tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/sub-antarctic-research-31324/articlessub-Antarctic research – The Conversation2021-02-10T19:06:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1549442021-02-10T19:06:53Z2021-02-10T19:06:53ZWhite continent, white blokes: why Antarctic research needs to shed its exclusionary past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383458/original/file-20210210-23-1ttuqbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C2%2C1500%2C1064&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Herbert Ponting/Royal Collection Trust/Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The icy continent has historically been a place for men. First <a href="https://antarctic-logistics.com/2010/08/28/fabian-gottlieb-von-bellingshausen/">“discovered” in 1820</a>, Antarctica would not be visited by a woman for well over a century.</p>
<p>In 1935, Norwegian <a href="https://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/people/women.html">Caroline Mikkelsen</a>, a whaler’s wife, became the first woman to do so, some 24 years after her compatriot Roald Amundsen had trekked all the way to the South Pole. </p>
<p>It wasn’t until the 1950s that women were finally allowed to participate in Antarctic science.</p>
<p>How had Antarctica come to be so dominated by men? Where were all the women?</p>
<p>In 2016, one of us (Meredith) took part in the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-38139925">largest non-scientific expedition of women to Antarctica</a> in history. </p>
<p>Among the <a href="https://theleadershipfilm.org/">group</a> were 77 women working in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM), who took part in a three-week leadership program. As part of our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1440783320911453">study</a> of this program, Meredith travelled with the group to Antarctica to gather women’s first-hand accounts of their experiences.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Group of women sailing to Antarctica" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383456/original/file-20210210-23-y8qaw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C41%2C700%2C424&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383456/original/file-20210210-23-y8qaw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383456/original/file-20210210-23-y8qaw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383456/original/file-20210210-23-y8qaw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383456/original/file-20210210-23-y8qaw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383456/original/file-20210210-23-y8qaw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383456/original/file-20210210-23-y8qaw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The expedition en route to Antarctica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the expedition, Meredith was reminded of the work of the author and environmentalist Carol Devine, who has been doing a <a href="http://www.caroldevine.info/">mapping project</a> that has found more than 200 places in Antarctica named after women.</p>
<p>As Devine <a href="https://medium.com/@caroldevine/the-year-of-the-antarctic-woman-and-humanity-ff1f3b73eafe">wrote in 2017</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was looking at the Antarctic map on [the] wall. There it was, “Marguerite Bay”, a dip in the port side of Antarctica’s tail. Aha, I thought, so there were women here, at least symbolically, ages ago…</p>
<p>Who was Marguerite? Her name reached the Antarctic because her husband, Dr Jean-Baptiste Charcot, leader of the French Antarctic Expedition, discovered a bay and named it for her in 1909. There she was, symbolically, as were many of the other women to Antarctica — names on maps.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The portrayal of Antarctica as a female body that must be mastered and penetrated by men is central to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2154896X.2018.1468629">Heroic Era narratives</a> of the continent. Given this framing, it is unsurprising women were long denied access to Antarctica.</p>
<p>Many polar institutes around the world have traditionally justified the exclusion of women by arguing there were no <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Women_on_the_Ice/7BCzAAAAIAAJ?hl=en">facilities</a> such as toilets for them on stations. </p>
<p>It certainly wasn’t due to a lack of interest. In 1914, three British women named Peggy Pegrine, Valerie Davey and Betty Webster <a href="https://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/archives/shackleton/articles/1537,2,30,5-6.html">wrote to Ernest Shackleton</a> to apply for his next expedition. They described themselves as “three sporty girls” and offered to wear men’s clothes if there were no suitable female ones available. They added:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…we do not see why men should have all the glory, and women none, especially when there are women just as brave and capable as there are men.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Shackleton’s reply noted his “regrets there are no vacancies for the opposite sex on the expedition”.</p>
<h2>Coming in from the cold</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Caroline Mikkelsen raising Norwegian flag" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383460/original/file-20210210-19-vi4osh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383460/original/file-20210210-19-vi4osh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383460/original/file-20210210-19-vi4osh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383460/original/file-20210210-19-vi4osh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383460/original/file-20210210-19-vi4osh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1226&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383460/original/file-20210210-19-vi4osh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1226&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383460/original/file-20210210-19-vi4osh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1226&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Caroline Mikkelsen hoists the Norwegian flag in Antarctica in 1935.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot on Antarctica in 1935. But it was not until 1956 that women began to be properly involved in Antarctic science.</p>
