Antarctic Iceberg Tracker

A Python tool for tracking large icebergs in Antarctic waters using satellite data from NASA's Scatterometer Climate Record Pathfinder (SCP).

Features

• Real-time Data: Scrapes latest iceberg positions from NASA SCP website
• Location Tracking: Precise latitude/longitude coordinates with DMS conversion
• Interactive Map: Generate beautiful web-based visualizations with movement animations
• GitHub Pages Deployment: Automatically deploy to a live website
• Data Analysis: Summary statistics and iceberg movement tracking
• JSON Export: Save data in structured format for further analysis
• Simple CLI: Easy-to-use command-line interface

Live Demo

🌐 View the live Antarctic Iceberg Tracker: https://joel-hanson.github.io/Iceberg-locations/

The live site is automatically updated daily with the latest iceberg data and includes interactive features.

Quick Start

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Joel-hanson/Iceberg-locations.git
cd Iceberg-locations

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirement.txt

Usage

# Collect latest iceberg data
python main.py scrape

# Show data summary
python main.py info

# Generate interactive map
python main.py map

# View iceberg movement animations
python main.py animations

Commands

scrape - Collect Data

Fetches the latest iceberg position data from NASA SCP website and saves it to iceberg_location.json.

python main.py scrape

info - Data Summary

Displays statistics about the collected iceberg data including number of icebergs, observation dates, and data coverage.

python main.py info

Example output:

Antarctic Iceberg Data Summary:
   • 37 observation dates
   • 53 current icebergs
   • 97 unique icebergs tracked
   • 1,832 total records
   • Latest data: 11/11/21

map - Interactive Visualization

Generates an interactive HTML map showing iceberg positions with clickable markers.

python main.py map

Opens output/iceberg_map.html in your browser with:

• Interactive Antarctica-focused map
• Clickable iceberg markers with details
• Movement animation links in each popup
• Real-time statistics display

animations - Movement Animations

Shows URLs to animated GIF files demonstrating historical iceberg movement patterns.

python main.py animations

Example output:

Iceberg Movement Animations:
Data from: 07/02/25
Note: Animations show historical movement patterns from NASA SCP

  A23A     | N/A, 39 7'W          | https://ftp.scp.byu.edu/data/misc/iceberg_animations/a23a_movie.gif
  C18B     | N/A, 78 17'E         | https://ftp.scp.byu.edu/data/misc/iceberg_animations/c18b_movie.gif

Copy the URLs to view GIF animations showing iceberg drift patterns over time.

Project Structure

Iceberg-locations/
├── main.py                 # Main entry point
├── src/                    # Source code
│   ├── __init__.py         # Package initialization
│   ├── iceberg.py          # Core scraper script
│   ├── cli.py              # Command-line interface
│   ├── config.py           # Configuration settings
│   └── tests.py            # Test suite
├── data/                   # Data storage
│   └── iceberg_location.json  # Scraped data (generated)
├── output/                 # Generated outputs
│   └── iceberg_map.html    # Interactive map (generated)
├── docs/                   # Documentation
├── assets/                 # Static assets
├── requirement.txt         # Python dependencies
├── README.md               # This file
├── LICENSE                 # MIT License
├── .github/workflows/      # GitHub Actions
├── Dockerfile              # Docker container setup
├── Makefile                # Build automation
└── setup.py                # Package installation

Data Source

Data is collected from the NASA Scatterometer Climate Record Pathfinder (SCP) database:

Current Data: https://www.scp.byu.edu/data/ice_tracking/antarctic.html
Movement Animations: https://ftp.scp.byu.edu/data/misc/iceberg_animations/

The animation files show historical movement patterns of icebergs over time, providing valuable insights into iceberg drift patterns in Antarctic waters.

Data Format

{
  "11/11/21": [
    {
      "iceberg": "a23a",
      "latitude": -75.42,
      "longitude": -39.83,
      "dms_latitude": "75°25'S",
      "dms_longitude": "39°50'W",
      "recent_observation": "11/11/21"
    }
  ]
}

Development

Local Development Server

# Navigate to your project root
cd /path/to/Iceberg-locations

# Generate the map first
python main.py map

# Start a simple HTTP server
python -m http.server 8000

# Visit: http://localhost:8000/output/iceberg_map.html

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.