Inside the ice shelf: using augmented reality to visualise 3D lidar and radar data of Antarctica

From 2015 to 2017, the ROSETTA-Ice project comprehensively mapped Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf using IcePod, a newly developed aerogeophysical platform. The campaign imaged the ice-shelf surface with lidar and its internal structure with ice-penetrating radar. The ROSETTA-Ice data was combined with pre-existing ice surface and bed topography digital elevation models to create the first augmented reality (AR) visualisation of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, using the Microsoft HoloLens. The ROSETTA-Ice datasets support cross-disciplinary science that aims to understand 4D processes, namely the change of 3D ice-shelf structures over time. The work presented here uses AR to visualise this dataset in 3D and highlights how AR can be simultaneously a useful research tool for interdisciplinary geoscience as well as an effective device for science communication education.