BVLOS UAV missions for vegetation mapping in maritime Antarctic

Polar areas are among the regions where climate change occurs faster than on most of other Earth. To study effects vegetation, there is a need for knowledge its current status and properties. Both classic field observation methods remote sensing based manned aircraft or satellite image analysis have limitations. These include high logistic operation costs, limited research areas, safety risks, direct human impact, insufficient resolution images. Fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle beyond visual line sight (UAV BVLOS) missions can bridge scale gap between field-based observations full-scale airborne surveys. In this two operations UAV BVLOS, at an altitude 350 m ASL, been successfully performed in Antarctic conditions. Maps vegetation western shore Admiralty Bay (King George Island, South Shetlands, Western Antarctic) that included Specially Protected Area No. 128 (ASPA 128) were designed. The 7.5 km 2 area was mapped ultra-high (<5 cm DEM 0.25 GSD), from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), four broad units extracted: “dense moss carpets” (covering 0.14 , 0.8% ASPA 128), “ Sanionia uncinata bed” (0.31 1.7% Deschampsia antarctica grass meadow” (0.24 1.3% – Usnea heath” (1.66 9.4% 128). Our results demonstrate presented BVLOS–based surveys time-effective (single flight lasting 2.5 h distance 300 km) cost-effective when compared to classical less invasive ecosystem. Moreover, vehicles significantly improve security, which particular interest polar region research. Therefore, their development highly recommended monitoring fragile environments.