitable photogrammetric camera and install this in a small helicopter. A GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation system was developed to automatically fire the camera at pre-planned photo centres and to record accurate 3D position data. This system has proved to be very successful and has provided spatial data for many of the large scale maps produced by the Data Centre.

Wild RC8

Another camera which has been recently used is a Wild RC8, 18cm format aerial camera. Although this is an old camera, it has excellent optics and uses the same width film as the Zeiss UMK. The film magazines hold 280 shots. A special mount has been made to install this camera internally in a Squirrel helicopter. This camera is more suitable for the animal census work than the Zeiss UMK and can also be used for mapping. An electro-mechanical controller operates the shutter and advances the film. The controller has been interfaced to a computer to allow control by the navigation system.

Quality of the Camera

"After manufacture and prior to use, aerial cameras are carefully calibrated to determine precise values for a number of constants. These constants, generally referred to as the elements of interior orientation, are needed so that accurate data can be determined from photographs." (2) These values include information about the focal length, lens distortion, and the fiducial marks. (3)

In addition, the resolution is determined to indicate the sharpness of an image that the camera can produce. These details are all presented on a certificate that comes with a camera.

(1) Lillesand, T.M., and Kiefer, R.W., 1994, Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation, third edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, USA. Page 95.
(2) Wolf, Paul R., Elements of Photogrammetry, with air photo interpretation and remote sensing, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill Inc., 1983 USA.
(3) Fiducial marks captured on film when the photograph is taken. The marks appear on the middle of the sides of the photograph, in the corners or both.

Timeline

Timeline

The use of aerial photography in the Australian Antarctic Divison

Aerial photography was and still is an important means of acquiring spatial data in Antarctica and the subantarctic islands, although satellite imagery is playing an increasingly important role. There have been a number of distinct periods of active aerial photography acquisitions in Australian Antarctic Territory. A total of 2000 runs are present in the Data Centre's collection representing 17 000 photographs.

1946 - 47 US Navy Operation Highjump

"In 1946, the US Navy Antarctic Developments Project, or `Operation Highjump', was launched and it was perhaps the biggest single event that the continent had ever seen. It was the beginning of the Cold War and the exercise was designed to give US troops experience in polar conditions - 4700 men, 33 aircraft, 13 ships and 10 caterpillar tractors were deployed, and helicopters and icebreakers were used for the first time in Antarctica. The expedition observed more than 1.5 million square miles of Antarctica, half of it previously unexplored, and took 15 000 aerial photographs. The following season the U.S. Navy Second Antarctic Developments Project (Operation Windmill) used ship-based helicopters to get geodetic ground control for the aerial photographs. The expedition contributed to production of the first medium-scale maps of the region and influenced decisions regarding locations of stations for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) that occurred 12 years later.

The US Navy, during Operation Highjump, carried out the earliest comprehensive acquisitions in 1947. This operation included an intensive program of trimetrigon aerial photography acquisitions of the whole of the coastline of Antarctica and some inland areas." (1)

"Navy proposes to send an expedition to the Antarctic early in 1947. The purpose of this expedition includes training personnel and testing material, consolidating and extending U.S. sovereignty over Antarctic areas, investigating possible base sites and extending scientific knowledge in general. Rear Admiral R.E. Byrd will be designated as Officer-in-Charge of the project." (2)

"The greatest achievement of Operation Highjump was its acquisition of approximately 70 000 aerial photographs of the coast of Antarctic and selected inland areas. But what was expected to be a mapmaker's dream turned out to be a cartographic nightmare when a large percentage of the photographs were rendered useless due to lack of adequate ground control points. Fortunately, this matter was rectified the following year by a much smaller expedition, Operation Windmill, which succeeded in obtaining most of the needed ground control points." (2)

(1) Antarctic Connection

(2) The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Project 1946-1947

Camera: Unknown
Type: Trimetrigon
Runs: 94
Number of photo centres catalogued: 3 505. Vertical and oblique photos at the same location are represented by a single photo centre.
The total number of photos is approximately 10 000.
Areas: Casey to Mawson Coast
Years: January - March 1947
Organisation flown by: USNavy

1954 - 1965 ANARE

The next major period of aerial photography acquisition, from 1954 to 1965, was carried out by ANARE from Auster and Beaver aircraft using the K17 trimetrigon camera. From 1960 aerial photography was acquired from DC3 aircraft and at that time the vertical camera in the system was replaced with a Wild RC9. During this period a smaller collection of oblique and vertical photography was acquired with the Williamson F24. That photography and the earlier astronomical observations are the basic data from which the existing 1:1 000 000 map series has been compiled, with the exception of two sheets in the eastern AAT.

