• Change text size
• Skip to content

• About us
• Contact us

Environment home

• SoE
• About SoE reporting
• SoE 2011
• SoE 2006
  • SoE 2006 report
  • SoE2006 at a glance
  • Theme commentaries
  • Integrative commentaties
  • Current or emerging issues
  • Technical reports
  • Data Reporting System
• SoE 2001
  • Report
  • Key findings
  • Fact sheets
  • Theme reports
  • Technical papers
• SoE 1996
  • SoE 1996 report
  • Key findings brochure
  • Technical papers
• Publications

SoE themes

• Atmosphere
• Biodiversity
• Coasts & oceans
• Human settlements
• Inland waters
• Land
• Natural & cultural heritage
• Australian Antarctic Territory

Glossary

Ablation

Reduction in snow or ice cover by melting, evaporation or wind.

Barge caravan

Barge caravans were used as temporary accommodation for Mawson and Davis when they were first established. They were made of two plywood-clad, timber frame sections that were bolted together. They had two access hatches and perspex windows that did not open. The vans were designed to float in case they broke through the sea ice when they were moved. Steel runners at the base of the caravans facilitated towing over rocks and ice.

Clements buildings

This building system was used at Wilkes station and involved simple pre-fabricated panel structures.

Corrasion

Erosion by friction. A good example of this is the erosion of the soft grain of wood of buildings in Antarctica by abrasion from windborne ice particles.

Corrosion

A chemical or electrochemical reaction between a material, generally a metal, and its environment that produces deterioration of the material and its properties.

Destroyed

A site that has been destroyed before being assessed or listed.

Indicative place

When a site has been listed as an indicative place it means that data provided to or obtained by the Heritage Division has been entered into the database. The term usually implies that the assessment process is incomplete and that there has not yet been a decision about whether to list the site.

International Geophysical Year (IGY)

The IGY spanned the period from July 1957 to December 1958 and involved a series of global geophysical activities. It was timed to coincide with the high point of the eleven-year cycle of sunspot activity.

Jamesway hut

This is a frame type, insulated tent, semi-cylindrical in shape and sectional in construction. This type of hut, along with Clements huts, was used for the construction of Wilkes station.

Listed

A site is described as listed, for example in the Commonwealth Heritage List, when the Council has sent an assessment to the minister and the minister has entered the place in the Commonwealth Heritage List.

Managed decay

This involves extensive documentation, removal of hazardous material, like poisonous chemicals, followed by minimal intervention. Sites are monitored to ensure that elements, especially at the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions base at Atlas Cove, do not pose a risk to the environment or visitors. Sites are also monitored to enable decisions to be made to decrease the demise of artefacts; for example, objects that are at risk of loss or accelerated deterioration due to exposure to a harsh environment can be relocated to more protected areas.

• Contents
• Previous