No images? Click here
Quarterly science bulletin
Edition 8, December 2024
Halfway point for our 10-year research program
Since our last 'Southern Signals', this year has been eventful for the AAPP, highlighted by the inaugural Australian Antarctic Research Conference in Hobart during November. The conference showcased the richness of cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary collaborations, with nearly 500 polar scientists from around Australia, two-thirds of which were early-career researchers.
In fact, it was early-career researchers who led the public messaging from the conference. They released a statement about the centrality of Antarctic and Southern Ocean science to climate policy called 'Our Science, Your Future: Next Generation of Antarctic Scientists Call for Collaborative Action'.
This important meeting was the first such gathering in more than a decade. With the pace of change accelerating in the Antarctic region, this conference is now intended to be a regular event.
In recent months the work of our scientists has been recognised with a number of prestigious awards:
- ice-sheet modeller Dr Chen Zhao, named as Tasmanian STEM Early Career Researcher of the Year;
- oceanographer Dr Edward Doddridge, awarded the 2024 Meyers Medal by the Australian Meteorological & Oceanographic Society;
- six ARC Discovery Project grants to climate-related research at the University of Tasmania, four of them on Antarctica.
This period marks a personal changeover for me and a leadership transition for our program. I've been fortunate to be awarded an ARC Laureate Fellowship, which started in December (here presented by Federal Member for Canberra Alicia Payne MP). I'm very pleased and proud that sea-ice expert Professor Delphine Lannuzel will commence as leader of the AAPP in 2025.
Welcome to the latest edition of 'Southern Signals' (archive here), a quarterly bulletin to inform decision-makers, policy-shapers, journalists, researchers, stakeholders and the general public about our science and research activities — and why they matter.
Thank you for your interest! My best wishes to you and yours for a rewarding break and a happy new year.
Professor Nathan Bindoff
Program leader, Australian Antarctic Program Partnership
University of Tasmania, Hobart
World-first study of algal growth in Antarctic fast ice
For the first time, an international team led by AAPP scientists has calculated the annual amount of carbon produced by algae living in landfast sea ice, or ‘fast ice’, around Antarctica.
New leader for Antarctic research program
Professor Delphine Lannuzel, an expert in the biogeochemistry of sea ice, will take the helm of one of Australia’s flagship Antarctic research organisations, the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership (AAPP).
Taking temperature: how well do weather models simulate sea ice?
First research to compare simulation of Antarctic sea-ice surface temperature in six commonly used weather models, using 18 years of satellite measurements.
First observed ice-shelf collapse in East Antarctica
"Exclamation point in an accelerating narrative of unexpected changes": The collapse of an ice shelf in 2022 is a warning sign that East Antarctica may not be as stable as previously assumed.
One of the popular social events in the recent Australian Antarctic Research Conference saw six plucky researchers communicating their science in their
first stand-up comedy gig (photo: David Crisante, Future Science Talks)
SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Our scientists publish more than 100 research papers each year
Antarctic Bottom Water plays a vital role in regulating global climate – Cape Darnley Bottom Water is unique
Zooplankton abundance along the Mawson coast, East Antarctica – the role of changing climate conditions
Multi-decadal collapse of the Conger-Glenzer Ice Shelf – first in East Antarctica, due to ocean warming rather than surface melt
Which city produced more coordinating lead authors for an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report than anywhere else in the world? This video explores the importance of the IPCC and the major contributions of Hobart-based scientists and their institutions over three decades.
