Professor
Lionel CarterProfile page
Emeritus Professor
Antarctic Research Centre
Orcid identifier0000-0002-7502-9452
- Emeritus ProfessorAntarctic Research Centre
- +6444636475 (Work)
- CO 514, Cotton Building (All Blocks), Gate 7, Kelburn Parade, Wellington, 6012, New Zealand
BIO
Current Research:
• Deciphering high resolution records of marine environmental change during past warm extremes of climate to assist development of observational and numerical models. These models are designed to aid prediction of potential environmental responses under the present phase of climate change. While the research involves large scale perspective of the climate/ ocean system, it focuses on the New Zealand region, which because of its oceanic isolation, has its own particular response to warming.
Assessment of the modern physical oceanography of the Southern Ocean to identify the drivers of, and responses to ocean change.
• Determining the processes that govern the passage of sediment from the mountains to the abyssal ocean off the central eastern North Island (in collaboration with the US MARGINS programme). This region is a prime site because of its large environmental signals, e.g., rivers have the highest sediment input in N.Z., a high incidence of earthquakes and strong climatic and oceanic signals emanating from the tropics to Antarctica.
Evaluating natural hazards and their potential risk to the submarine fibre-optic cable network. This infrastructure underpins over 95% of global data traffic associated with the internet as well as voice communications.
Major achievements:
• Determination of the abyssal circulation and its interaction with the ocean floor in the SW Pacific Gateway off eastern N.Z. This system of currents forms the local component of the global ocean circulation system responsible for the world-wide transport of heat, salt, dissolved gases and nutrients.
• Discovery of the long distance transport (> 2000 km) of sediment and its accumulation as extensive sediment drifts.
• Identification of the Eastern New Zealand Oceanic Sedimentary System (ENZOSS), whereby sediment formed at the NZ tectonic plate boundary is transferred to the deep ocean via a deep-ocean pathway, up to 4500-km-long, and returned to the boundary via the Kermadec subduction zone.
• Determination of the structure and evolution of the 1000-km-long Bounty Channel (an ENZOSS component) including discovery of the extensive Bounty Fan (with R.M. Carter).
• Discovery of >400 km-long Solander Channel, another major component of ENZOSS.
• Successfully proposed the drilling of sediment targets off eastern NZ (with co-proposer R.M. Carter). The 5-year-long proposal process bore fruit with completion of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 181 in August - October, 1998.
• First NZ application of acoustical techniques (echo-sounding and high-resolution seismic records) to rapidly map substrate types on the ocean floor.
• Formulation and publication of a new generation of award-winning charts of the waters and ocean floor in the NZ region (co-leadership with I.C. Wright and R. Garlick).
• First development of benthic monitors in NZ to determine changes of the seafloor under varying hydrodynamic conditions.
• Introduction of the first large scale, seabed mapping system to NZ - the GLORIA side-scan sonar survey off the Bay of Plenty in 1990 (with K.B. Lewis and I.C. Wright).
• Successful promotion of NZ as one of 2 sites world-wide to be studied under the auspices of the MARGINS Source to Sink programme (with other NZ colleagues).
• Application of research skills and instrumentation to a wide range of applied projects for government and private industry. The focus has been on the interactions of the global fibre-optic network with the marine environment as a means of determining natural hazards that may damage this critical infrastructure. This research was undertaken as the Marine Environmental Advisor to the International Cable Protection Committee – a forum representing 74 submarine cable companies.
• Deciphering high resolution records of marine environmental change during past warm extremes of climate to assist development of observational and numerical models. These models are designed to aid prediction of potential environmental responses under the present phase of climate change. While the research involves large scale perspective of the climate/ ocean system, it focuses on the New Zealand region, which because of its oceanic isolation, has its own particular response to warming.
Assessment of the modern physical oceanography of the Southern Ocean to identify the drivers of, and responses to ocean change.
• Determining the processes that govern the passage of sediment from the mountains to the abyssal ocean off the central eastern North Island (in collaboration with the US MARGINS programme). This region is a prime site because of its large environmental signals, e.g., rivers have the highest sediment input in N.Z., a high incidence of earthquakes and strong climatic and oceanic signals emanating from the tropics to Antarctica.
Evaluating natural hazards and their potential risk to the submarine fibre-optic cable network. This infrastructure underpins over 95% of global data traffic associated with the internet as well as voice communications.
Major achievements:
• Determination of the abyssal circulation and its interaction with the ocean floor in the SW Pacific Gateway off eastern N.Z. This system of currents forms the local component of the global ocean circulation system responsible for the world-wide transport of heat, salt, dissolved gases and nutrients.
• Discovery of the long distance transport (> 2000 km) of sediment and its accumulation as extensive sediment drifts.
• Identification of the Eastern New Zealand Oceanic Sedimentary System (ENZOSS), whereby sediment formed at the NZ tectonic plate boundary is transferred to the deep ocean via a deep-ocean pathway, up to 4500-km-long, and returned to the boundary via the Kermadec subduction zone.
• Determination of the structure and evolution of the 1000-km-long Bounty Channel (an ENZOSS component) including discovery of the extensive Bounty Fan (with R.M. Carter).
• Discovery of >400 km-long Solander Channel, another major component of ENZOSS.
• Successfully proposed the drilling of sediment targets off eastern NZ (with co-proposer R.M. Carter). The 5-year-long proposal process bore fruit with completion of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 181 in August - October, 1998.
• First NZ application of acoustical techniques (echo-sounding and high-resolution seismic records) to rapidly map substrate types on the ocean floor.
• Formulation and publication of a new generation of award-winning charts of the waters and ocean floor in the NZ region (co-leadership with I.C. Wright and R. Garlick).
• First development of benthic monitors in NZ to determine changes of the seafloor under varying hydrodynamic conditions.
• Introduction of the first large scale, seabed mapping system to NZ - the GLORIA side-scan sonar survey off the Bay of Plenty in 1990 (with K.B. Lewis and I.C. Wright).
• Successful promotion of NZ as one of 2 sites world-wide to be studied under the auspices of the MARGINS Source to Sink programme (with other NZ colleagues).
• Application of research skills and instrumentation to a wide range of applied projects for government and private industry. The focus has been on the interactions of the global fibre-optic network with the marine environment as a means of determining natural hazards that may damage this critical infrastructure. This research was undertaken as the Marine Environmental Advisor to the International Cable Protection Committee – a forum representing 74 submarine cable companies.
DEGREES
- BAUniversity of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- MSc (Hons)University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- PhDUniversity of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada