Updates

Bringing you hot topics, from cold places

Discover the latest updates on our activities, team and research findings. You can browse, filter by category or type, or search by keywords.

Ross Sea Voyage 2024 RV Laura Bassi travels along the Ross Ice Shelf January 2024 Photo by Lana Young

Voyage to solve the mystery of Antarctica’s plummeting sea ice

Date: 2024
Type: Science
Authors: Stuff
Summary: A team of 12 are on board the Italian research vessel Laura Bassi, which is currently off the coast of Antarctica studying the Ross Sea.
Mooring deployment 2 Lana Young

Ross Sea Voyage Update #8: Along the continental shelf break

Date: 2024
Type: Update
Summary: The team are celebrating wāhine - while they're bashing through sea ice to get to a clear patch of water near Cape Hallett. They hope to be out of the coming wind and waves. Meanwhile, some great kit is going into the water - the 11 new Argo floats roughly doubles the profilers on the Ross continental shelf.
2024 02 06 berg snow Edward Vii land Craig Stevens

Ross Sea Voyage Update #7: Cape Colbeck & King Edward VII Land

Date: 2024
Type: Update
Summary: The team have just finished working in the Cape Colbeck Area, the northeast limit of the Ross Sea embayment. This is likely one of the critical gateways for the Ross Sea continental shelf area, as it is downstream from the hot glaciers of the Amundsen Sea. As if to prove the point, the region is strewn with very large icebergs, many likely spawned in the Amundsen Sea.
2024 02 09 small emperor colony in bay of whales

Ross Sea Voyage Update #6: The Bay of Whales

Date: 2024
Type: Update
Summary: The team arrive in the Bay of Whales on the last day of January 2024. Science is at full tilt. The Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area (MPA) is teeming with life. They've even seen emperor penguins!
2024 01 30 Jasmin RIS Lana

Ross Sea Voyage Update #5: Traversing the Ross Ice Shelf

Date: 2024
Type: Update
Summary: After sailing beyond the katabatic weather system and its 100 knot winds, the team have just finished deploying a sequence of hydrographic moorings along the western part of the Ross Ice Shelf front.
2024 01 28 meeting CR basler trasnfer team Lana

Ross Sea Voyage Update #4: Katabatic winds

Date: 2024
Type: Update
Summary: Sixty knot freezing winds cascaded off the ice sheet and blasted out over the coastal ocean – in an event that persisted for several days. The team is inside a wind-forced coastal polynya; that's where sea ice is made.
2024 01 17 NZ team on 16th leg1

Ross Sea Voyage Update #3: Terra Nova Bay

Date: 2024
Type: Update
Summary: The  RV Laura Bassi headed to the Italian Mario Zuchelli Station. The weather has been very calm. (Spoiler alert: There will be wind. Lots of it. This is Antarctica.)
2024 01 12 cross ant circle Craig Stevens

Ross Sea Voyage Update #2: Crossing the Line

Date: 2024
Type: Update
Summary: The RV Laura Bassi has crossed the Antarctic circle (66° 34’S), and last night the team spotted their first iceberg through the fog.

Archive