Summary
INTRODUCTION The earliest Australian tide gauge to be operated in Antarctica was in 1912 when a gauge was installed at Cape Denison, George V Land, for 3 months during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. This expedition also installed a gauge at Macquarie Island in the mid-Southern Ocean which operated for 9 months. Since then there have been a number of tide gauges in operation in Antarctica and on Heard and Macquarie Islands, but only for short periods. (Summerson and Handsworth, 1995) In 1991, however, following representations by the then director of the National Tidal Facility (NTF) Prof.G.W. Lennon, a concerted effort was made by the Australian Antarctic Division, NTF and the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG) to establish a network of tide gauges for the systematic observation of sea level. The new network of automated tide gauges,(Figure 1) will allow comparison with historic data and will provide new data to understand the temporal and spatial variability of sea level across the eastern sector of the Southern Ocean.(ICSU Press/SCAR, 1992)