Antarctica

The latest update from TAN2502 Ross Sea RV Tangaroa “ACTUATE” Voyage

The latest update from TAN2502 Ross Sea RV Tangaroa “ACTUATE” Voyage

The latest update from TAN2502 Ross Sea RV Tangaroa “ACTUATE” Voyage

Antarctica is probably storing much more carbon than previously thought, according to NIWA.

In 2016, NIWA technician Rod Budd is doing a routine dive under the Antarctic ice at Cape Evans, studying the creatures that live there.

Earlier this month, NIWA welcomed the Auckland University of Technology ‘Squid Squad’ – a team of scientists from the Lab for Cephalopod Ecology and Systematics – to unbox and categorise cephalopod species taken from voyages around the country.

This icy continent plays a big part in our global climate and, in turn, is directly affected by changes to the global climate – making Antarctica and the climate inextricably linked.

Scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) have returned from a six-week voyage to Antarctica.

We are happily heading back from a highly successful trip to the frozen continent knowing that the data from this voyage will contribute to a broad body of science critically important to understanding the Ross Sea ecosystem and the impacts of climate change.

One of our main tasks for this voyage is to better understand the geographic distribution - biogeography - of Antarctic organisms in the western Ross Sea, from the frozen coast out onto the continental shelf at 500m deep.

We have now visited 23 separate sites in these coastal areas, albeit some of them very close together. Every time we visit a new site, we first need to map the seafloor as we are working in unchartered coastal waters.

We are now halfway through our Antarctic mission and the past two and a half weeks have been marked by feelings of excitement, anticipation, and trepidation.