We see these as Reasons to Care about Antarctica and its surrounding Southern Ocean.
We know about them, we’re working on them, and we are sharing them because we think you’d like to know about them too.
We all know that when ice melts – that water must go somewhere. Now imagine the Antarctic Ice Sheet melts. It contains a total contribution of approximately 58 m in sea level rise were it to melt entirely. Current estimates predict a rise in Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) of between 44 cm and 70 cm by 2100 if current greenhouse gas emissions trajectories continue. We are already committed to a ~40 cm GMSL rise. This means 1 in 100-year coastal flood events will become annual for much of the world’s coastline by 2100.
Importantly, a 2 m of GMSL rise cannot be ruled out because of uncertainty about the Antarctic Ice Sheet’s behaviour in the near future.
Aussies are ocean people, connected to the water in a way that is unique around the world. But our oceans also serve an important purpose most probably don’t expect – they’re like a giant air conditioner for our planet. Keeping us perfectly perfect, just the way we like it. The ocean plays a crucial role in absorbing excess heat and CO2 from the atmosphere. The Southern Ocean, which encircles Antarctica, bears the brunt of this workload. Although it covers about one-third of the world’s ocean area, it absorbs more than two-thirds of human- made heat and about half of the human-made CO2 emissions. Without the Southern Ocean, atmospheric CO2 concentrations and land surface temperatures due to climate change would be much higher.
The Southern Ocean is disproportionately important in global climate and ecological systems. It links the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans in the global overturning circulation, which drives the movement of ocean water around the planet, distributing heat and nutrients. Changes to the Southern Ocean will affect circulation patterns globally, including the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, the ocean current system that regulates temperature in the Northern Hemisphere.
When it comes to weather and climate patterns, we have a saying – “What happens in Antarctica, doesn’t stay in Antarctica.” Climate drivers that change our weather – such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) – influence our climate and weather patterns. Connections between the Antarctic and Tropical regions of the atmosphere mean that changes to major climate drivers of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean (such as the Southern Annular Mode) influence the weather in the tropics and vice versa. The Southern Annular Mode and other changes in Antarctica’s climate have a pronounced influence on temperature extremes, drought and fire risk to us in Australia and influence other societally significant climate patterns, including the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Monsoon.
Are we going to the beach? Or the snow? Are the crops going to grow this year? Weather-watching feels like an Australian pastime. It is in Antarctica too. Weather observations are among the longest-standing activities undertaken in the Antarctic region and remain among the most important. Weather generated in the Antarctic profoundly affects human activities in the Southern Hemisphere, including power provision, air travel, shipping, and agriculture.
Where on Earth is the best place to observe the behaviour of the sun? Antarctica. But you still get a bonus point if you guessed Bondi Beach on a Sunday afternoon in summer! Coronal mass ejections (huge expulsions of magnetic fields and plasma from the sun) trigger geomagnetic storms, significantly disrupting Earth’s magnetic field. These geomagnetic storms disturb power grids, aviation, satellites, and all the human activities dependent on them. Studying ‘space weather’ provides early warnings of these disruptions.
The Antarctic Treaty System is a set of international agreements that designates the region as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science. It remains one of the few places in the world free from military activity and conflict. By regulating sea level, the Antarctic Ice Sheet prevents Indo-Pacific peoples from becoming stateless and losing their Exclusive Economic Zones to international competition because of rising seas.
The Antarctic region provides resources that support human health and lifestyles. Bioprospecting has delivered many patented products from the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean, including antifreeze and medicines. Fisheries in the Southern Ocean are a source of krill and toothfish that, when managed well, can contribute to human well-being and economies. Antarctica is at the top of many Australian’s travel bucket lists. Accessible tourism to the region is giving people the chance to experience Antarctica’s wonders and in turn – share those stories and create a greater affinity and ties to the region.
The Antarctic Ice Sheet is like a huge history book of our planet. It provides a record of the changing Earth System, revealed through the collection of natural archives, such as ice and sediment cores. Understanding this history helps us take action to prevent, prepare for, and adjust to the new world of extremes and change that is the Anthropocene— the age of humans.
Just because its a hard place for humans to live, doesn’t mean that everyone finds it hard. The Antarctic acts as a global biodiversity pump. It has generated many new species across geological time, especially in its marine ecosystems. Ecosystems in the Southern Ocean are highly productive and incredibly diverse— for many organisms, they are equal to the tropics. Species with extraordinary adaptations to the cold, including some of the world’s most unusual animals, such as icefish and giant sea spiders, live in the Southern Ocean.
If traveling down under to Australia feels like going to another planet to many around the world – meet our down, down under mate – Antarctica. It is the only continent on Earth with cold areas devoid of life, a distinguishing feature that it likely only shares with other planets in our solar system. In parts of Antarctica where little else can survive, microbial communities thrive by scavenging trace gasses such as hydrogen from the air. They can find one particle of hydrogen in a million particles of air. This “hydrogen economy” may be the key to finding and understanding simple life elsewhere.
Even in a big country like ours, it’s hard to escape the noise and the built-up busyness of our everyday lives. To ever actually be alone is rare. The Antarctic continent includes some of the largest wilderness areas on Earth. It incorporates extensive areas that have never been visited by humans or have rarely been traversed. Wilderness enriches and ennobles us, and reminds us we are all part of something much, much bigger.
Some of the world’s most culturally important and revered species, which undertake extraordinary feats of survival, migration, and flight, live and/or breed in the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic. Albatrosses, penguins, and whales are iconic in Western and Indigenous cultures.
No other places like this have been found on Earth or in our solar system. If we get it wrong, Antarctica is gone. And as geographical neighbours who rely on Antarctica and the Southern Ocean for our way of life, our survival – it’s up to us to ensure that doesn’t happen.
We’ve put together this handy guide to turn everything you think you know about this vast ‘white desert’ on its head, and give you the reasons why you should care for this land Down, Down Under.