Antarctic landfast sea ice (“fast ice”) is sea ice that is mechanically fastened to stable coastal elements such as grounded icebergs. It is recognised as a crucial part of the Earth system, with far-reaching effects via links to the global thermohaline circulation and Southern Ocean ecosystem. Its extent has been mapped every 15 days from 2000 to 2018 from visible and infrared satellite imagery, but this record relied heavily on manual interpretation, making ongoing production difficult and time-consuming. Synthetic Aperture Radar has been demonstrated as the way forward to retrieving fast ice extent reliably in a fully-automated fashion, however individual regions are mapped at different times within the satellite orbital repeat period, and the acquisition schedule leads to occasional poor coverage, making production of a regular gridded (in time and space) product challenging. Here we explore some of the design choices in producing the regular gridded product, and show some early results as the full-scale rollout of the satellite data processing progresses, supported by Geoscience Australia partners. This new climate data record of fast ice comes at a time when summertime fast ice is vanishing: the most recent several summers have had a fast ice extent approximately half of the 2000-2018 average.

The Sabrina Coast, East Antarctica is the marine exit point of the Totten Glacier, which is currently thinning due to surface and basal processes. Interactions between the ocean and Antarctic ice sheets play a critical role in controlling ice-sheet stability and global sea level. Understanding past variability in ocean conditions in this region is essential for placing modern change into a longer-term context. I have used radiolarian assemblages preserved in a sediment core recovered from the Sabrina Coast to reconstruct upper-ocean temperature, salinity, and, for the first time, density over the last ~330 kyr.

Comparison of reconstruction results during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1, 5, 7, and 9 highlights both recurring and distinct oceanographic patterns. MIS 5 emerged as the warmest and most stable interglacial interval, whereas MIS 1, 7, and 9 displayed greater variability in reconstructed environmental conditions, including a pronounced cooling event during MIS 7 that suggests a brief return to glacial-like conditions. Surface waters were consistently more variable than those at 200 m depth, reflecting the influence of atmospheric forcing, sea-ice processes, and freshwater inputs.

This project demonstrates that radiolarians are valuable palaeoceanographic proxies in the high latitude Southern Ocean, including in the reconstruction of past water mass properties, and provide new insights into upper-ocean conditions along the Sabrina Coast during interglacial periods.

Shallow ice cores provide a critical link between the modern atmosphere, firn processes, and the climate records preserved in deep ice. The new Million Year Ice Core (MYIC) samples from Dome C North, East Antarctica provide a valuable archive for investigating how recent atmospheric signals are recorded and preserved in low-accumulation firn and ice. Interpretation of ice-core gas records can be confounded by centimeter-scale variability which may reflect a combination of true atmospheric changes, analytical noise, in-situ alteration and layered bubble close-off. To evaluate the centimeter-scale MYIC, we use a new small-volume gas extraction system for high-resolution measurements of greenhouse gases. We determined fine-scale reproducibility of MYIC replicates to be 2.1 ppm, 0.12‰, 8.2 ppb, and 4.0 ppb for CO₂, δ¹³C–CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O, and the high-accumulation Law Dome ice core DE08 replicates to be 1.1 ppm, 0.05‰, 4.6 ppb, and 1.0 ppb. Firn processes at Dome C North will be further investigated using the Community Firn Model, alongside new δ¹⁵N and δO₂/N₂ measurements to constrain firn densification, gas transport, and bubble close-off. These approaches aim to improve the interpretation of shallow MYIC gas records and support the development of robust greenhouse gas reconstructions from the future deep MYIC.

Antarctica is the coldest continent on Earth, recording the lowest ever temperature of -93.2°C in the East Antarctic Plateau and reaching as low as -68°C in ice-free regions. Despite occurrence of such freezing conditions, few studies have investigated the temperature minimum of microbial activity on the continent or globally. With our preliminary data showing continued metabolism of Antarctic soil microbes at -40°C, we're investigating activity at even lower temperatures. This would represent the lowest temperature at which cellular metabolic activity has ever been observed and could help inform the search for life beyond Earth.

Understanding how Antarctic marine ecosystems respond to ocean warming is critical for predicting future ice-ocean interactions and associated ecosystem change. The Denman Glacier region in East Antarctica is highly sensitive to warm-water incursions and has the potential to contribute substantially to global sea-level rise, yet its long-term environmental and biological history remains poorly understood.

Here, we reconstruct Holocene (<8 ka) ecosystem change beneath the Shackleton Ice Shelf using a multiproxy approach combining sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), lipid biomarkers (isoprenoidal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers, or isoGDGTs) and geochemical data (portable X-ray fluorescence, or pXRF). Metagenomic shotgun sequencing of sedaDNA is used to reconstruct microbial and eukaryotic community composition through time, enabling ecological reconstruction in an environment where traditional fossil records are limited. Lipid biomarker analyses of isoGDGTs provide TEX₈₆-derived subsurface ocean temperature estimates, while pXRF data is used to establish stratigraphic correlation between cores.

