Antarctic video gallery
Proof of Life
Video transcript
How do we identify all the tiny organisms that live in the vast Southern Ocean?
Dr Leonie Suter, AAD Genetic Research Officer:
The open ocean is quite different to other environments because the water body is just so big, so it all dilutes quite quickly, there are currents and other factors.
The Continuous Plankton Recorder has been used for the last century. It’s towed behind a ship at a constant speed for 450 nautical miles at a time, trapping plankton between sheets of silk, to be laboriously identified and counted in the lab.
Dr Leonie Suter, AAD Genetic Research Officer:
With traditional methods you actually need a real expert that can identify under the microscope what they're seeing.
But could new genetic techniques make this research easier and more effective?
DNA is like a chemical barcode unique to every species.
Dr Leonie Suter, AAD Genetic Research Officer:
Environmental DNA is pretty much the DNA that is shed by any organism into the environment, so in the marine environment imagine a fish shedding a scale, or doing a poo, or spawning or dying and slowly decaying. And with genetic methods we can extract this DNA from quite small water samples and from that determine what actually lives in the environment.
Our scientists put the two methods – the old and the new – to the test in the Southern Ocean.
Dr Leonie Suter, AAD Genetic Research Officer:
We just wanted to see if the eDNA can actually capture the same information as this Continuous Plankton Recorder.
Two litres of clean ocean water piped straight into a lab on the Aurora Australis was sequenced for eDNA.
Dr Leonie Suter, AAD Genetic Research Officer:
All you're really doing is turning a tap, and in your lab collecting two litres of water which you can then filter on site, and this filter is then used for the genetic analysis.
Reading the eDNA signatures of ocean life could be the way of the future for biologists.
Dr Leonie Suter, AAD Genetic Research Officer:
What we're hoping is once we have the new icebreaker, the Nuyina, we'll be able to do ongoing monitoring with eDNA, so whenever the ship goes out we'll be collecting water samplesand can then analyse that and start creating a long-term monitoring program.
[end transcript]
Operations Outlook
Video transcript
Planning an expedition season for Australia’s Antarctic program isn’t easy.
Charlton Clark, AAD General Manager Operations & Safety:
So much of what we do on the continent is driven by the weather and the climate. So we have a very short period each summer where we can resupply our stations and change over our personnel.
But because of COVID-19, this is a year like no other.
Charlton Clark:
That means putting in a range of procedures to quarantine expeditioners before they travel south, to limit the number of people travelling south and also looking at our logistics and supply chains to ensure that there’s no pathways for COVID to make its way to Antarctica.
About 250 expeditioners will be deployed to Davis, Casey, Mawson and Macquarie Island stations…
…half the usual amount, and just enough to keep the stations operational.
Charlton Clark:
So for some, particularly those who undergo a long period of training, are going to experience two periods of quarantine. The first one, to come in to Tasmania from wherever they may have come from, and then immediately prior to departure.
This season’s ship is coming from the northern hemisphere and will also have to quarantine in Hobart.
Charlton Clark
This year, we’ll be using the MPV Everest for the first time. It’s the interim vessel for this year due to the delays in the delivery of the Nuyina and the end of the operations of the Aurora Australis. So, we’re working with the operators of the vessel to ensure that it gets to Hobart in December so we can use it for the Antarctic summer season.
The Everest is able to access Davis and Mawson stations later in the season as the sea ice starts to clear.
On top of that, the planes normally used between Antarctic stations have been cancelled because of the coronavirus risk.
Charlton Clark
Typically those aircraft will fly from Canada, through America, through South America, down through the Antarctic Peninsula before they come across to our Antarctic stations. The risks associated with deploying those aircraft were too high.
That leaves three ship voyages servicing Australia’s four research stations, and about eight flights between Hobart and Wilkins Aerodrome, near Casey research station.
That means many of our expeditioners will spend an extra four months, homeward bound when the Everest arrives.
