International Contacts

United Kingdom Contacts

Mrs Janet Thomson
British Antarctic Survey
High Cross
Madingley Road
CAMBRIDGE CB3 OET
UNITED KINGDOM

Phone: +44 1223 221 424
Fax: +44 1223 362 616

jwth@bas.ac.uk
www.antarctica.ac.uk

UK Antarctic aerial photography holdings

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS), as the United Kingdom Antarctic Mapping Centre, holds three major sets of Antarctic aerial photography acquired by United Kingdom organizations.

The photographs are housed in the Map Room of the BAS Mapping and Geographic Information Centre, located in Cambridge, England, telephone +44(0)1223 221424. The Centre is open to the public by appointment only, from Monday to Friday between 10.00 am and 3.00 pm. The collections include photographs taken by the Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition (FIDASE) (1955B1957), the Royal Navy (RN) (1957Bpresent) and by the BAS (1963Bpresent).

Partial collections of US-acquired photography (Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (1947B48) and Operation Deep Freeze (1959-79)) are also held, providing additional coverage of the Antarctic Peninsula and Ellsworth Mountains. The US photography is held as black and white prints only; those from Operation Deep Freeze are tri-camera photographs.

Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition

This comprises approximately 12,800 frames, taken on 26,700 kilometres of ground track. The photography was acquired between February 1956 and December 1957. The images are vertical, monochrome photographs in the standard 9" x 9" format; some small format (5" x 5") oblique photographs are also available for a restricted geographical coverage. The original negatives are held by BAS. The photography provides systematic coverage of the South Shetland Islands and the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula as far south as the northern extremity of Marguerite Bay.

Royal Navy

Comprises approximately 11,700 frames, taken on 5,300 kilometres of ground track. The photography was acquired intermittently, using helicopters, between November 1957 and the present. The images are vertical, monochrome photographs, mainly in the standard 9" x 9" format, but with some in a 5" x 5" format. These photographs are primarily of coastlines and islands, acquired for the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office to facilitate hydrographic chart production. The coverage is of coastal regions of the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula and offshore islands. The original negatives are held by the Ministry of Defence.

British Antarctic Survey

Comprises approximately 8,200 frames, taken on 10,800 kilometres of ground track. The photography was acquired by BAS between June 1963 and the present, using fixed-wing aircraft. The images are vertical, monochrome photographs, in the standard 9" x 9" format. There is a small amount of colour and InfraRed photography taken in support of specific BAS science projects. The coverage is scattered, mainly of the Antarctic Peninsula, and it was not acquired systematically. Repeat photography coverage is restricted in geographical area. The majority of the original negatives are held by the Ministry of Defence; a small number are held by British Antarctic Survey.

Coverage and reproduction

Flight-line index maps are available for most of the coverage. For details of holdings of a particular area, please contact:

Mrs J.W. Thomson
Head of the Mapping and Geographic Information Centre
BAS
telephone: +44 (0)1223 221424
e-mail: jwth@bas.ac.uk

Contact prints of the FIDASE photography can be ordered through Mrs Thomson.

Enquiries about the Royal Navy and most of the BAS photography should be sent to:

Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre (JARIC)
RAF Brampton
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire PE18 8QL
UK
attention: TPO, Ops HQ

Fax +44 1480 435004

Costs of reproduction will depend on the source and ownership of the material. None of the suppliers are commercial organizations and orders take time to fulfil.

US-acquired aerial photography should be ordered directly from custserv@edcmail.cr.usgs.gov (URL: http://edc.usgs.gov) and its pricing information is available at http://mapping.usgs.gov/esic/prices/aerial_photos.html.

Permission will be required from all of the authorities named above to reproduce any supplied photograph.

German Contact

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Dietrich

Institut für Planetare Geodätie
Technische Universität Dresden
DE-01062
GERMANY

Phone: +49 351 463 4652
Fax: +49 351 463 7063

dietrich@ipg.geo.tu-dresden.de

www.tu-dresden.de/ipg/SCARGPS/database.html

Polish Contact

Prof. Stanislaw Rakusa Suszczewski

Director of Department of Antarctic Biology Polish Academy of Science
Ustrzycka 10/12,  02-141
Warszawa, Poland

Tel/fax  +48 (22) 846 33 83
e-mail  profesor@dab.waw.pl

The 1978/79 Polish expedition to Arctowski Station took aerial photography from a helicopter using a special military camera  AFA-BAF  - 21/S. The photographs cover the vicinity of Admiralty Bay (KGI)

Note:  Photography scale varies because they were made from different heights.