Mount Herschel (3,335m), Victoria Land; © C Harris 2009
Antarctic Field Season 2009-10
Two staff members at ERA, Dr Colin Harris and Rachel Carr, recently completed six weeks of fieldwork in Antarctica, conducted on behalf of the US Antarctic Program (USAP). Work included obtaining high quality ground-control for image rectification in order to update and improve maps of Antarctic Specially Managed Area No.2: McMurdo Dry Valleys. In addition, detailed ground-based surveys of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas in the Ross Sea and McMurdo Dry Valleys were carried out to facilitate updates and revisions to Protected Area management plans across the region. Staff at ERA are working hard to process their fieldwork and incorporate these data into management plans up for review in 2010.
Recent project developments
Foreign & Commonwealth Office commission ERA to produce a Second Edition of the Antarctic Wildlife Awareness Manual
Wildlife Awareness Manual cover
Following the successful publication of the Wildlife Awareness Manual (WAM): Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands, the Polar Regions Unit of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office has commissioned ERA to produce a WAM 2nd Ed. The WAM was originally designed to assist helicopter pilots and aircrew on HMS Endurance avoid concentrations of wildlife when planning and conducting their operations in the region. The second edition of the WAM will feature the most up-to-date bird and seal breeding colony data available; an increased number of geographic place names and spot heights; updates to coastline and contour data; and improved map design and layout. For information on the date of release, watch this space.
Ross Sea Protected Area management plans
Following on from work in previous years, the US National Science Foundation has commissioned ERA to review and update management plans for Protected Areas in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica. Fieldwork completed by ERA and the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) in the 2009-2010 Antarctic field season is being used for a range of purposes, including the update of management plan text and maps for Arrival Heights (ASPA No.122) and Cape Hallett (ASPA No.106). New versions of the management plans for these sites are due for release later this year.
Nimba Regional Atlas
Fauna and Flora International has recently contracted ERA to produce a resource atlas for a Darwin Initiative Project set in the Nimba Mountain region, West Africa. Bordered by Guinea, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, the Nimba Range is a World Heritage Site and cross-boundary reserve surrounded by lowland rainforest and savanna. The Nimba Mountains Resource Atlas will focus on conservation, community and commerce in the region, and will include maps showing protected areas, infrastructure, mining and forestry.
Important Bird Areas in Antarctica
ERA are working with Birdlife International and the Government of the British Antarctic Territories to produce a series of site accounts for a newly identified network of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) across Antarctica. IBAs are sites of conservation for globally threatened, restricted-range, migratory or congregatory bird species. Bird breeding colonies are relatively sparse across Antarctica and protecting vulnerable bird species is particularly important for ensuring the biodiversity of the region is maintained.
Software Training September 2009
Infoterra GeoImaging User Group Conference 2009
Staff at ERA attended the Infoterra User Training and Development Conference in Oxford, 27 to 29 September, 2009. This involved training on the latest Infoterra products and applications and was very informative, expanding the teams' knowledge on several key applications of GIS and Remote Sensing software.
New staff at ERA
Sarah Jones joined ERA in September 2009 to work on environmental GIS and remote sensing projects. Sarah completed her MPhil in GIS and Remote Sensing at the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, in August 2009. Her thesis used Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) elevation data and high-resolution aerial photography to analyse the state of terraced slopes in Konso, southwest Ethiopia. In other projects she has classified Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery in order to assess the rate of rainforest depletion in Ghana, and has used geospatial statistics to analyse socio-economic correlates to crime rates across central London. Sarah has a BSc in Mathematics from Royal Holloway College, University of London.
Katharina during her field work in the Khumbu Himalaya, Nepal in October 2008; © K Lorenz 2009
Katharina Lorenz started at ERA last summer to work on GIS and remote sensing projects. Katharina completed her Diplom-Ingenieur (MEng) in Cartography at the Institut fuer Kartographie, Technische Universitaet Dresden, Germany in May 2009. Her diploma thesis is dedicated to glacier monitoring in the Mount Everest Area, Nepal. It deals with the analysis of different spaceborne radar systems (ERS, TerraSAR-X) regarding the derivation of glacier flow and DEM generation using ENVI and SARscape. In other research projects Katharina developed and set up a geodatabase for one of the major coffee growers in Tanzania, and modelled the temporal variation of snow-cover for a hydrological basin in Chile. Katharina has undertaken field-work in Chile, Nepal and Tanzania.
Liberian children; © R. Golombok 2007
March 2008 to April 2009
Support for major EIA in Liberia
Support for major EIA in Liberia
ERA provided extensive GIS, remote sensing and ecological support to Atkins for an Environmental Impact Assessment of a mining development in Liberia, West Africa. Fieldwork was carried out to obtain ground control data for image rectification of aerial imagery and SPOT5 satellite imagery to use for vegetation classification and topographic mapping. Work completed by ERA included the design and compilation of a spatial database supporting over 100 GB of data and the production of many hundreds of maps covering topography, slopes, hydrology, landcover, terrain, landscape, air quality, noise, contamination, historical features, ecology, agriculture, communities, and infrastructure.
As part of the project, ERA used state-of-the-art Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to create a series of high resolution Digital Elevation Models (3D views of the terrain). After 14 years of civil war, and the optimism surrounding election of the country's new President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 18 months ago, Liberia is in the process of reform and reconstruction. Responsible development is a key objective of the new government, which Atkins and its client ArcelorMittal aim to help achieve while bringing much-needed jobs, income and improved infrastructure to the local population over the lifetime of the mine and beyond.
