• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.6_1
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• pp.1245-1255
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• 2022

Terra Nova Bay polynya (TNBP) is a representative coastal polynya in East Antarctica, which is formed by strong katabatic winds. As the TNBP is one of the major sea ice factory in East Antarctica and has a great impact on regional ocean circulation and surrounding marine ecosystem, it is very important to analyze its area change and development characteristics. In this study, we detected the TNBP from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical images obtained from April 2007 to April 2022 by visually analyzing the stripes caused by the Langmuir circulation effect and the boundary between the polynya and surrounding sea ice. Then, we analyzed the area change and development characteristics of the TNBP. The TNBP occurred frequently but in a small size during the Antarctic winter (April-July) when strong katabatic winds blow, whereas it developed in a large size in March and November when sea ice thickness is thin. The 12-hour mean wind speed before the satellite observations showed a correlation coefficient of 0.577 with the TNBP area. This represents that wind has a significant effect on the formation of TNBP, and that other environmental factors might also affect its development process. The direction of TNBP expansion was predominantly determined by the wind direction and was partially influenced by the local ocean current. The results of this study suggest that the influences of environmental factors related to wind, sea ice, ocean, and atmosphere should be analyzed in combination to identify the development characteristics of TNBP.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09a
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• pp.1030-1038
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• 2010

In order to design and construction of the Antarctic Continental Station at the Terra Nova Bay in the East Antarctic, ground characteristics for soil samples taken from the Antarctic. A series of laboratory tests were performed to investigate the variations of the thermal conductivity, the unfrozen water content according to the temperature change of the soil taken from the Antarctic. The temperature were low down below zero.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.55-61
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• 2010

This study was started for providing the application method of hyperspectral im age over extreme cold area as the Antarctic. Study area was Terra Nova Bay area which was decided as the candidate of 2nd Antarctic base station. For deciding last location of base station, many researchers tried to analyze the suitability of this study area. Among many suitability indicators, the location and stability of extracted bed rock area were very important. Using many spectral information of hyperspectral data, we tried detecting of bed rock and classifying four rock types. As additionally data, international spectral library of rock were used in this study. At the results, short-infrared wavelength bands were useful in the detection and classification of bed rock.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.5-16
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• 2012

The second scientific antarctic station of South Korea is under construction at Terra Nova Bay located in eastern Antarctica. Ground condition in the Antarctica is frozen in general, but there are seasonal frozen grounds with active layers sporadically. When the active layer is frozen, frost heaving occurs that might cause the differential movement of frozen ground and the failure of structures. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the frost heaving susceptibility of soils at Terra Nova Bay before starting antarctic station construction. This study presents experimental investigation of the frost heaving susceptibility of soil samples with variation of particle sizes and unfrozen water contents. The soil samples were taken from five different locations at Terra Nova Bay and physical properties, unfrozen water content, and frost heaving tests were performed. For the frost heaving tests, soil specimens were frozen with constant freezing temperatures at the top and with drainage at the bottom in order to stimulate the frost heaving. The frost heaving tests provide volume expansion, volumetric strain, and heaving rate which can be used to analyze the relationship between the frost heaving vs. particle size and the frost heaving vs. unfrozen water content. Experimental results show that the more the fine contents exist in soils, the more frost heaving occurs. In addition, the frost heaving depends on unfrozen water content. Experimental data can be used to evaluate the frost heaving susceptibility of soils at the future construction site in the Antarctica.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.501-512
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• 2015

