Australian Antarctic Program Appoints Chief Scientist
Australian National University as its new Chief Scientist.Abram is a professor of climate science and was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2024.“I’m incredibly excited and honoured to be taking up the role of Chief Scientist of the AAD,” Abram said. “Antarctica is such a special place, and the science that the Australian Antarctic Program does is critical for protecting Antarctica, and for preparing Australia and the world for how changes in Antarctica will affect us all.”Abram has extensive experience as a climate and Antarctic scientist, most
Ice “Memory” to be Protected in Antarctica
The Ice Memory Foundation is preparing for the upcoming transport of ice cores from mountain glaciers to the Ice Memory Sanctuary in Antarctica.The announcement was made as part of the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences (2025-2034) during the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice on June 8.Preserved in the Ice Memory Sanctuary at Concordia Station, the cores will be available for study by future generations of scientists.The first Ice Memory alpine ice cores – extracted between 2016 and 2023 – will leave the laboratory cold rooms of the CNR-ISP in Italy in October.
MBARI Research Supports Cryospheric Science
;s robotic floats to the classroom.The flow of water from the seafloor to the ocean at the land-sea interface—known as submarine groundwater discharge—plays an important role in ocean biogeochemistry, marine ecology, and seafloor geology. This process has been challenging to study in Antarctica, where climate change is likely causing fresh to brackish water to leak from the seafloor.MBARI researchers are working to quantify submarine groundwater discharge along the Antarctic Peninsula and understand its environmental impacts. Preliminary findings suggest submarine groundwater discharge
RSV Nuyina Completes Dedicated Marine Science Voyage for the Australian Antarctic Program
2024/25 season voyage, the Nuyina successfully facilitated research and navigated through harsh environmental conditions, including winds at times reaching 63 knots (116 km/hour), thick ice and frequent periods of very low visibility.The Australian Antarctic Program had previously been unable to access Antarctica’s Denman Glacier—which is of prime scientific interest as one of the largest, least-studied glaciers, with the potential to raise sea levels by 1.5m if it melts entirely—because of the Glacier’s extreme geographical remoteness and logistical challenges. The purpose of this
Britlift Spreader Proves Value on Royal Research Ship
Ship (RRS) Sir David Attenborough, one of the most advanced polar research vessels in the world.Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), this multidisciplinary research platform operates year-round, spending the northern summer in Arctic. During the southern hemisphere summer it is based in Antarctica where its duties include bringing people, equipment and supplies to BAS research stations. The 129m long vessel has a 50-tonne crane for loading and unloading good and equipment, which can include vehicles and plant equipment in excess of 30t.“When lifting vehicles with the crane, we need
Grander Canyons
slope, and they are an important source of ocean biodiversity, they transport sediment and pollution and they can create hydrocarbon reservoirs.Despite their size and importance, they are still a frontier for scientific research - a new 6,890-foot (2,100 meter) canyon was discovered last year off Antarctica by acousticians on board the icebreaker RSV Nuyina.Earlier this year, scientists at MBARI developed a new investigative technology, Geo-Sense, a new portable instrument that uses distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology for long-term, high-resolution monitoring of geological processes in canyons
A Graveyard for Glaciers
on glacier and snowmelt for freshwater.Ice loss from glaciers contributed around 21% of the total sea-level rise over the period 1993–2018, around half the contribution from expansion due to ocean warming (42%) but larger than contributions from melting of the ice sheets in Greenland (15%) and Antarctica (8%).“The conversation about climate change can be very abstract, with many devastating statistics and sophisticated scientific models that may feel incomprehensible,” said Rice University anthropologist Cymene Howe back in 2019 when a memorial was unveiled, the first of its kind in
WMO Documents Spiraling Climate Impacts
record all occurred in the past 18 years. The annual minimum and maximum of Antarctic sea-ice extent were each the second lowest in the observed record from 1979.The minimum daily extent of sea-ice in the Arctic in 2024 was 4.28 million km2, the seventh lowest extent in the 46-year satellite record. In Antarctica, the minimum daily extent tied for the second lowest minimum in the satellite era and marked the 3rd consecutive year that minimum Antarctic sea-ice extent dropped below 2 million km2. These are the three lowest Antarctic ice minima in the satellite record.Extreme events and impactsExtreme weather
Denman Glacier Has Already Lost Over 250 Billion Tons of Ice
The Denman Glacier is one of the largest and fastest-melting glaciers in East Antarctica and alone holds a potential sea level rise of 1.5 meters.In nearly three decades, the 20-kilometer (12-mile) wide glacier has already retreated some five kilometers (nearly three miles) and lost over 250 billion tons of ice.The deepest point on continental Earth has been identified under the glacier. This ice-filled canyon reaches 3.5km (11,500ft) below sea level. Only in the ocean are there deeper ones. The canyon (known as the Denman Trough) is mostly cut off from the sea due to all the glacial ice inside and
February 2025
