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Quarterly science bulletin
Edition 13, March 2026
Tasmania unites for Antarctic science
Tasmania’s role as Australia’s Antarctic gateway took centre stage in February as representatives from all three levels of government joined leading Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientists at Parliament House in Hobart to explore Why Antarctica matters to Tasmania.
At the lunch-time event organised by AAPP and our sister program Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS), we engaged a room full of influencers with six posters, a giant map, Antarctic rocks, an Argo robotic float, a short presentation and even live microscopic critters – likely the first plankton in Parliament!
Thank you to the Deputy Premier of Tasmania, The Hon Guy Barnett MP, for hosting the event.
Registrations are open for the second Australian Antarctic Research Conference, at the University of Tasmania in Hobart in August 2026. There'll be an Early Career Researchers Day on Monday 24 August, followed by the conference from Tuesday 25 to Friday 28 August. The themes of this national conference are:
- Antarctic ice loss and its impacts
- Protecting Antarctica from existing and emerging threats
- The past, present and future of Antarctic and Southern Ocean systems
- Innovations in Antarctic and Southern Ocean research capabilities
- Antarctic research for decision-making
- Looking forward: Australian Antarctic research over the next decade
I'm looking forward to a special event we're holding with ACEAS in April — the inaugural Antarctic Science–Policy Dialogue. We've invited more than a hundred policy-makers and practitioners from departments in all levels of government, along with industry and non-government organisations, to hear about our recent findings in Antarctic and Southern Ocean science and discuss their policy implications.
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.
kind regards,
Professor Delphine Lannuzel
Program leader,
Australian Antarctic Program Partnership
University of Tasmania, Hobart
AAPP SCIENCE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
AAPP scientists in NASA mission to track ice with space lasers
First spaceborne laser altimeter system to monitor the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems and ice simultaneously
‘Sea ice factory’ revealed as unexpected driver of global currents
A surprising source of deep-ocean ventilation in East Antarctica, with implications for global ocean currents and climate systems
Planet’s coastlines depend on how fast Antarctica’s ice sheets melt
Nowhere on Earth is there a greater cause of uncertainty in sea-level rise projections than from East Antarctica, which covers all of Australia's Antarctic Territory
Climate engineering would alter the oceans, reshaping marine life
Analysis of how different types of climate interventions could affect marine ecosystems, for good or bad, and where more research is needed to understand the risks
Turning our research into real world impacts
A special report about the highlights of six years of AAPP research from 2019 to 2025 (best viewed on a large screen or laptop)
PhD student Neve Clippingdale tells Deputy Premier Guy Barnett about her work on the Denman Marine Voyage (photo: Peter W Allen/UTAS)
SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Our scientists publish more than 100 research papers each year
Changes in the strongest ocean current on Earth: underwater ridges create 'meanders' in Antarctic Circumpolar Current
In recent winters, the extent of Antarctic sea ice has crashed to unusually low levels: what controls how much sea ice can form in winter?
The 'anaemic' Southern Ocean: where did the iron that boosts phytoplankton blooms and the ocean's carbon uptake come from in the past?
Join our scientists in East Antarctica as they plumb the depths of the ocean under an ice shelf with a power tool, a just-long-enough drill, lots of line — and plenty of stamina (republished in the 2025 Best Australian Science Writing anthology)
