Category Archives: Antarctica

Australia urged to boost Antarctic science and use second ship to increase number of voyages

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Senate inquiry finds axed scientific programs, toxic workplace culture and a trouble-plagued icebreaker among problems

The Australian government should consider introducing a second ship to increase the number of voyages to the southern continent to significantly boost Antarctic science, a cross-party parliamentary committee has recommended.

The Senate inquiry into the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) found axed scientific programs, a toxic workplace culture and a trouble-plagued icebreaker were some of problems stemming from failures in the division’s funding and governance model.

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Australia not prepared for how Antarctic ice changes will hit economy, scientist warns

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Exclusive: Prof Matt King says accelerated melting could transform country and affect viability of some agricultural industries

A leading Antarctic scientist has urged the Albanese government to pay closer attention to abrupt changes under way in the southern continent, warning they will affect Australians in ways that are little understood and research into them is drastically underfunded.

The head of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, Prof Matt King, said he found it embarrassing how little was known about the local and global ramifications of changes including a historic drop in floating sea ice cover, the accelerating melting of giant ice sheets and the slowing of a deep ocean current known as the Southern Ocean overturning circulation.

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Russian delegation stymies creation of Antarctic conservation area

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Efforts at major conference in Tasmania stall despite evidence that such areas would save crucial foraging and breeding grounds for Antarctic wildlife

A major international conference on the Antarctic marine environment has failed to agree on new conservation areas despite hearing evidence the southern continent is facing a range of crises, including historically low sea ice levels, plummeting wildlife numbers and the first cases of bird flu.

Longstanding proposals to create nearly 4m sq km of marine protected areas did not receive consensus support largely due to opposition from the Russian government delegation, which arrived late due to visa-related delays and then repeatedly stalled discussions, according to multiple sources at the meeting in Hobart.

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Australian Antarctic Division accused of hampering Senate investigation into research cuts

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Two climate scientists who recently left division tell inquiry former colleagues have been ‘directed to remain quiet’

Two long-term climate scientists have alleged staff at the Australian Antarctic Division have been told not to pass information to a Senate investigation into climate research cuts, drawing a warning from senators.

Dr Simon Wright and Dr Andrew Davidson, who both spent decades studying the impacts of climate change with the division, have told the inquiry that budget pressures are “devastating” and will have a long-term impact on research.

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Littleproud says ‘there’ll be no victory lap’ if voice fails – as it happened

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Nationals leader backs Peter Dutton’s call to hold a referendum on Indigenous recognition if the voice to parliament vote fails in October. This blog is now closed

Reforms ensure basic standards around pay and working conditions: Burke

Burke has also flagged reforms to ensure gig workers have some basic minimum standards around pay and conditions. Burke says the government reforms are not designed to “break the technology”.

There is no doubt that when people are ultimately receiving really low wages then making ends meet is tougher, and that puts extra pressure on you to take risks.

Riders have spoken to me about it and they say quite specifically that part of the desperation is you are just not earning enough to make ends meet.

We’re talking about the crime being for intentional wage theft, that’s where someone knows the rules. They know exactly what they’re doing. It is the cases where somebody knows that someone is meant to be paid more and they don’t care because they think they can get away with it, and they know that up until now the worse they will have to do is just pay the money back at a later point in time. So wage theft has nothing to do with complexity. It is about theft.

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Icebreaker sails to Antarctica to rescue sick Australian expedition member

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Exclusive: RSV Nuyina steaming 3,500km to Casey station to pick up the person who needs treatment for a ‘developing medical condition.

An urgent evacuation operation has been launched to assist an Australian with a “developing medical condition” at the remote Casey research station in Antarctica.

Australia’s icebreaking vessel, RSV Nuyina, left Hobart last week and is sailing thousands of kilometres to collect the expedition member, whose medical condition has not been confirmed but requires specialist treatment and care.

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Cancelling Antarctic climate research will damage Australia’s reputation, experts say

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Exclusive: Lawyers and environmentalists warn international community is watching carefully amid ‘science, logistics and influence race’

Australia’s international reputation and diplomatic influence will be damaged unless the federal government intervenes to ensure crucial climate change research in Antarctica is not cancelled, international lawyers and environmentalists have warned.

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is also facing political pressure from the Greens and the Coalition, which have both raised concerns about plans to cancel or heavily restrict studies of record-low sea ice, ice shelves and declining penguin populations due to a budget crunch.

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Australia’s Antarctic program faces $25m cut as Greens warn savings couldn’t come ‘at a worse time’

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Operations leader Emma Campbell says cut is due to ending of a temporary budget supplement and an internal efficiency dividend

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) must find $25m in savings this year as the government flags possible cuts to crucial scientific research and a dramatic reduction in outsourcing to expensive consultants to meet the target.

The new savings target – which represents about 16% of the division’s operating budget – is largely due to an overspend by the division. The federal greens have warned the cuts “couldn’t possibly come at a worse time” given Antarctic sea ice reached the lowest level on record earlier this year.

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Weather tracker: heat dome raises temperatures in Spain and Portugal

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Phenomenon is forecast to expand as it strengthens, triggering conditions of more than 30C in parts of Europe

Parts of southern and western Europe have been experiencing unusually high temperatures. Areas of Spain and Portugal have recorded daily maximum temperatures in the high 30s celsius for more than a week, exceeding 40C in parts of southern Spain on Sunday. Italy, France, Germany and the Benelux region also reached the low- to mid-30s celsius in places at the weekend.

The heat is caused by a large area of high pressure that is stagnating over Europe and preventing the usual pattern of low pressure systems moving eastwards into Europe from the Atlantic. This is known as a blocking high and results in very dry and stable conditions, as the fronts associated with more dynamic weather patterns are forced away by the high pressure.

