Our Research in Antarctica
Understanding Antarctica’s Changes Today to Secure a Liveable Tomorrow
Antarctica shapes our climate, our oceans, and our future. The region is changing fast: ice is melting, sea levels are rising, and ecosystems are under threat.
Antarctic research helps us understand these shifts so we can reduce risks, protect biodiversity, and guide global decisions to prepare for what comes next.
Without reliable knowledge, we cannot predict or prepare for what comes next.
Our Research Themes
We deliver our science through three interconnected themes: Climate Processes & Change, Biodiversity Status & Trends, and Environmental Stewardship.
Together they form a coherent program that moves from discovery to decisions.
Antarctic Climate Processes & Change
Antarctica is losing ice. Human-caused emissions are heating the atmosphere and ocean, melting ice, raising sea levels and causing extreme weather. Abrupt changes are unfolding now.
Through field observations and remote sensing our researchers build models that reveal how and why these shifts occur, and project the conditions we are likely to face in the years ahead.
Our goal is to reduce uncertainty about Antarctica’s future, providing information essential for mitigating and adapting to change.
Antarctic Biodiversity Status & Trends
Antarctica’s wildlife is unique, rich, and vulnerable. As the region warms, vital ecosystems and species face significant risks from environmental change.
Our teams integrate fieldwork, remote sensing and citizen science with AI-powered modelling in genomics and biodiversity informatics to show which species are most at risk, how habitats may shift and where refuges are likely to persist.
These insights feed directly into marine protected area proposals, biosecurity planning and on-the-ground management so conservation efforts are targeted, timely and effective.
Environmental Stewardship
Antarctica’s future depends on effective, science-based governance as environmental change, geopolitics and human activity intensify.
SAEF works with decision-makers to turn science into policy, providing decision-ready evidence and options for effective conservation.
Our stewardship approach recognises that Antarctica’s future (and our planet’s) depends on strong, collaborative governance that delivers durable protections on the ground.
Who is SAEF?
SAEF brings together researchers and decision-makers to explain what is changing in Antarctica, what comes next and what to do. Our work turns science into policy and practice at the global, national and local levels.
We lead and contribute to international programs that inform governments and and our contributions to the Antarctic Treaty System are internationally recognised.
SAEF’s discoveries are reshaping how the world understands Antarctica, from uncovering hidden hydrogen resources beneath the ice to exposing the risks of rapid ice-sheet collapse.
Why Protect Antarctica?
Antarctic change is felt far beyond its waters.
The Antarctic Ice Sheet could raise global sea levels by over a metre this century, with greater increases in centuries to come.
For Asia-Pacific nations, many with low-lying coastlines, this means extreme weather surges, displaced communities, and mounting adaptation costs.
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