Landfast sea ice (LFI) in Terra Nova Bay, East Antarctica where the Jangbogo Antarctic Research Station is located, has significant influences on marine ecosystem and the sailing of an icebreaker. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the spatio-temporal variation of the LFI in Terra Nova Bay. In this study, we chose interferometric pairs with the temporal baseline from 1 to 9 days out of a total of 62 COSMO-SkyMed synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images over Terra Nova Bay obtained from December 2010 to January 2012, and then constructed the coherence image of each pair. The LFI showed coherence values higher than 0.3 even in the interferometric SAR (InSAR) pairs of up to 9-days of temporal baseline. This was because the LFI was fixed at coastline and thus showed low temporal phase decorrelation. Based on the characteristics of the coherence on LFI, We defined the areas of LFI that show spatially homogeneous coherence values higher than 0.5. Pack ice (PI) and open water showed low coherence values due to large temporal phase decorreation caused by current and wind. Distinguishing PI from open water in the coherence images was difficult due to their similarly low coherence values. PI was identified in SAR amplitude images by investigating cracks on the ice. The extents of the LFI and PI were estimated from the coherence and SAR amplitude images and their temporal variations were analyzed. The extent of the LFI increased from March to July (maximum extent of $170.7km^2$) and decreased from October. The extent of the PI increased from February to May and decreased from May to July when the LFI increases dramatically. The extent of the LFI and air temperature showed an inverse correlation with a time lag of about 2 months, i.e., the extent of the LFI decreases after 2 months of the increase in the air temperature. Meanwhile the correlation between wind speed and the extent of the LFI was very low. This represents that the extent of LFI in Terra Nova Bay are influenced more by the air temperature than wind speed.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.617-633
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• 2016

Jangbogo station is located in Terra Nova Bay over the East Antarctica, which is often affected by individual storms moving along nearby storm tracks and a katabatic flow from the continental interior towards the coast. A numerical simulation for two strong wind events of maximum instantaneous wind speed ($41.17m\;s^{-1}$) and daily mean wind speed ($23.92m\;s^{-1}$) at Jangbogo station are conducted using the polar-optimized version of Weather Research and Forecasting model (Polar WRF). Verifying model results from 3 km grid resolution simulation against AWS observation at Jangbogo station, the case of maximum instantaneous wind speed is relatively simulated well with high skill in wind with a bias of $-3.3m\;s^{-1}$ and standard deviation of $5.4m\;s^{-1}$. The case of maximum daily mean wind speed showed comparatively lower accuracy for the simulation of wind speed with a bias of -7.0 m/s and standard deviation of $8.6m\;s^{-1}$. From the analysis, it is revealed that the each case has different origins for strong wind. The highest maximum instantaneous wind case is caused by the approach of the strong synoptic low pressure system moving toward Terra Nova Bay from North and the other daily wind maximum speed case is mainly caused by the katabatic flow from the interiors of Terra Nova Bay towards the coast. Our evaluation suggests that the Polar WRF can be used as a useful dynamic downscaling tool for the simulation and investigation of high wind events at Jangbogo station. However, additional efforts in utilizing the high resolution terrain is required to reduce the simulation error of high wind mainly caused by katabatic flow, which is received a lot of influence of the surrounding terrain.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.1499-1508
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• 2013

Freeze-thaw tests were performed on gneiss samples collected from Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica in order to examine the engineering properties of rocks with slightly weathered (SW) and moderately weathered (MW). The tests were conducted under temperature ranging from $20{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ to $-20{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. A cycle of test consisted of 5 hours of freezing followed by another 5 hours of thawing under full saturation. In this paper, total 200 cycles of freeze-thaw test were performed with measurements of porosity, absorption, ultrasonic velocity, and shore hardness per each 20 cycle and that of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) per each 50 cycle. The UCS of the SW rocks approximately decreased 0.07 MPa per a single cycle, while that of MW rocks decreased around 0.2 MPa per a single cycle. During the 200 cycles of SW rocks, the absorption increased from 0.23% to 0.39%, the P-wave velocity decreased from 4,054 m/s to 3,227 m/s and S-wave velocity decreased from 2,519 m/s to 2,079 m/s. Similarly, those of MW rocks changed from 0.65% to 1.6%, 3,207 m/s to 2,133 m/s and 2,028 m/s to 1,357 m/s. In conclusion, it was inferred that the properties of SW rocks experienced approximately 200-300 cycles of freeze-thaw process become close to those of MW rocks.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.6C
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• pp.275-284
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• 2012