<p>Russian geologist <a href="https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Maria_Klenova/">Maria Klenova</a> landed in Antarctica to make the first Soviet Antarctic Atlas. Women were finally charting maps, rather than just having their names written on them.</p>
<p>In 1969, an all-female group of US scientists led by <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116134">Lois Jones</a> landed in Antarctica. They wanted to collect their own samples from the McMurdo Dry Valleys — something they had so far been prevented from doing.</p>
<p>Pointing to the anxiety and scepticism surrounding the voyage, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1969/10/01/archives/antarctic-a-nowomans-land-to-get-6-females.html">New York Times</a> described the expedition as “an incursion of females” into “the largest male sanctuary remaining on this planet”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-keep-more-women-in-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem-61664">How to keep more women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>From the 1980s, the Australian Antarctic Program and the British Antarctic Survey allowed women to stay on research stations and conduct land-based Antarctic fieldwork.</p>
<p>Today, women are more fully integrated into National Antarctic Programs and women often lead field teams. Nearly <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/536148b">60% of early career researchers in polar science</a> internationally are women.</p>
<p>Yet while women’s participation in the Australian Antarctic Program is increasing, women still comprise only 24% of expeditioners. Women make up 33% and 30% of US and UK Antarctic expeditioners, respectively.</p>
<p>These low numbers are tied to the fact that women still face a <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0209983">range of barriers in a polar science career</a> and especially during fieldwork, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>gender bias and discrimination</p></li>
<li><p>caring responsibilities</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08164649.2020.1774864">gender and sexual harassment</a></p></li>
<li><p>lack of recognition such as prizes and awards</p></li>
<li><p>physical barriers, such as field gear not being available in women’s sizes.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Why does this matter?</h2>
<p>Antarctica is strategically important to Australia and many other nations. Yet the credibility of Australia’s Antarctic <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-china-flexes-its-muscles-in-antarctica-science-is-the-best-diplomatic-tool-on-the-frozen-continent-86059">leadership</a> is at risk without a substantial commitment to diversity and inclusivity.</p>
<p>Existing power relations may prevent women and those from other underrepresented groups (such as people of colour and LGBTIQ+ people) from participating, or even considering, the possibility of an Antarctic science career.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-china-flexes-its-muscles-in-antarctica-science-is-the-best-diplomatic-tool-on-the-frozen-continent-86059">As China flexes its muscles in Antarctica, science is the best diplomatic tool on the frozen continent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Equity and inclusion in Antarctic science will not come about simply by waiting for more women to volunteer to become expeditioners.</p>
<p>Here is how we can proactively promote inclusion:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Change the image of a polar scientist.</strong> The “typical” polar scientist is still assumed to be a straight, white man who works for many months away in Antarctica. Yet polar scientists work in a range of settings. In fact, many polar scientists work indoors at a computer!</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Grow the leadership pool.</strong> National Antarctic Programs must develop targeted recruitment campaigns, gender-neutral hiring practices, awareness of unconscious bias, training to be an “upstander” rather than a bystander, and parental leave policies and flexible work arrangements that can facilitate a woman’s ability to succeed in polar science.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Women are in Antarctica to stay. They play important roles in the scientific, logistical and managerial realms of Antarctic operations.</p>
<p>Making polar research more inclusive will enrich the diversity of the scientific community and have flow-on effects for the quality of Australia’s Antarctic science.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>CORRECTION: The original version of this article failed to give correct credit to Carol Devine for the story of the discovery of Marguerite Bay. This has been amended.