Australian Antarctic Program Partnership

@antarctic.bsky.social

To protect Antarctica and the Southern Ocean is to protect our future on this planet. In this critical decade for action, our science explores the role of the Antarctic region in the global climate system. Led by @utas.edu.au.
🔗 aappartnership.org.au

@antarctic.bsky.social

Research needed includes sediment core drilling, detailed mapping of the seafloor, monitoring ocean temperatures, improved observations of glaciers and new field campaigns across the region.

@antarctic.bsky.social

Models agree that ice loss is possible, but disagree about when it begins and how far it ultimately goes. Because most of the basin is below sea level, ice loss could be rapid and self-sustaining if warmer oceans melt from underneath the ice sheet. But gaps in the map make projections difficult.

Map of bedrock elevation in Wilkes Subglacial Basin, showing areas in blue below sea level and 'gaps in the map' where there is no data
@antarctic.bsky.social

An enormous area of #Antarctic ice covering 1,400km by 400km, more than 4km thick in places, holds an estimated 3-4m of global sea-level rise, if melted.

But for something so consequential for the natural world and human society, the Wilkes Subglacial Basin in #East Antarctica is largely unknown.

@antarctic.bsky.social

🌬️ Saildrone 1092 was released in Storm Bay off Tasmania on a very windy day – a view from one of its cameras shows wind speeds more than 35kn with 6m+ waves. There'll be plenty more days like that in its travels around the Southern Ocean! Three days later SD1092 is about 500km southeast of Tasmania.

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