Date (Creation)

2025-05-03

Date (Revision)

2025-05-03

Date (Publication)

2025-05-03

Date (released)

2025-05-03

Edition

1.0

Unique resource identifier

https://doi.org/10.5285/56be2d24-16cd-44ca-8f0c-5416dc38214d

Codespace

doi

Unique resource identifier

GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02055

Codespace

https://data.bas.ac.uk/

Other citation details

Please cite this item as: Manthorpe, S.J., Mackley, E., & Phillips, R.A. (2025). Aerial surveys and annotated counts of black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses in their colonies across South Georgia during the 2023/2024 season (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/56be2d24-16cd-44ca-8f0c-5416dc38214d

Credit

No credit.

Status

Completed

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Antarctic Survey	Manthorpe, Sarah J		Author
British Antarctic Survey	Mackley, Elizabeth		Author
British Antarctic Survey	Phillips, Richard A		Author
NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre		PDCServiceDesk@bas.ac.uk	Point of contact

Maintenance and update frequency

As needed

Maintenance note

Completed

Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords

• EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Endangered Species
• EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Indicator Species
• EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Population Dynamics
• EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Range Changes
• EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology

Theme

• RPAS

• South Georgia

• black-browed albatross

• grey-headed albatross

• monitoring

• remotely piloted aerial system

Place

• Cape North, South Georgia Antarctica

• Welcome Islet, South Georgia Antarctica

• Sheathbill Bay, South Georgia Antarctica

• Sornt and Bernt, South Georgia Antarctica

• Sitka Bay, South Georgia Antarctica

• Cape Buller, South Georgia Antarctica

• Cape Wilson, South Georgia Antarctica

• Cape Crewe, South Georgia Antarctica

• Paryadin peninsula (south), South Georgia Antarctica

• Paryadin peninsula (north), South Georgia Antarctica

• Cooper Island, South Georgia Antarctica

• Bird Island, South Georgia Antarctica

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

• Habitats and biotopes

Access constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

no limitations to public access

Access constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

no limitations

Use constraints

License

Other constraints

Open Government Licence v3.0

Use constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0

Use constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

No restrictions apply

Unique resource identifier

url

Codespace

url

Association Type

Cross reference

Unique resource identifier

doi

Codespace

doi

Association Type

Cross reference

Spatial representation type

Text, table

Language

English

Character set

UTF8

Topic category

• Biota

Begin date

2023-11-21

End date

2023-11-30

Supplemental Information

It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data, and that the author be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, please report them to polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk.

Title

European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) Geodetic Parameter Registry

Date (Publication)

2008-11-12

Cited responsible party

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
European Petroleum Survey Group		EPSGadministrator@iogp.org	Publisher

Unique resource identifier

urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3031

Version

6.18.3

Hierarchy level

Dataset

Statement

Methodology:

Surveys:

Aerial surveys were carried out using a Mavic Pro from either the MV Pharos or a rigid inflatable boat (RIB), depending on the weather, between the hours of 06:00 and 20:00 local time, from 2023-11-21 to 2023-11-30.

Surveys on the MV SG Pharos were conducted from the helipad and were deployed and retrieved by hand, with one pilot and one observer. Surveys from the RIB were undertaken with a pilot and observer and were deployed and retrieved by hand.

Survey comprised overlapped imagery of target area, with an aim of over 70% overlap and a minimum target altitude at >60m AGL (above ground level). Flights were completed under conditions conducive to UAV specifications. Flights were not pre-programmed. All flights were carried out under South Georgia Regulated Activity Permit number 2023/036.

Stitching:

Images were stitched using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry in Pix4D, where a dense point cloud was extracted and transformed into a DSM (in metres), and then resampled onto a map projection (removing camera perspective and terrain distortions) via orthorectification to create a mosaic. The average ground sampling distance was between 1.94-3.4 cm. Pix4D stitching reports are included in the dataset.

Annotation:

Orthomosaics were annotated for adult albatrosses using QGIS and ArcGIS Pro. All adults were counted, regardless of whether they were on a nest or a non-breeder, using the point tool for vector layers. Birds were distinguished to species level when possible (black-browed albatross: BBA, grey-headed albatross: GHA) and assigned to colony by oblique imagery outlines from previous surveys, which is included in the attribute table.

Data collection:

Instrumentation used: Mavic Pro, Pix4D, QGIS, ArcGIS

Data quality:

Coordinate reference system for ouputs:

Projection: UTM Zone 24S

Horizontal datum: WGS84

Vertical datum: MSL (mean sea level)

For some images, elevation was not retrievable from image metadata and was thus derived from flight logs directly. Flight logs were aligned with images by timestamp to retrieve elevation and then manually inputted into Pix4D for stitching. These are included as additional .csv files. Where colony or flight is null, either the image was not used for stitching or the flight column in the flight log was missing/erroneous and was not used.

For Paryadin South, elevation was not retrievable from the flight logs either, and thus a second subset of the imagery was used, without colonies that were missing elevation values, to derive data without missing values to conduct further analyses.

Some orthomosaics may have some distortion and blurriness, obscuring albatrosses and species-level distinctions in birds.

Some metadata (weather conditions) were not recorded and are thus not included in the UAV flight metadata.

Metadata

File identifier

56be2d24-16cd-44ca-8f0c-5416dc38214d XML

Metadata language

English

Character set

UTF8

Hierarchy level

Dataset

Hierarchy level name

dataset

Date stamp

2025-05-03

Metadata standard name

ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata

Metadata standard version

ISO 19115:2003(E)

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre		polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk	Point of contact