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

Sea ice

Antarctica's sea ice hit another low this year – understanding how ocean warming is driving the loss is key

Date: 2024
Type: Field Work
Authors: Professor Craig Stevens
Summary: At the end of the southern summer, Antarctica’s sea ice hit its annual minimum. By at least one measure, which tracks the area of ocean that contains at least 15% of sea ice, it was a little above the record low of 2023.
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Podcast: The sea ice factories of Antarctica

Date: 2024
Type: In the media
Authors: Radio New Zealand: The Detail
Summary: If you want to study the health of the world's oceans, you need to get to their heartbeat. That's deep in the Ross Sea, where the sea ice factories of Antarctica - or polynyas - live.
Ross Sea Voyage 2024: Laura Bassi Ross Sea Voyage Photo by Lana Young

Signs found of worryingly fast Antarctic ice melt

Date: 2024
Type: Update
Authors: Radio New Zealand
Summary: Scientists returning from a voyage into Antarctic waters say they found worrying evidence about how much ice has melted and how quickly.
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New Zealand scientists return from Antarctica's ice with information that could shape future climate policy

Date: 2024
Type: Science
Authors: Newshub's Mitchell Redman
Summary: A large group of New Zealand and Italian scientists returned to Lyttelton on Saturday - after a two-month voyage through Antarctica's Ross Sea. Twenty-five Italians and 12 Kiwis were onboard the Laura Bassi - dodging icebergs and battling 185km/h winds in one of the most remote, and largely misunderstood parts of Earth.
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.
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Measuring Antarctic warming with moss

Date: 2024
Type: In the media
Summary: When it comes to Antarctic ice melt, how do we attribute retreat to climate change? For Dr Charles Lee, a microbial ecologist, the answer lies in measuring moss.
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Antarctic Science Platform in the news 2022/23

Date: 2023
Type: Update
Summary: In case you missed it, here are some of the media and outreach opportunities our team was involved in during the past year. There were also public talks, school visits and publications in subscription-based magazines.
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Under thinning ice at Lake Fryxell

Date: 2023
Type: Update
Summary: In January, divers were able to return to the bottom of Lake Fryxell in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Waikato University professor Ian Hawes donned his dive suit as part of a NZ-US team carrying out long-term ecological monitoring. They found that the ice on the lake is thinning, and this is changing the microbial life that grows in this extreme environment. Videographer Anthony Powell worked with the divers to bring back pictures from the bottom of the lake, and TVNZ's Laura Frykberg helped tell the story.

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