Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent

Abstract

The Antarctic outer coastal margin (i.e. the coastline itself or the terminus or front of ice shelves, whichever is adjacent to the ocean) is a key interface between the ice sheet and terrestrial environments and the Southern Ocean. Its physical configuration (including both length scale of variation, orientation, and aspect) has direct bearing on several closely associated cryospheric, biological, oceanographical, and ecological processes, yet no study has quantified the coastal complexity or orientation of Antarctica's coastal margin. This first-of-a-kind characterization of Antarctic coastal complexity aims to address this knowledge gap. We quantify and investigate the physical configuration and complexity of Antarctica's circumpolar outer coastal margin using a novel technique based on ∼ 40 000 random points selected along a vector coastline derived from the MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica dataset. At each point, a complexity metric is calculated at length scales from 1 to 256 km, giving a multiscale estimate of the magnitude and direction of undulation or complexity at each point location along the entire coastline. Using a cluster analysis to determine characteristic complexity “signatures” for random nodes, the coastline is found to comprise three basic groups or classes: (i) low complexity at all scales, (ii) most complexity at shorter scales, and (iii) most complexity at longer scales. These classes are somewhat heterogeneously distributed throughout the continent. We also consider bays and peninsulas separately and characterize their multiscale orientation. This unique dataset and its summary analysis have numerous applications for both geophysical and biological studies. All these data are referenced by https://doi.org/10.26179/5d1af0ba45c03 (Porter-Smith et al., 2019) and are available free of charge at http://data.antarctica.gov.au (last access: 7 June 2021).