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Australia would be ‘naive’ to think China’s new Antarctic station not for surveillance, analyst says

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National security experts express concern over resumed construction of a Chinese station which could be used for intelligence operations

Australia should be concerned about the prospect of China using a new research station in Antarctica to assist surveillance operations in the southern hemisphere, according to national security experts.

Satellite imagery collected by Washington-based thinktank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), shows construction of the station on Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea has resumed for the first time since 2018.

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Latest revelations of harassment at Australia’s Antarctic program raise hopes for change

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Second report detailing disturbing workplace culture at division has put onus on government to enact major reform

Current and former Australian Antarctic Division staff are hopeful the latest investigation into disturbing workplace cultures will mark a turning point for the program and improve safety and wellbeing.

A review by Leigh Russell, a former Swimming Australia executive, confirmed earlier reports of sexual harassment and abuse but also revealed a culture of widespread bullying, with 41% of about 3,000 staff interviewed saying they experienced bullying in the last 12 months.

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World’s biggest single eradication operation aims to remove mice from island

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Invasive house mice threaten endangered seabirds and wildlife on Marion Island in Indian Ocean

Non-native house mice are to be removed from Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean to protect the wandering albatross and other endangered seabirds, in the world’s largest eradication programme of its kind.

Mice accidentally introduced on to the remote island by 19th-century seal hunters have thrived in warmer and drier conditions over the past 30 years, devastating the island’s invertebrates and plants, and then devouring the chicks and even adults of ground- and burrow-nesting seabirds.

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Lost letters reveal how ‘desperate’ Shackleton charmed Falklanders to save stranded crew

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Explorer hid his torment as he regaled officials in Port Stanley with jokes and stories

The marine archaeologist who headed the 2022 Antarctic expedition that discovered the wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance has found two previously unknown letters which describe the explorer in the Falklands while he was trying to save 22 of his men stranded on the “hellish rock” of Elephant Island.

Ahead of today’s anniversary of the wreck’s discovery, Mensun Bound told the Observer that the correspondence is remarkable because there is no witness account of him in Port Stanley during this crucial period in 1916 after their ship had become trapped in ice.

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Japan’s new whaling ‘mother ship’ being built to travel as far as Antarctica

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Company says vessel’s construction will help ‘pass on our whaling culture to the next generation’

A Japanese company is building a new whaling ship designed to travel as far as Antarctica, sparking fears commercial operations could resume in the Southern Ocean.

Australia’s environment minister, Tanya Plibsersek, reaffirmed the Albanese government’s commitment to a global moratorium on commercial whaling, while Greenpeace condemned the practice as “brutal and unnecessary”.

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Antarctic science expedition put on ice due to problems with Australia’s research vessel Nuyina

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Ocean voyage to study declining sea ice levels cancelled after RSV Nuyina required repairs leaving climate scientists dismayed

A major scientific expedition to urgently assess record-low sea ice levels in Antarctica has been cancelled due to ongoing repairs on Australia’s icebreaking vessel, RSV Nuyina, with climate scientists expressing disappointment at “Band-Aid” solutions.

US scientists have this week reported that the floating ice around the continent – which protects melting glaciers from currents and warmer waters – has reached the lowest level ever recorded, in part due to unprecedented heatwaves in recent years.

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Australian team sets off on Antarctica mission to drill for ‘oldest ice core ever obtained’

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Expedition will traverse 1,200km in harsh conditions with the aim of collecting million-year-old ice to learn about climate change

Australian researchers have set off on their most ambitious polar expedition in two decades, aiming to drill down into million-year-old ice to learn about climate change.

A convoy of five specially designed tractor trains intends to traverse 1,200km to Little Dome C in Antarctica, where – if successful – they will set up a camp for scientists to start drilling as early as next summer.

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Russia and China must ‘get on side with conservation’, US tells Antarctic commission meeting in Hobart

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US assistant secretary of state says two countries have stopped creation of new protected areas in Antarctica ‘for too long’

The US has urged China and Russia to “get on side with conservation” and stop blocking nearly 4m sq km in new marine protected areas around Antarctica.

Speaking at a major international meeting on Antarctic conservation in Hobart, the US assistant secretary of state, Monica Medina, said the two countries had prevented the creation of three new protected areas in Antarctic waters “for too long” and it was time to “shake up the system”.

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Newlywed among four women chosen to run Antarctic outpost

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British women beat 6,000 applicants to spend five months counting penguins and running post office on Goudier Island

It was one of the strangest of job alerts: a call to run the world’s most remote, coldest post office – on an island with no permanent residents – and count penguins in almost continuous daylight.

But bizarre or not, it struck a chord: 6,000 people applied for the four jobs on Goudier Island in Port Lockroy, and now the winners have been announced: a newlywed, who will leave her husband behind for what she is calling a “solo honeymoon” and three other British women, who are equally thrilled by the adventure ahead.

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Antarctic researchers gain insights from on high as they count seals from space

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Scientists used satellite images and more than 300,000 volunteers to count Weddell seals, a key Southern Ocean indicator species

Researchers believe they have accurately estimated Antarctica’s Weddell seal population for the first time – using images from space and the eyes of hundreds of thousands of citizen scientists.

Weddell seals are a key indicator species in the Southern Ocean, for both sea ice fluctuations and shifts in the food web. They can live up to 30 years in the harsh conditions of the coastal sea ice of Antarctica, but until recently, counting them has been risky and cost-prohibitive.

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British Antarctic Territory to hold its first same-sex wedding

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Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter, who work on RRS Sir David Attenborough, hope to tie the knot on Monday

Two polar research ship crew members are to become the first same-sex couple to get married in the British Antarctic Territory.

Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter hope to tie the knot on Monday, although it may be pushed back because of the weather.

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