May 2008
ENDANGERED: a photographic exhibition
from left: Colin Harris, Director ERA and exhibition organiser, The Mayor of Cambridge Councillor Jenny Bailey, and Dr Rosie Trevelyan, Director of the Tropical Biology Association representing the Cambridge Conservation Forum. (Photo: Ruth Golombok, Atkins). The photographs in the background are from left of an Orangutan by Kitch Bain (© Fauna & Flora International), Wandering Albatross by Ben Lascelles (© Birdlife International) and Three-horned Chameleon by Jeremy Holden (© Tropical Biology Association)
The Mayor of Cambridge, Councillor Jenny Bailey, formally opened the "Endangered" Photographic Exhibition at the Michaelhouse Café in Cambridge, which took place from 11 May - 8 June 2008. The exhibition was organised by ERA for the Cambridge Conservation Forum to draw attention to key conservation concerns facing our planet today and to the impressive range of organisations based in Cambridge that are working hard to turn back the twin tides of species and habitat loss sweeping the world.
These include Birdlife International, Fauna and Flora International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, TRAFFIC the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, the Tropical Biology Association, British Antarctic Survey, ArcCona Ecological Consulting and Environmental Research & Assessment, all of which contributed to the List of 21 photographs illustrating the "Endangered" theme (pdf 3.4MB). The Cambridge Conservation Forum supported the exhibition, and works to coordinate conservation efforts in the Cambridgeshire region from the local to international levels.
November 2007
Antarctic Peninsula Wildlife Awareness Map Series
Wildlife Awareness Map Series index; © ERA 2007
Following publication in 2006 of the Wildlife Awareness Manual (WAM): Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands, in November 2007 ERA produced a series of 8 large-format 1:250,000 maps based on the WAM. The maps were commissioned by the Polar Regions Unit of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office to help support pre-flight planning on HMS Endurance. The maps were designed to assist helicopter pilots to avoid concentrations of wildlife when conducting operations in the region.
ERA's new logo and website
The Arctic tern seemed the perfect symbol for ERA given our current mix of work spanning both poles and West Africa. Designed by Roger Sawhill, Director of US graphic design company Unparalleled, the Arctic tern is the only bird to migrate between the poles, and does so mostly via the western coasts of Europe and Africa! While we have no wish to emulate the Arctic tern's phenomenal annual migrations, we clearly share a love of the polar regions and surely a passion for the world's geography! With our new logo taking flight, the time seemed right to launch ERA's new website. We are very grateful to Jeremy Barker, who kindly assisted us by writing the code to implement the new website design.
Second Edition of Southern Ocean Cruising published
The launch of the Second Edition of Sally and Jérôme Poncet's Southern Ocean Cruising took place on 7 November 2007 in Cambridge at the offices of the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Generously supported by the Polar Regions Unit of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the new edition fully updates information on the special conservation provisions that apply in Antarctica and on the sub-Antarctic islands. The revisions were undertaken by Sally Poncet, Susie Grant and Colin Harris, working in cooperation with a wide range of organisations and specialists. The stunning cover photograph is by award-winning photographer Ben Osborne (winner of Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007), while a delightful sketch of the threatened albatross by Ellen MacArthur on the title page reminds us both of the beauty and of the fragility of this region. The revised edition is supported by a new set of maps, and contains a wealth of useful information for anyone planning a visit South. Obtain the publication from ERA.
European Arctic maps win 2006 British Cartographic Society Awards
Map 3: Maritime jurisdiction in the European Arctic
Innovative maps of the European Arctic developed by Ocean Futures (Norway), UnParalleled (USA), the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon (NHO)), and Environmental Research & Assessment scooped top honours at the internationally prestigious 2006 British Cartographic Society Awards, held in Manchester on 9 September 2006. Illustrated at left, Map 3 in the series of eight portrays the complex mosaic of maritime jurisdiction in the European Arctic (click to download a pdf version (1.3 MB)).
The map series won first prize in the Electronic Maps category, then went head-to-head with the winners in the other categories to be judged by the BCS as overall Best Mapping Entry 2006. The standard of entries was extremely high, with leading map-makers such as National Geographic, HarperCollins Publishers, and GeoInnovations winning awards in other categories.
ERA's role was to construct a GIS database and basic maps from information researched by Ocean Futures. The maps were then exported for graphic design specialists UnParalled (USA) to work their magic. The series of eight maps were then customised by NHO using Adobe Macromedia Flash for presentation on the NHO website.
Jan Magne Markussen (left) and Colin Harris (centre) receive the BCS Award from the (then) President of the British Cartographic Society Seppe Cassettari. Photo: © Martin Lubikowski 2006
Dr Jan Magne Markussen, Director of Ocean Futures, accepted the awards for Ocean Futures and on behalf of the team. Credits for the award-winning maps are as follows: Authors: Steven Sawhill and Johan Kvarving Vik (Ocean Futures, Norway); GIS: Colin Harris and Fiona Danks (ERA, UK); Graphic design: Roger Sawhill (UnParalleled, USA); Flash design: Egil Tvilde (NHO, Norway); Published by: Ocean Futures and Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, Oslo, Norway; Copyright: © 2006 Ocean Futures.