David Knoff, Davis station leader:
It’s still something like 200 days until we’ll be back in Australia, so we’re trying to break that down into logical steps – when do the flights start into Casey, when’s the ship going to head to Casey, when’s the ship even start in our program, because those milestones are a bit closer and we can tick them off and then hopefully we’ll wake up one day and the MPV Everest will be out in front of me here in Prydz Bay.
The Australian Antarctic Program is not alone.
Other Antarctic nations are making similar tough decisions.
For our Operations team, it’s business as usual in a changed world.
Charlton Clark:
We’ve got some fantastic people working to make sure the program is planned as well as it can be. We’ve got great leaders in our station leaders, our voyage leaders, and they’re all used to dealing with curveballs. This is just one large curveball that has been thrown at us and most people are responding in an amazing way.
[end transcript]
Science under COVID-19
Video transcript
The pandemic has slowed the pace of Australia’s activities in Antarctica
With fewer boots on the ice this summer…
we’re finding ways to maintain our critical science
Data about whales gathered in the Southern Ocean…
is informing our international science partners virtually
Microscopic animals and plants collected from lakes and soil in Antarctica…
are being reared for research in AAD labs in Tasmania
Ice cores drilled in one of Antarctica’s snowiest places…
are analysed for their climate clues back in Hobart
And despite our unexpected new working conditions…
Our research is still being published in leading journals.
[end transcript]
Cold Comfort
Video transcript
Imagine travelling in a tractor convoy deep into Antarctica as the temperature drops below minus 40.
The Australian Antarctic Division is planning an inland traverse through the ice, at 10 kilometres an hour.
Anthony Hull, AAD Traverse Systems Project Lead:
To do that for approximately 1200 km, you’re looking at about 12 to 14 days of travel.
The convoy will travel from Casey Research Station to the site of the search for the million year ice core.
To make the journey, expeditioners will need somewhere to live and sleep, in a home away from home.
Taylor Brothers Marine has won the multi-million dollar contract to assemble the vans in its Hobart workshop.
Phil Taylor, Director of Taylor Brothers Marine:
We’ve had a long association with the Antarctic Division, my first job with them was in the early 1980s so it’s been a bit of a long relationship.
Planning the seven traverse and remote station vans has been years in the making.
Piecing them together is a painstaking task.
The priority is staying safe and staying warm.
Phil Taylor, Director of Taylor Brothers Marine:
The Antarctic Division gave us what they wanted in a model and we’ve taken that and detailed that and added the bits that we can provide assistance with.”
Anthony Hull, AAD Traverse Systems Project Lead:
This is where people will come in out of the cold. It’ll be their sanctuary where they’ll warm up, they’ll fuel up with food and to have a layout in a space where people aren’t standing next to each and elbowing each other, it’s vital we get this living space right.”
The vans will be delivered later this year before their first journey south.
Anthony Hull, AAD Traverse Systems Project Lead:
No doubt when we get this delivered to Casey Station and finally assemble it on the sleds and put the whole capability together, then we can see the whole picture, and that will be a very exciting moment.
[end transcript]
Midwinter subzero swim
Video transcript
David Knoff — Davis Station Leader
“Here we are at the Davis pool for the annual midwinter swim, the temperature is a balmy minus 22 odd degrees, but thankfully there’s no wind. The lovely pool here today has been prepared by the plant operators and the diesos. Thanks to them and the expeditioners behind me are looking forward to jumping in for a nice warm bath.”
Jason Beachcroft — Davis Field Training Officer
“This is stupid and I just want you all to know that.”
Question: “Would you like to say anything to people at home?”
Ben Harrison — Davis Plumber
Answer: “Yes, I wouldn’t recommend this!”
David Knoff — Davis Station Leader
“And that concludes our coverage of the Davis 1.5 metre freestyle, thanks for watching!”
[end transcript]
We are equal
Video transcript
We are equal - Australian Antarctic Program
Kim Ellis, Director, Australian Antarctic Division: “The original Antarctic programs were built on that great age of exploration at the turn of the 19th century, people like Mawson and Scott, Amundsen, all bearded white men, trekking across the Antarctica and for a long time our program replicated that but that time has passed, what we have started to do is transition into a program that’s got diversity in it. Through that diversity it has given us a much more robust basis on which to build a great world-class program."
