The Australian Government has announced Australian Research Council funding of $24 million over three years for an Antarctic and Southern Ocean science program. The package is a capacity-building development that will further enhance Tasmania as a global leader in Antarctic and Southern Ocean science and a gateway for Antarctic research, education, innovation and logistics. Key objectives include
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1) Developing a marine technology hub to build next generation hybrid autonomous underwater vehicles for measurements within the polar environment;
2) Establishing a sea-ice charting and forecasting capability for polar mariners in the East Antarctic sea ice zone;
3) Advancing understanding of how the oceans influence melting of the East Antarctic ice shelves and to quantify present and future contributions of Antarctic ice sheet loss and sea level rise;
4) Providing much-needed insights into the environmental conditions that control marine life in and around Antarctic ice shelves; and
5) Reducing the unacceptably large range of estimates of the contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet to sea level since the last major glacial expansion 20,000 years ago. The program involves the employment of forty young researchers and technicians working with senior scientists at the largest Southern Hemisphere Antarctic and oceans research hub. The Antarctic Gateway Partners are the University of Tasmania, CSIRO and the Australian Antarctic Division.