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154944/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith Nash works as an advisor to the Australian Antarctic Program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Antarctic research has historically been a bastion of men from Europe and North America. Only now is the field opening up to women and people of colour. And there’s a way to go yet.Meredith Nash, Professor and Associate Dean - Diversity, Belonging, Inclusion, and Equity, Australian National UniversityRobyn Moore, Lecturer in Cultural Studies in Health, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1139772019-11-11T14:06:58Z2019-11-11T14:06:58ZAntarctica’s first zero emission research station shows that sustainable living is possible anywhere<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278165/original/file-20190605-40706-1kvb2y9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4856%2C3640&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Linighan</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a scientist investigating climate change, I’m embarrassed by the high carbon footprint I have when I travel to, and work in, Antarctica. Researchers based in the UK regularly take four or five flights to reach the continent and the stations we visit rely on electricity from fossil fuels. Our food is shipped in and our waste is returned by ship to South Africa, South America or New Zealand. When we venture further afield for research and set up a temporary camp, a portable generator is flown in with us, along with our snowmobiles.</p>
<p>Antarctica is the most remote and inhospitable place on Earth, so it’s no surprise that people based there have struggled to break out of convenient habits. It’s cold. There are 24 hours of darkness in winter. Icicles build up on solar panels operating during the summer months and the concrete foundations for wind turbines won’t set in the cold. It’s expensive to ship in renewable energy components and it’s difficult to find warm and dry places to keep large batteries for storing energy.</p>
<p>These challenges are real, and yet, I’ve seen how they can be overcome at Antarctica’s only zero-emission research base, the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station in East Antarctica. The base is staffed during the summer season from October to March, when the majority of scientists – like me – conduct their research. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278169/original/file-20190605-40719-1cex7m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278169/original/file-20190605-40719-1cex7m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278169/original/file-20190605-40719-1cex7m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278169/original/file-20190605-40719-1cex7m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278169/original/file-20190605-40719-1cex7m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278169/original/file-20190605-40719-1cex7m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278169/original/file-20190605-40719-1cex7m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author overlooks Ketlers Glacier in eastern Antarctica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kate Winter/International Polar Foundation</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Take the tour</h2>
<p>Dreamt up by the Belgian explorer <a href="https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/belgium-all-news/science/60247/freedom-and-captivity-in-antarctica-interview-with-belgian-polar-explorer-alain-hubert/">Alain Hubert</a> during his transantarctic crossing of the continent by kite ski in 1998, and constructed by <a href="http://www.polarfoundation.org/">the International Polar Foundation</a> and its many partners, the Princess Elisabeth station has welcomed researchers since its first 2008-2009 summer research season.</p>
<p>The glinting silver pod looks like something from a James Bond film. It’s anchored by raised pylons, hovering above the East Antarctic Ice Sheet on a narrow granite ridge. In Antarctica these other-worldly structures are somewhat the norm. Raised, aerodynamic research stations litter the edge of the continent, where researchers from around the world gather to measure ice flows, the atmosphere and natural biomes.</p>
<p>While these stations all have similar traits, the Princess Elisabeth stands out. I have never seen anything like it. Almost every inch is covered in solar panels – on the roof, on the walls, on the side of sleeping containers. They are even screwed to frames anchored to the ground. </p>
<p>Solar panels have to be mounted high above the snow-covered ground to capture the 24 hours of daylight during the austral summer. Wind turbines are drilled into the granite ridge beneath the snow and ice, removing the need for large concrete foundations. Their blades are maintained with carefully designed polar lubricants, but they can shut down production during intense storms. These renewable energy sources melt snow for water, which is filtered and reused on site to reduce waste.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278170/original/file-20190605-40710-mudqu4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278170/original/file-20190605-40710-mudqu4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278170/original/file-20190605-40710-mudqu4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278170/original/file-20190605-40710-mudqu4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278170/original/file-20190605-40710-mudqu4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278170/original/file-20190605-40710-mudqu4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278170/original/file-20190605-40710-mudqu4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wind turbines line the approach to the base.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kate Winter/International Polar Foundation</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The whirl of nine wind turbines generates the reassuring sound of regular clean electricity on base. While other research stations have to use fossil fuels to keep station staff warm, fed and hydrated, the Princess Elisabeth station uses 100% renewable energy supplied by the sun, the wind, and plentiful frozen water. </p>
