1. Map Projections in the Antarctic GMAT 2700 - Geometry of Coordinate Reference Systems Tom McDonald 3160372

2. Map Projections The representation of the earth or another bodies surface on a plane. As a sphere can not be laid out flat there will be distortions with any projection. Using different projections will provide different distortions

3. Polar Stereographic Polar Stereographic are from a planar perspective South pole viewed from the North pole True scale is due to the standard parallel For a 1:20 million scale the standard meridian is 71°S

4. Polar Stereographic

5. Universal Transverse Mercator The UTM is a cylindrical projection that is divided into 60 zones Each zone is 6° and has its own central meridian This projection has a limit of 80°S

7. Lambert Conformal Conic Based on two standard parallels It can represent the pole as a point Its good for medium to large scale mapping

8. Satellite Imagery AVHRR - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer is an instrument that can be used on satellites to capture images AVHRR does not have a specific projection so a polar stereographic projection is applied using the coast line as control

9. Satellite Imagery Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and Thematic Mapper (TM) captures images with a resolution of 68m x 82m for MSS and 30m x 30m for TM Has its own projection the Spatial Oblique Mercator

10. Spatial Oblique Mercator Shape is accurate to a few parts per million Area varies by less than 0.02 percent Minimal distortion of direction Distance has a true scale along the ground track and varies approximately 0.01% The only projection that takes into account the rotation of the earth

12. Conclusion Due to the unique position of Antarctica different map projections must be used These projection limit the distortions that would occur if the conventional projections were used