PROGRESS REPORTS TOWARDS THE STRATEGIC PLAN 2000-2001

Program Leader Progress Reports

A Report from the ANARE Chief Scientist to ASAC on the Key Scientific Achievements for the 2000-01 Antarctic season

The scientific program in the 2000-01 season started in October 2000 with the deployment of a research team, for the first time since 1992, on Heard Island and concluded in April 2001 with the successful installation of a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) instrument at Davis Station. Not all projects were able to be completed and the recall from station of the RSV Aurora Australis to render assistance to the MV Polar Bird in January 2001 prevented the execution of a study of movement of krill swarms in the waters off the Mawson coastline. This study has been rescheduled for the 2002-03 Antarctic season.

The results from the Heard Island exercise represent the first of what will be Australia's research input to the international study of Regional Sensitivity to Climate Change in Antarctic Ecosystems (RiSCC) over the next ten years. Australia has taken a leading role in the design and coordination of this important, and timely program, which is supported by the international Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. The LIDAR will be used to examine the climatology of the middle atmosphere for indicators of climate change, such as the aerosol concentration of chlorofluorocarbons, and the occurrence of noctilucent and other high altitude clouds, using a laser beam as a radar probe.

Some highlights from the 2000-01 Antarctic season include:

The initiation of a new study to document whether changes in the human immune system during prolonged Antarctic exposure have a direct association with altered thermoregulatory responses following prolonged exposure. The study is being conducted as part of a collaborative research agreement between the Australian Antarctic Division and the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine;
The development of a web-based State of the Environment reporting system based on environmental indicators specific to the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic ecosystem;
The development of techniques that will allow real-time chemical monitoring and assessment of hazardous waste and contaminated runoff during clean-up operations of the Thala Valley tip site at Casey Station;
Preliminary results of the Heard Island summer program indicate that several new species of plants and more than 80 new species of non-marine algae are amongst the island's terrestrial and coastal ecosystem biodiversity. Studies undertaken by the multidisciplinary international team gathered data indicating that environmental change as measured by the retreat of glaciers and expansion of vegetation has coincided with a significant increase in breeding populations of some seals and birds. Preliminary figures indicate that Brown Glacier, on the island's north east, has retreated by 1.1km and lost over 33% of its mass since 1954. This has coincided with a mean air temperature rise of about 1 degree C;
The study of the significance bacteria play in the recycling of carbon and nutrients in the Southern Ocean. Preliminary results indicate that only 20% of bacteria in the surface waters are alive. This observation is of fundamental importance for understanding carbon flow and nutrient cycling in the Southern Ocean;
An analysis of the annual variability of pupping rates of fur seals over the past 10 years indicate there is a strong negative relationship between pupping and the average sea-surface temperature around Macquarie Island in the preceding autumn;
Research into the physiology of micro-organisms inhabiting sediments in the lakes in the Vestfold Hills indicates that they appear to be able to 'switch on' cold active enzymes when the temperatures reach 2 or 3 degrees below zero. At higher temperatures they appear to use enzyme systems akin to those found in micro-organisms in temperate lakes;
The development of strategic alliances with universities (e.g. Griffith University) to investigate the biotechnological potential of Antarctic organisms, particularly concerning the anti-freeze proteins of bacteria that inhabit the lakes in the Vestfold Hills near Davis Station;
The adoption by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine-Living Resources (CCAMLR) of a new precautionary catch limit for the krill fishery off the Mawson coastline based on Australian survey data;
Studies on the effects of ultra violet (UV) light on krill and Antarctic plants (mosses) reveals that significant damage is inflicted in both organism types. Krill appear to have evolved behavioural adaptations to remove themselves from regions of high UV radiation, though the effect that this has on their feeding biology and on the success of their predators is unknown. Molecular genetic analyses of Antarctic mosses exposed to high levels of UV radiation reveal the presence of mutations. Neither study is yet sufficiently advanced to permit a full assessment of the consequences of the annual 'hole' in the ozone layer above Antarctica;
The publication of a new bathymetry map of George V Land based on sea bed sediment data obtained last year in a collaborative research venture between Australia and Italy. The map, and others like it, will assist Australia in its management and conservation of the Antarctic coastal and shelf ecosystem;
The publication of a new map of Macquarie Island, jointly with the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industry, Water and the Environment. The map is the first accurate map of the coastline and topography of the island and was created entirely from remotely sensed (satellite) data;
The publication of a new map on the Geology of the Northern Vestfold Hills, jointly with Geoscience Australia. This is the first map to show the detailed composition and direction of the many dykes that infiltrate the region;
The publication of a major book "Ocean Circulation and Climate" by Academic Press based on the research generated from the collaborative partnerships of agencies involved in the Antarctic CRC and from the research generated by the international collaborators in the World Ocean Circulation Experiment over a period greater than 10 years;
The installation of the LIDAR at Davis Station and commencement of measurements of temperatures and chemical species in the mesosphere. Early comparisons with data derived from balloon sondes at the maximum altitudes for balloon flights are good;
Field studies of solar radiation processes in the pack ice and their role in the summer decay of the ice were undertaken in conjunction with USA scientists. Results were correlated with variables such as salinity, chlorophyll concentration, particle concentration and particle size distribution to improve the reliability of models for predicting the effects of solar radiation on the snow/sea ice system;
An improved numerical model of ice shelf dynamics has been applied to the Amery Ice Shelf, using measured ice thickness and ice velocity data. The inclusion of more sophisticated ice-ocean interface models than before has suggested that the Amery Ice Shelf loses between 6 and 18 Gt (Gigatonne) of ice each year by basal melting. The model predicts that each 1 degree C rise in ocean temperature would increase the melt by 28 Gt annually. As the total flow of ice into the Amery Ice Shelf is about 57 Gt per year, the model predicts that ocean warming would have a significant effect on the ice shelf. Completion of field work in 2001-02 should allow the refinement of the model through the inclusion of ocean circulation data;
The successful deployment of a newly designed and constructed hot water sea-ice drill. This instrument is being used to investigate the physical conditions at the interface between the floating Amery Ice Shelf and the water beneath. Understanding the processes of melt and refreezing of the ice is essential to the development of more accurate models of the role of the Antarctic in driving Southern Hemisphere climates. The drill penetrated over 300m of ice and cut such a vertical and clean hole that it was possible to obtain a sample of the sea floor underneath the ice. Analysis of the sample will provide valuable data on the past glacial history of the Lambert Graben. Oceanographic instruments were set at the summer edge of the Amery ice shelf, to measure currents, salinity and temperature, and they are scheduled to be retrieved in February 2002; and
The deployment of site testing instrumentation to the French-Italian Concordia Station at Dome C as part of the on-going collaboration between French, Italian and Australian astronomers to use the Antarctic high plateau for future astronomical activities.