<p>There’s no need for conventional heating here either. Nine layers of cladding and insulation keep the biting Antarctic cold out, and the pleasant warmth of the station in. Every piece of electrical equipment runs on renewable energy. Even my hair dryer is powered by the almost constant Antarctic winds and summer daylight.</p>
<p>In order for the base to run as sustainably as possible, there’s a strict hierarchy for energy use on the base. Safety is the priority, so electricity for the doctor’s surgery, the base commander’s office, fire alarms, smoke detectors and satellite connections that can alert the need for outside help are maintained first. Basic human needs like food and water are a close second, while working facilities, like lights, microscopes and laptops come third.</p>
<p>Unnecessary luxuries like showering or laundry are at the bottom of the list for energy need priorities. We shower once or twice a week, using push-button showers to limit how much water we use. Everyone understands and respects these systems. We all come to Antarctica to experience one of the most enchanting natural environments on Earth, we don’t come here to pollute the environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278171/original/file-20190605-40710-15w5r4o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278171/original/file-20190605-40710-15w5r4o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278171/original/file-20190605-40710-15w5r4o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278171/original/file-20190605-40710-15w5r4o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278171/original/file-20190605-40710-15w5r4o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278171/original/file-20190605-40710-15w5r4o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278171/original/file-20190605-40710-15w5r4o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electric snowmobiles are due to be rolled out in January 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kate Winter/International Polar Foundation</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When I asked Alain Hubert, the expedition leader, why he wanted to build a zero-emission base in Antarctica, he said that if we can do it here, we can show the world that it can be done anywhere. I hope life and work with no carbon emissions can become a reality for people everywhere. The Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station shows us that these zero-emission lifestyles are within reach. </p>
<p>As the current holder of the prestigious Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship, I’ll be able to visit the station once more, in January 2020, to collect samples that will allow us to better understand the global carbon feedback cycle. By then, working there will become even more sustainable with new electric-powered snowmobiles. I can’t wait to try them out.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Kate Winter receives funding from the Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship, which enabled Kate to visit the Princess Elisabeth Research Station in December 2018. </span></em></p>Living sustainably has its challenges, but none greater than in the climate and geography of Antarctica.Kate Winter, Research Fellow of Antarctic Science, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/655582016-09-18T19:38:55Z2016-09-18T19:38:55ZDisruption over Macquarie Island calls for some clever Antarctic thinking<p>The fate of the Australian Antarctic Division’s research base on Macquarie Island hangs in the balance, after last week’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-14/macquarie-island-weather-research-at-risk/7845428">surprise announcement</a> that it would close in March 2017 was followed on Friday by a suggestion that the government <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-16/macquarie-island-could-remain-open/7853758">could yet reprieve it</a>. </p>
<p>Why all the fuss over a scattering of buildings on a windswept island (admittedly a <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/629">UNESCO World Heritage-listed one</a>) perched on a tectonic ridge halfway between Australia and Antarctica?</p>
<p>Macquarie Island is the perfect natural laboratory for scientific research. Unique climate, geological, biological and astronomical measurements are collected year-round. The data is fed into many large-scale, international science programs and reports, including those published by the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>. </p>
<p>It is something of an anomaly in Australia’s national Antarctic program. Unlike Heard Island, Macquarie Island lies outside the areas covered by the <a href="http://www.ats.aq/index_e.htm">Antarctic Treaty</a> and the <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/en/organisation/convention-area">Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources</a>. The <a href="http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=6182">Tasmanian government</a> manages the island. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.geoscience.scar.org/geodesy/perm_ob/images/macqurie.gif">buildings at the island’s north end</a> are home to research infrastructure and accommodation for <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/stations/macquarie-island/macquarie-is-science">various organisations</a>. These include the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Meteorology, and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, which monitors the Southern Ocean for evidence of nuclear events. These buildings are increasingly exposed to ocean inundation. </p>
<h2>Death by a thousand cuts</h2>
<p>Collaborations of this nature are common in Antarctic science. Budgetary decisions made in one section of the community have a direct impact on the programs of others. </p>