By integrating biological, biomarker and geochemical datasets, this study investigates links between subsurface ocean variability and ecosystem response beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf. Particular focus is placed on archaeal taxa to assess potential sources of isoGDGTs. This work will generate the first sedaDNA-based ecosystem reconstruction from the Denman Glacier region and provide new insight into East Antarctic marine ecosystem sensitivity to past climate variability.

The Marine Research Aquarium located at the Australiana Antarctic Division in Kingston, Tasmania has been in operation in its present location since 2001. Throughout its life, it has been utilised for a diverse range of research projects focussed on Antarctic Krill including; understanding their behaviour, spawning habits, responses to simulated future climates, prototyping of equipment for use in cold water. It remains the only facility of its type, capable of long-term Antarctic krill research outside of Antarctica.

In 2020, with the arrival of RSV Nuyina, it was identified that this facility has reached the end of its efficient useable life. The AAD signed an MOU with the University of Tasmania (UTAS) to design and construct a state-of-the-art Southern Ocean research aquarium (SOra) alongside their new teaching facility in Taroona. Since then, construction has begun with the building approaching completion of the ‘cold shell’ in August 2026 and with the internal and aquarium system fit-out to begin mid-2026 with an expected completion date prior to commissioning in February 2028.

The purpose of this talk is to present the capabilities of the new facility, and how it will become the final step in the chain of the world’s most effective live specimen logistic transport pathway delivering the highest quality live marine biological specimens out of the Antarctic and into an accessible temperate terrestrial research laboratory.

Marine debris is a widespread pollutant accumulating even in remote ecosystems such as Heard Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A seven-day survey in January 2026 quantified debris across four island beaches and documented fouling organisms and entanglement risks. A total of 2,233 items were recorded, with plastics dominating (92.2% of all items) and consisting primarily of rope, fragments, bottle caps and buoy pieces. Debris was concentrated on west-facing beaches with lesser quantities on all beaches. Fishing and maritime activities were the primary sources. Barnacle fouling on some items indicated recent arrival via oceanic transport. The results highlight long-term marine debris accumulation with a continued risk of entanglement, ingestion, and non-native species transfer, and will inform targeted mitigation and long-term monitoring strategies.

The Denman Glacier, located on the Shakleton Ice Shelf in Antarctica, is considered to be the deepest glacier on the continent and is thought to be highly vulnerable to climate change. However, satellite observations of its motion lack sufficient temporal resolution to detect mechanisms that might correlate with smaller scale velocity variations.

We aim to investigate the glacier’s velocity field to determine how fast it moves and whether that movement varies throughout the year. To achieve this, a camera was installed at the glacier’s edge in December 2023 and captured an image every 6 hours for a full year. We performed quality control through signal processing to identify images suitable for use in a time-lapse sequence, which is then analysed using optical flow algorithms. This method estimates the displacement of common features between images, which we map onto the glacier surface to derive the distance moved and corresponding surface velocity. This detailed data on the velocity of the Denman Glacier can then be used to guide future research.

We demonstrate that time-lapse photography is a useful tool for monitoring glacier dynamics.

The Biological Carbon Pump (BCP) describes the vertical flux of carbon captured in particulate matter with the potential for long-term sequestration – a process primarily driven by phytoplankton and zooplankton, but tightly regulated by bacteria, archaea and fungi. The Southern Ocean Time Series (SOTS) site consists of two deep water moorings located off the south-west coast of Tasmania. They provide the only time series situated in the Sub-Antarctic Zone of the Southern Ocean (SO), a region important for the uptake and storage of anthropogenic carbon and the transport of nutrients that fuel primary production. Although SOTS has provided a plethora of physical, chemical, and biological data since 1998, knowledge regarding which microbial and zooplankton taxa aid deep carbon export is still limited. Here we present our research project aiming to leverage multi-year sampling of the SOTS mooring sediment trap sample archive of sinking particulate organic matter. Metagenomic sequencing on the Illumina platform will be used to profile the associated microbial, phytoplankton and zooplankton communities. By combining genomic analyses of sediment trap samples with biogeochemical data across time and depth (1000, 2000, 3800m) for the first time, we aim to improve our understanding of SO deep carbon export.

Monitoring the weather in extreme and remote environments, such as Antarctica, remains a significant challenge. Conventional automatic weather stations are difficult to install and require frequent maintenance under harsh conditions. This study investigates a complementary approach to automatic weather stations that uses seismic signal processing to infer near-surface wind speed and direction.

Broadband seismometers, although designed to record ground motion from seismic events, continuously capture high-frequency environmental noise generated by near-sensor processes. By inverting the conventional perspective and analysing this ambient high-frequency seismic noise, we identify signatures associated with local environmental forcing and examine correlations between seismic noise characteristics and wind speed and direction, using co-located automatic weather station data near Casey Station, East Antarctica.

Our results show that seismic noise contains measurable information about atmospheric dynamics, particularly during strong wind events. Equipping seismic installations with minimal additional sensors, such as temperature and pressure gauges, enables them to serve as proxy weather stations. Given their robustness and suitability for long-term, large-scale deployment, seismic networks offer a promising complementary method for monitoring surface conditions in remote and extreme environments.