the target area 
from the Italian 
rock. However, 
onmental issues 
ie. 
  
provided as well 
Eastern 
Coordinates 
:164°02.924' 
  
;164?01.056' 
ay 
ns, it was used 
create a visual 
ough such flat 
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the latitude and 
a GPS mobile 
  
ualized with 
xtendible metal 
juse the laptop 
Tilt and Turn™ HDS targets together with spherical targets 
were planned to be used. 
Spherical targets were realized adapting garden lamps of known 
diameter, which length was previously set in the laser scanner 
software preferences, painted in red to make them more visible 
in a bright and open environment. 
2. THE SURVEY 
2.1 Field Campaign 
The priority was given to a strip of 2400 meters length for 200 
meters width (100 meters each side departing from the middle 
axis identified by GPS coordinates) to be digitized in 40 days of 
fieldwork in Antarctica. 
The area target of the survey presented an altitude difference of 
25 meters between the lowest point and the highest point. 
The personnel on the field was represented by two unit, shifted 
on the target area from the base each day by helicopter. 
The working time run usually from 8 am to 7 pm. 
The instruments on field were: 
e Terrestrial Laser Scanner; 
Tripod; 
Electrical generator 
Supports for the targets and laptop; 
HDS targets and spherical targets; 
Laptop; 
Cables; 
Gasoline backup. 
  
Figure 4. Scan station at Boulder Clay moraine 
All equipment was recovered in a shelter placed in a visible 
position, which served also as recovery for surveyors in case of 
bad weather conditions. 
Although it doesn’t seems to be an impossible task to 
accomplish, it resulted extremely complicated and time 
consuming, especially during first stations, to move all the 
materials in an environment like Antarctica where for everyone 
is mandatory to wear special gears and cloths. 
It was decided to place each station 70 meters far from each 
other with the aim to digitize an area 250 meters wide with the 
highest points density in the zone where the airstrip is planned 
to be built. In order to move targets only when necessary they 
were placed in the middle of an hypothetical square pattern 
which vertices where identified with the scan stations. However 
additional stations were executed where necessary. 
The resolution set for each point cloud was of 10 centimetres (X 
axis) x 5 centimetres (Y axis) with a probe at 70 meters. 
The first airstrip area was digitized performing eighty-two 
stations in 20 days of field work (the first campaign began on 
December 3 2012 and it was completed on December 28 2012). 
The field of view of the laser scanner (FOV) was set from 0° to 
360° horizontal axis and from -45° to +5°/+10° vertical axis. 
This configuration permitted to use only the front window of 
the scanner which is equipped also with a top window (used 
from 27° to 90° vertical axis). 
At the beginning of the survey it was decided to use mixed 
targets, privileging the spherical targets due to visibility 
convenience. 
The spheres acquisition failed during scanning probably caused 
by the long range distance between them and the laser scanner 
head. 
The diameter of the spheres utilized was of 15.9 cm. 
Nevertheless it was not possible to make use of spheres of 
larger dimensions since they would have been too exposed to 
the wind action which could have affected their position and 
stability. 
After the first stations it was decided to proceed only with HDS 
targets. They were indeed easily recognizable due to their 
specific reflectance value and their height over the extendible 
supports on the ground. 
Each station needed at least 40 minutes subdivided between 
instruments moving, station setup and scanning time (Figure 4). 
According with the station leader and the runways construction 
project manager it was decided to digitize another portion of 
terrain next to the moraine where it is planned to realize an 
emergency airstrip to use in case of headwind. Due to lack of 
time and to different landscape features, characterized by 
extensive snowfields, each scan was performed optimizing the 
resolution, creating dedicated software script. The same 
resolution (10cm x S5cm) was maintained for areas with 
emerging rock outcrops. Lower resolution was set over flat 
snow areas. This solution allowed to shorten the scanning time, 
preserving the project accuracy. 
The emergency runway is 1600 m long (Table 2). It was used 
the same template which provides stations each 70 meters. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
GPS Southern Eastern 
Points Coordinates Coordinates 
point 1 S74?44.30' E164?03.64' 
point 2 S74°43.68' E164°01.28' 
  
Table 2. GPS end points headwind runway 
The second survey began on 29 December 2012 and ended on 4 
January 2013 when all the equipment was shifted back to the 
base. Fifty stations were performed to acquire the portion of 
land for the headwind airstrip (Table 3). 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Main Airstrip Headwind Airstrip 
Scan Stations 82 50 
Resolution 10 cm x 5 cm 10cm x -5 cm 
Probe 70m ~ 70 m 
Targets 103 100 
Survey Time 20 days 6 days 
  
  
  
Table 3. Survey data 
Five of the targets acquired with the laser scanner during the 
campaign were also acquired by differential GPS (DGPS) by the 
staff of the University of Bologna in order to geo-reference the 
global point cloud in a known reference system.