Geomorphology beneath the deep blue sea By Rachel Nanson and Michal Wenderlich, Geoscience Australia Fig 1. One of RV Investigator’s geophysicists, Francisco Navidad, continually monitors and records incoming data. On the 7000 km transit south to Antarctica and then in the study area of Cape Darnley, the CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator’s technical staff and science team have […]
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Examples of microfossils that we use to study how the marine environment has changed over time. On board the research vessel (RV) Investigator there are several researchers on the expedition who are taking water and sediment samples to study ‘plankton’. Plankton means that they can’t swim against a current, most plankton are tiny, but some are large
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Team onboard RV Investigator sampling a kasten core (Image: Helen Bostock) By Tom Williams (UTAS) and Helen Bostock (UQ) To understand our changing climate today and improve predictions about future climate we need to have long climate records to compare to. But instrumental data only reach back a century, and we don’t have much data
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Plan A to Z By Dr Alix Post The team on board CSIRO’s RV Investigator. Photo credit: Aero Leplastrier. Just over a month ago, our team set out on CSIRO’s research vessel (RV) Investigator with great anticipation of the planned science and the discoveries that we might make, after months (and years) of detailed planning. However, as
Southern Ocean holds deep clues to ancient carbon tipping points The Amundsen Sea from aboard RV Polarstern. Photo: Katharina Hochmuth. Researchers have found a long-searched for giant carbon reservoir buried in the Southern Ocean between Tasmania and Antarctica. The reservoir is the result of a dramatic carbon drawdown 34 million years ago that transitioned Earth
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Deep ocean currents around Antarctica headed for collapse, study finds Under a high emissions scenario, the collapse would stagnate the bottom of the world’s oceans. Photo credit: 66 north on Unsplash The deep ocean circulation that forms around Antarctica could be headed for collapse, say scientists. Such decline of this ocean circulation will stagnate the bottom of the
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On Thin Ice: A science briefing about changes in Antarctic sea ice The Australian Antarctic Program Partnership (AAPP) and the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS) have released a report on sea ice changes in Antarctica. Antarctic sea ice provides many services for our planet. It is a cooling sunshade, an insulating blanket, a unique habitat,
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Seals to gather intel on the Southern Ocean Elephant seals are the ultimate divers—travelling long distances, and diving to 1500m depths. They are crucial to gathering knowledge on the Southern Ocean’s role in the global climate system. Photo: Clive McMahon, IMOS and SIMS. The first ARC Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS) project drawing
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New map unlocks deep digital data of Antarctica’s history By GNS Science It’s not just ice out there. 0.5% of the surface of Antarctica is exposed geology which can tell us a lot about the history – and the future – of the continent. GeoMAP Antarctica is the first detailed digital database that collates all
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Deep Antarctic ocean currents have slowed in the past three decades The slowdown in Antarctic circulation reduces oxygen levels across the world’s deep seas. Photo: Tom Williams. Researchers have found that the deep ocean circulation around parts of Antarctica has slowed by 30 per cent since the 1990s, reducing oxygen levels across the world’s deep
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