无人机在南极科学研究的应用:进展与展望

无人机作为一种新兴的低空遥感平台，具有多种类型的平台和载荷。尽管南极的自然条件严酷，无人机的应用范围仍涵盖了南极基础和应用科学的诸多领域。首先，论述了南极的环境条件对操作无人机的特殊影响，包括气象、电磁场、光照等因素。然后，对目前无人机在南极考察与科学应用中的研究现状做了系统的检索，在收集到的104篇全部相关资料中，梳理了发表时间、主流的期刊、研究区、国家与研究机构等内容，分7个主要应用领域综述了代表性文献，具体包括航空、大气、海冰与冰山、冰川、地貌与地磁、生态‐植被、生态?‐动物, 并全面回顾了中国南极科学考察中的无人机发展历程和重点成果。最后，总结南极无人机应用领域研究的不足之处，并阐明了未来发展趋势和建议。

Applications of UAVs in Antarctic Scientific Research: Progress and Prospect

  Objectives  As an emerging airborne remote sensing system, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) falls into multiple categories with various payloads, such as the multi‐rotor and fixed‐wing ones. Despite the harsh climatic condition, UAV is widely used in many Antarctic fields of basic and applied science, which still lacks a comprehensive and systematic literature review.  Methods  We firstly discuss the special impact of Antarctic environmental conditions (meteorology, electromagnetic field, light, etc.) on the UAV operation. A comprehensive literature retrieval is subsequently presented on the current application of UAV in Antarctic research and expedition. We sort out 104 papers according to the time of publication, main journals, study areas, nations, and institutions. Representative literature is reviewed in seven application ar?eas, including aeromechanics, atmosphere, sea ice and iceberg, glacier, geomorphology and geomagnetism, ecology‐vegetation as well as ecology‐animals. We retrospect the development and achievement of UAV's applications in the Chinese national Antarctic research and summarize the limitations of the research on the application of UAV in Antarctica.  Results  A number of environmental factors need to be considered before the UAV missions, such as the meteorological conditions, electromagnetic field, solar radiations, and flight regulations. According to the review, half of the literature belongs to the journal paper, mostly in Polar Biology, Polar Science, and Remote Sensing. The earliest UAV research in Antarctica was published in 2004, followed by a productive period of International Polar Year in 2008. The first‐tier countries including the USA, Australia, and Germany, led the progress in the research on UAVs in Antarctica. Meanwhile, the dominant role of top universities stood out via various collaborations. The UAV can also be classified into multiple categories according to the payload, such as the industrial‐ or consumer‐grade optical cameras, radiosonde, synthetic aperture radar, and light detecting and ranging(LiDAR), among which consumer‐grade camera is widely used in Antarctic investigations. China's Antarctic expedition team initiated the Antarctic UAV program in 2007 and had carried out at least 18 flight missions by 2020. The flights cov?ered Zhongshan Station, The Great Wall Station, Inexpression Island, and the inland ice sheet, from which the collected data were employed to support the glaciological, geomorphic, and biological stud?ies.  Conclusions  The UAV remote sensing, as the essential technology in the"Air‐Space‐Ground" polar observation system, has been increasingly upgraded in the recent decade. The flight experiments cov?ered the primary research topics and research fields in Antarctic science. In general, the application and development of Antarctic UAV in China lie in the second tier, falling behind the USA and Australia. In the end, accord?ing to the current development of Antarctic UAV in China, this paper provides guidance for China's Antarctic expedition team in the future: (1) Develop new UAV models; (2) Make breakthroughs in the battery technology; (3) Couple multiple sensors; (4) Encourage trans‐disciplinary collaboration; (5) Promote for?eign communication and sharing; (6) Participate in the international management.