Project information

CHOWN, Prof. Steven
Monash University
Australia (or home country), Casey, Macquarie Island

Project aim

Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF) is a Special Research Initiative of the Australian Research Council. SAEF delivers globally valued, collaborative, interdisciplinary research to understand the Antarctic's changing biodiversity and role in the Earth System, reconstruct and forecast environmental change across the Antarctic and Southern Ocean, deploy effective environmental stewardship strategies to mitigate and adapt to change, and to deliver the diverse Antarctic science workforce of the future. SAEF is a collaboration of Australian universities, government agencies and museums, with a range of international university and program partners, and led by Monash University, based in Melbourne. Further information about SAEF can be found here at https://arcsaef.com/

Project milestones

Summary of the project achievements 2021/22

SAEF scientists successfully completed field programs to investigate glacial stability, chemosynthesis processes, changes to life in Antarctic lakes, climate and ozone change impacts on Antarctic mosses and to deploy Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) sensors. Ongoing work under the SAEF program is supported under the AAS4628 project. Further information is available from the SAEF annual report https://arcsaef.com/annual-reports/

Summary of the season 2021/22

Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, an Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative in Excellence in Antarctic Science, undertook fieldwork at Casey Station in the 2021/2022 season. The aims were to investigate changes in the Vandeford Glacier, a key outlet glacier in East Antarctica; re-establish long-term monitoring of changing terrestrial biodiversity; sample soils for investigating the energy dynamics of Antarctic terrestrial systems; and investigate lakes for their changing history. The fieldwork was successful.

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