Women are now an integral part of all aspects of our operations.
Currently about quarter of Australia’s Antarctic population are women.
Women have led Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic stations since 1989.
Kat Panjari, Station Leader: “The thing I like most about being a station leader is bringing a diverse team of people together, from all sorts of different technical backgrounds, and having a shared vision contributing to the science program of the Australian Antarctic Division.”
We are at the cutting edge of new discoveries.
Dr Dana Bergstrom, Terrestrial Ecologist: “Antarctica is the end of the planetary spectrum for life. And here we’re in a very saline, desert area and we’re still finding life. And that’s what really excites me.”
Our work aims to lead and inspire other Antarctic nations.
Rebecca McWatters, Remediation Analyst: “Our project has been working on researching and developing remediation techniques for the last 20 years. We’ve worked across all the Australian stations, and we’ve also collaborated with a lot of different other nations.”
More than the science. Women are key to all aspects of Antarctic life. From field training. To engineering. From food. To aviation.
Dr Jan Wallace, Antarctic Medical Practitioner: “We’re about to receive a plane here from Davis, so I’m up here in several roles. Hopefully not as the doctor, because that would be part of an emergency response, today I’ve been the Hägg driver and chauffeur for the new passengers coming home.”
Back at Head Office, about 40% of the workforce is female.
Sarah-Jane Sheehy, Business Support Lead: “We have staff in various locations and at all our Antarctic stations, so my role involves a lot of governance work, risk management, operational procedures. We support such a diverse workforce and I love collaborating with lots of different stakeholders who specialise in different areas to support the AAP.”
Some roles support expeditioners who head south.
Deb Carwana, Expedition Clothing Store Officer: “We have a lot of tradespeople right through to scientists, people looking after birdlife, media people, it’s really, really vast actually and quite interesting. You meet all kinds of different people.”
Others are involved in operations.
Leanne Millhouse, Shipping Officer: “When I am on a voyage or I am summering, I am constantly either looking out of my office window or looking out of the bridge window, or the cabin window and this is my office I am lucky enough to get paid to do this. It’s a really positive experience, everyone’s really positive and everyone wants everyone to succeed.”
On the international stage, we lead Southern Ocean conservation efforts.
Dr Virginia Andrews Goff, Whale Biologist: “We have different populations of whales, targeting different types of krill, which has a flow on effect in terms of your ecosystem management practices around krill fisheries, around protecting whales and how we can feed that information up the line to policy makers, is really huge.”
We also lead on the international stage, spearheading Southern Ocean conservation efforts.
Gill Slocum, Australian Commissioner CCAMLR: “CCAMLR operates by consensus and that can be quote challenging at times because we need to get all 25 members to agree. However there’s a lot of strengths in consensus.”
While the Program has become more inclusive, it will only get bigger and better as we pursue equality.
Dirk Welsford, Science Program Leader: “That we make sure women have fair and equitable access to opportunities, whether that’s for leadership, for promotion, for getting jobs because no one has a monopoly on good ideas, I’ve certainly found that in my science career. Having a really good diverse cross section of the society inside the AAD is the best way for us to be successful.”
Our Commitment
The Australian Antarctic Division is committed to gender equality across all levels of the organisation.
Our Goals
AAD staff are proactive in driving gender equality.
AAD is an employer of choice recognised for its gender equality practices.
Increased number of women across all roles.
Our Actions
Implement Gender Equality Strategy
Provide flexible + supportive working arrangements
Offer networking, leadership and mentoring opportunities.
Ensure gender neutral recruitment processes
We will help you
Step up and take a proactive role
Call out issues
Embrace gender equality
Kim Ellis, Director, Australian Antarctic Division: “It’s really important that we embrace the diversity and we seek equity and equality in what we do, because it will bring to the program the very best in Australia, in the world, to actually deliver our responsibilities against the 20 Year Strategy and Action Plan.”
[end transcript]