Studying the Denman Glacier from the land
The Denman Terrestrial (land) Campaign runs from 2022 – 2025 and aims to increase our understanding of the Denman Glacier's history and stability through research projects staged from a deep field camp at Bunger Hills, about 450 kilometres from Casey research station.
Over the 2022–2023 summer, building supplies were air-dropped in to Edgeworth David base camp in the Bunger Hills and a small team of expeditioners built huts and timber platforms for tents.
In later 2023, the base camp was completed and 27 scientists from the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS), Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership (AAPP) and the Australian Antarctic Division spent eight weeks over summer, working on a range of projects examining the glacier system and the Shackleton ice shelf.
The science conducted included:
- drilling and analysis of ice core records
- analysis of subglacial hydrology and composition
- collection and analysis of sediments to understand environmental histories
- geological studies of the deeper-earth
- ocean circulation and biogeochemical analysis
- remote sensing and airborne radar
- wildlife, microbial and biodiversity surveys
- landscape and ocean mapping
- deployment of autonomous monitoring stations
Scientists are returning to Edgeworth David in December 2024 for the last year of the campaign’s research program. The scientific program will be extended to include near-shore marine science using deployments through the sea-ice and terrestrial surveys to inform the understanding of human impacts on the region.
Findings from the terrestrial campaign will be linked with those of the Denman Marine Campaign, which leaves in February 2025.
