Environmental Domains of Antarctica Version 2.0 Final Report

A report on the physical environment-based classification for the whole Antarctic Continent. This classification built on the success Landcare Research scientists have achieved in developing a classification of New Zealand's terrestrial environments (Land Environments of New Zealand or LENZ - Leathwick et al. 2002b). The classification was designed to provide a data-derived, spatially explicit delineation of environmental variables in Antarctica, to be used for a range of management activities including identification of priority sites for protection, environmental monitoring, and assessment of risks associated with human activities.Download contents include PDF of the report and vector and raster shapefiles.Environmental parameters usedAir temperature (mean annual and seasonal), wind, mean annual wind speed, solar radiation, period of year with normal diurnal pattern, slope, land and ice cover, geology.Descriptive labels have been assigned to each environment classified within the resulting raster data layer. There are as follows;A. Antarctic Peninsula northern geologicB. Antarctic Peninsula mid-northern latitudes geologicC. Antarctic Peninsula southern geologicD. East Antarctic coastal geologicE. Antarctic Peninsula and Alexander Island main ice fields and glaciersF. Larsen Ice ShelfG. Antarctic Peninsula offshore island geologicH. East Antarctic low latitude glacier tonguesI. East Antarctic ice shelvesJ. Southern latitude coastal fringe ice shelves and floating glaciersK. Northern latitude ice shelvesL. Continental coastal-zone ice sheetM. Continental mid-latitude sloping iceN. East Antarctic inland ice sheetO. West Antarctic Ice SheetP. Ross and Ronne-Filchner ice shelvesQ. East Antarctic high interior ice sheetR. Transantarctic Mountains geologicS. McMurdo - South Victoria Land geologicT. Inland continental geologicU. North Victoria Land geologicThe sizes of the environments are extremely varied - from 3.7 million square kilometres down to a comparatively small 966 square kilometres.