The evolution of Antarctic research
Te Puna Pātiotio—Antarctic Research Centre at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington is thriving, and it’s down to the strength of its research and variety of expertise across several decades.
The Centre has been fortunate to work with experts from many fields of earth science. The awarding of the Prime Minister’s Science Prize this year is the culmination of efforts from a dedicated team and those who have influenced them.
Prize-winning team leader Professor Tim Naish and Centre Director Associate Professor Rob McKay have overseen critical relationships with researchers at Crown Research Institutes. As a result there are now more than 20 staff and postdoctoral researchers in the Centre, many of whom are co-employed with GNS Science.
Associate Professor Rob McKay says he has seen the Centre evolve from when Emeritus Professor Peter Barrett was its sole researcher in the late 1990s, supported by drilling scientist, engineer and “guru” Alex Pyne.
“I was one of a handful of students working in the centre as a Master’s student in 1999 and returned to the centre in 2005 to undertake a PhD.
“The Centre was beginning to significantly expand as we headed towards the development of the ANDRILL project, to drill beneath Antarctica’s ice shelves for the first time. This resulted in the appointment of Tim Naish, from GNS Science, and [Emeritus Professor] Lionel Carter, from NIWA, and four postdoctoral fellows.
“Tim, who was Centre director between 2008 and 2017, and Lionel were instrumental in strengthening those critical relationships with CRIs.”
The Centre’s traditional strength had been in studying rock outcrops and drilling cores, in order to understand how Antarctica and its climate had changed in the past, “especially during past times that were warmer than today”, he says.
But that has broadened a great deal since. “Associate Professor Nick Golledge has been a driving force in that change, and we now routinely run state-of-the-art computer models developed by him to project future change of the ice sheets.”
It was that ice-sheet modelling which revealed, for the first time, that 1.5 degrees Celsius to 2 degrees Celsius of global warming could be the tipping point for the Antarctic ice sheet
Vice-Provost (Research) Professor Margaret Hyland says the Antarctic Research Centre’s work has always focused on issues which can help New Zealand and the world prepare for the future in a changing climate.
“The ARC’s founding director, [Emeritus Professor] Peter Barrett, became one of the first scientists in the early 1980s to warn that the Antarctic ice sheets could be vulnerable to rising levels of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, that were being recorded in the atmosphere”.
Associate Professor Nancy Bertler arrived at the Centre from Germany to study for her PhD in the late 1990s.
“Although there was only Professor Barrett and polar scientific drilling expert Mr Pyne, the Centre already had a huge international reputation and network, and an inspiring scientific vision.
“Threepeople have been critical to the success of the Centre – Peter, with his scientific vision and braveness; Alex Pyne, scientist turned engineer, who has developed world-leading technologies to support the many scientific firsts; and Tim Naish, who was able to expand the reach of the Centre even further and connect us with the policy world.”
Associate Professor McKay says specialist research undertaken by other members of the multi-institute PM Science Prize-winning team highlights the Centre’s relevance.
Other members of this multi-institute team, Dr Rob Bell at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and Dr Judy Lawrence from the University’s Climate Change Research Institute, are ensuring decision-makers and planners in local government have the tools for managing and adapting to the impacts of the sea-level rise, such as coastal flooding, groundwater saturation, salination and coastal erosion.
Dr Bell and Dr Lawrence co-authored the Ministry for the Environment’s Coastal Hazard Guidance for local government, and the team’s research will feed into an update of this key planning document.
Associate Professor Rebecca Priestley, the Director of the University’s Centre for Science in Society, has been researching what the public know about how sea-level rise will affect them. Her public surveys reveal a degree of widespread confusion and this is helping the team improve its communication and messaging.”
The PM Science Prize money has been added to the Centre’s Endowed Development Fund, so it can now support an enduring PhD scholarship in Antarctic and sea-level research, Associate Professor McKay says.
“We want to keep this momentum going, and grow the fund to support a second enduring PhD scholarship, and for that we need to take it from its current value of $1.3 million to $2.5 million.”
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Supporting the Antarctic Research Centre
For further information, or if you would like to support the ARC, please contact:
Director, Rob McKay, email: robert.mckay@vuw.ac.nz, or
Development Manager, Brad Weekly, email: brad.weekly@vuw.ac.nz.
All donations are made through the Victoria University Foundation, a registered charity, and are therefore eligible for a charitable gift taxation rebate.