The Antarctic continent exposed to strong wind, very low temperature, and extremely dry condition. The freezing-thawing cycles under this extreme environment change the mechanical characteristics of rocks near the ground surface. To investigate the effect of freezing-thawing cycles under the extreme environment understand on geotechnical properties of rocks, rocks from the Antarctica were collected from two places: (1) West Antarctic Cape Burks and (2) East Antarctic Terra Nova Bay areas. The rock characteristics of these two areas were described and compared. For Terra Nova Bay area, rock characteristics of rocks near the surface and depths exceeding 2.9 m were examined. The 'near-the-surface rocks' averages of absorption rate, P-wave velocity, and unconfined compressive strength were 0.56%, 3,717 m/s, and 109MPa, respectively; while, those values of 'deep-sited rocks' were 0.24%, 4,670 m/s, and 88MPa. From the measurements, it was found that the effects of weathering were not significant on mechanical characteristics (strength) but were pronounced on physical characteristics(absorption and P-wave velocity).

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.375-387
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• 2013

Accuracy assessment of tide models in polar ocean has to be performed to accurately analyze tidal response of glaciers by using Double-Differential Interferometric SAR (DDInSAR) technique. In this study, we used 120 DDInSAR images generated from 16 one-day tandem COSMO-SkyMed DInSAR pairs obtained for 2 years and in situ tide height for 11 days measured by a pressure type wave recorder to assess the accuracy of tide models such as TPXO7.1, FES2004, CATS2008a and Ross_Inv in Terra Nova Bay, East Antarctica. Firstly, we compared the double-differential tide height (${\Delta}\dot{T}$) for Campbell Glacier Tongue extracted from the DDInSAR images with that predicted by the tide models. Tide height (T) from in situ measurement was compared to that of the tide models. We also compared 24-hours difference of tide height ($\dot{T}$) from in situ tide height with that from the tide models. The root mean square error (RMSE) of ${\Delta}\dot{T}$, T and $\dot{T}$ decreased after the inverse barometer effect (IBE)-correction of the tide models, from which we confirmed that the IBE of tide models should be corrected requisitely. The RMSE of $\dot{T}$ and ${\Delta}\dot{T}$ were smaller than that of T. This was because $\dot{T}$ is the difference of tide height during temporal baseline of the DInSAR pairs (24 hours), in which the errors from mean sea level of the tide models and in situ tide, and the tide constituents of $S_2$, $K_2$, $K_1$ and $P_1$ used in the tide models were canceled. This confirmed that $\dot{T}$ and ${\Delta}\dot{T}$ predicted by the IBE-corrected tide models can be used in DDInSAR technique. It was difficult to select an optimum tide model for DDInSAR in Terra Nova Bay by using in situ tide height measured in a short period. However, we could confirm that Ross_Inv is the optimum tide model as it showed the smallest RMSE of 4.1 cm by accuracy assessment using the DDInSAR images.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.37-47
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• 2017

The geotechnical characteristics of frozen ground is one of the key design issues for the construction of infrastructure in cold region. In this study, the dynamic properties (shear modulus and damping ratio) of frozen and unfrozen soils sampled from Terra Nova Bay located in eastern Antarctica, where Jang Bogo station was built, were investigated using Stokoe-type resonant column test (RC). In order to freeze the reconstituted soil specimen, the RC testing equipment was modified by adding a cooling system. A series of resonant column tests were performed in frozen and unfrozen soils with various soil densities and temperatures. The shear modulus (G) and damping ratio (D) of soil frozen at $-7^{\circ}C$ were compared with those of unfrozen soil. In addition, the effect of temperature rise on the maximum shear modulus ($G_{max}$) and damping ratio was experimentally investigated. This study has significance in that the difference of dynamic soil properties between frozen and unfrozen soils and the effect of temperature rise on frozen soil were identified.