Camera: Eagle V
Type: Trigon
Runs: 30
Number of photo centres catalogued: 19. Vertical and oblique photos at the same location are represented by a single photo centre.
The total number of photos is approximately 3500.
Areas: Casey to Mawson Coast, PCM's
Years: 1963
Aircraft flown in: Fixed wing
Organisation flown by: ANARE NatMap

Camera: K17
Type: Trigon
Number of runs catalogued: 229

Number of photo centres catalogued: 311. Vertical and oblique photos at the same location are represented by a single photo centre.
Not all photo centres are catalogued, that is, only the flight line is. The total number of photos is approximately 36 000.

Areas: Australian Antarctic Territory coast, Prince Charles Mountains
Years: 1956-1965
Aircraft flown in: Fixed wing
Organisation flown by: ANARE NatMap

1970's National Mapping

The 1970's saw the next major epoch of aerial photography acquisitions, this coincided with National Mapping's (Now AUSLIG) geodetic activities. During this time National Mapping flew comprehensive and systematic coverages of all of the Prince Charles Mountains and Enderby Land using a Wild RC 9 camera from a Pilatus Porter. It was intended to use this photography together with the associated ground control acquired at the same time to produce large scale mapping of those areas. However budgetary constraints of the time and the emergence of image mapping techniques precluded any further work on these maps.

From 1977 rotary wing aircraft have been the only platform used by ANARE. From that time until the summer of 1992-93 the only photography to be acquired was from helicopters using non-metric Hasselblad and Linhoff cameras. This photography was acquired principally for use by the life science research programs of the time and as such was not intended for mapping purposes but nevertheless a number of maps were compiled from it, with varying results.

Camera: RC9
Type: Vertical
Runs: 250
Number of photo centres catalogued: 1960. Vertical and oblique photos at the same location are represented by a single photo centre.
The total number of photos is approximately 11 318.
Areas: West Australian Antarctic Territory, PCM's
Years: 1960, 1973- 1978
Aircraft flown in: Fixed wing
Organisation flown by: ANARE NatMap

Camera: Hasselblad
Type: Vertical /oblique
Runs: 248
Number of photo centres catalogued: 2076. The total number of photos is unknown.
Areas: Macquarie Island, Heard Island, Larsemann Hills
Years:1976, 1979- 1981, 1986, 1992
Aircraft flown in: Helicopter
Organisation flown by: ANARE

1990's Australian Antarctic Division

Recognising the serious need for large scale mapping of a number of areas of interest, which could not be accomplished using the existing archive or space imagery, the Antarctic Division and AUSLIG developed a medium format aerial photography system, using a Zeiss UMK1318/18 camera for use in helicopters. This system was first used during the summer of 1992/93 for the complete coverage of the Windmill Islands. This photography, which proved to be of very high quality, was used to produce a 1:25,000 scale data set of this region. An Aerospatiel Squirrel and the larger Sikorsky S76 helicopter were modified for installation of the Zeiss camera.

An integrated system consisting of on board GPS units and the Zeiss camera was developed which allowed the centre of each aerial photograph to be determined, further reducing the amount of ground control required for mapping purposes.

Camera: Zeiss UMK
Type: Vertical /oblique
Runs: 411
Number of photo centres catalogued: 5722
Areas: Casey to West Australian Antarctic Territory, Macquarie Is, Heard Is
Years:1993- present
Aircraft flown in: Helicopter
Organisation flown by: ANARE

Camera: Linhof
Type: Vertical
Runs: 444
Number of photo centres catalogued: 3066
Areas: Heard Is, Macquarie Is, Mawson, Davis, Casey
Years:1986, 1998
Aircraft flown in: Helicopter
Organisation flown by: ANARE

Some Linhof photography (recently found) flown over Heard Island has not been added to the online catalogue yet.

2000 to the present

The revision of the guidelines for overflight heights over animal colonies required that the animal census photography be done with a camera with a longer focal length and therefore a larger image size. A Wild RC8 18cm format camera with a 210 mm focal length lens was adapted for internal installation in a Squirrel helicopter. This gives a larger image and format than the Linhof used for this type of work. The RC8 has also been used for photography for mapping at Casey.

The Zeiss UMK camera has been fitted to a new mount to allow it to be used internally in the Squirrel. This was used to acquire photography at Heard Island.

Areas recently photographed include Heard Island,  the Casey area and Davis penguin colonies. Maps recently produced from Zeiss photography include Holme Bay and Mawson.

Related sites

Operation Highjump

• The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Project 1946-1947
• Antarctic Connection

Geoscience Australia's Aerial Photography web page

United States Aerial Photography Index - Antarctica

Satellite Image Catalogue
This catalogue provides information on satellite imagery used by people in the Australian Antarctic Program. It includes Russian Space Photography.