While overshadowed by the Covid-19 crisis, support for Australia’s Antarctic science had a strong showing in April, with the release of the Australian Antarctic Strategic Plan and the announcement of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Special Research Initiative in Excellence in Antarctic Science.
The Australian Antarctic Science Council, a government advisory body established in 2019, prepared the decadal strategy as a high-level one page vision statement outlined, which it framed around the 2016 Australian Antarctic Strategy and 20 Year Action Plan.
It targets three key research areas, with details on research priorities and goals yet to be released:
An important part of the vision paper is the inclusion of a digital integration platform to support Antarctic science.
Releasing the strategic plan, the government affirmed its commitment to Antarctic research pointing to a total of $2.8 billion in funding provided to a range of initiatives.
This includes $1.9 billion for a new central platform for Antarctic and Southern Ocean research, the Antarctic icebreaker RSV Nuyina, which is to succeed the Aurora Australis.
The vessel is currently constructed by Serco Australia in Romania, and with a delay of 19 weeks is expected to arrive in Hobart in November 2020.
The icebreaker will then also be the main lifeline to Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research stations, which are to receive a $450 million upgrade.
The $56 million awarded to two Antarctica research projects under the ARC Special Research Initiative (SRI) program in April represent another significant boost to Australian science in the Antarctic.
The successful projects were selected from a pool of 20 project applications (success rate 10%), with both addressing environmental change.
A $36 million over seven years grant was awarded to a collaborative project led by Monash University and involving 29 research partners and collaborating universities. The ‘Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future’ project aims to enhance environmental forecasting and optimise decision-making in the region.
The second project will be a new centre funded through the SRI with $20 million over three years. Led by the University of Tasmania the project will use new field data and models to investigate changes in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean and their impact on the global climate system. While still poorly understood, changes in the Antarctic will be profoundly costly to Australia, including sea-level and fisheries impacts, the researchers write in their project summary.
Involving 41 different research partners and universities, the centre will also provide training, and actively engage with the public.
The projects will both commence in 2020.