<p>This sudden closure announcement followed the harrowing <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-09/staff-optimism-about-csiro-future-low-survey-shows/7831364">CSIRO job cuts announcement</a> earlier this year. <a href="http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/research-station-on-macquarie-island-axed/news-story/281d13972f147ee8afe440e5c49e2bb9">Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman</a>, the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-14/scientist-fears-for-macquarie-island-future-without-presence/7841064?section=tas">Tasmanian and Antarctic science community</a> and the <a href="http://peter-whish-wilson.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/abrupt-announcement-macquarie-island-station-closure-worrying">Australian Greens</a> understandably responded with dismay to last Tuesday’s announcement. </p>
<p>While funding to Australia’s Antarctic science program seemed assured with the long-awaited Australian Antarctic Strategy and <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-us/antarctic-strategy-and-action-plan/20-year-action-plan">20-Year Action Plan this year</a>, there is a reasonable correlation between previous successive cuts to the Antarctic program and the disrepair of Australian Antarctic infrastructure. Labor Senator Lisa Singh called this a “<a href="http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/research-station-on-macquarie-island-axed/news-story/281d13972f147ee8afe440e5c49e2bb9">death of a thousand cuts</a>”. </p>
<h2>Competing interests</h2>
<p>Given the huge scale of Australia’s interests in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, there will always be competing budget priorities.</p>
<p>Environmental contamination from long-term human habitation, for example, is an issue common to Australia’s research infrastructure throughout the Antarctic region. </p>
<p>Any research in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic must be done in a way that minimises the direct impact on the surrounding environment. Australian Antarctic Division director Nick Gales has cited the footprint of this research as <a href="http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/research-station-on-macquarie-island-axed/news-story/281d13972f147ee8afe440e5c49e2bb9">one reason for withdrawal from Macquarie Island</a>. </p>
<p>Environmentally sensitive replacements suited to such harsh and remote conditions are expensive. The ongoing remediation work on many old Antarctic and sub-Antarctic bases continues to cause further <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec.12383/abstract?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=">budgetary and logistical headaches</a>. </p>
<p>Macquarie Island, Heard Island and Australia’s Antarctic Territory are notoriously difficult to access, particularly for long-term, logistically demanding tasks such as major remediation and refurbishment works. Access involves battling the increasingly unpredictable sea ice and ice airstrip conditions that already disrupt delicate resupply, search and rescue, and medical evacuation operations.</p>
<p>Given its position deep in the Southern Ocean, there remains a strong case for a small but permanent presence on Macquarie Island. For example, resident climate scientists have collected weekly ozone measurements for <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/glossary/ozone.shtml">20 years</a>. There is a place for other Commonwealth departments, the Tasmanian government, private industry and research institutions to shoulder responsibility for maintaining this presence. </p>
<h2>A silver lining for Tasmania?</h2>
<p>Given successive budget cuts, precariously short-term funding of Antarctic research programs, the potential domino effect of budget cuts between collaborators and the doubt created within the community by the CSIRO climate job cuts saga, Tasmania needs to continue to build its capacity to ride out the vagaries of the federal political issues that have left it reeling over the past year.</p>
<p>Regardless of the current station’s fate, this could be seen as an opportunity for Tasmania’s Antarctic, climate and oceans science community to collaborate and innovate with various industries to ensure that <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2016/s4538701.htm">crucial climate research</a> and observations can continue. </p>
<p>By leveraging from existing programs such as the <a href="http://www.arc.gov.au/special-research-initiative-antarctic-gateway-partnership">Antarctic Gateway Partnership</a>, and with world-class scientific expertise, Tasmania is perfectly poised to innovate and invest in the areas of remote and autonomous scientific instruments, technology and data handling.</p>
<p>Private enterprise, including smaller non-icebreaking vessels that already operate as research and tourism platforms in the sub-Antarctic, also has a chance to fill the logistical gap. </p>
<p>The closure of the Macquarie Island station after almost 70 years would be sad and shocking for the generations of scientists who fondly visited “Macca”. </p>
<p>The continuation of a presence on the island, however, is largely a Tasmanian government responsibility. With innovation and collaboration, Tasmania can lead the way in a new, stable and less environmentally damaging era of science on Macquarie Island.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65558/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Indi Hodgson-Johnston is an Expert in Antarctic Law and Policy at the London-based Polar Research and Policy Initiative. She also works for the Integrated Marine Observing System at the University of Tasmania. </span></em></p>The shock decision to close Australia’s year-round research station at Macquarie Island will make monitoring Antarctica and the Southern Ocean harder, and will force Tasmania to get creative.Indi Hodgson-Johnston, Antarctic Law and Policy Researcher, Polar Research and Policy Initiative, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.