Antarctica New Zealand Acting Chief Scientific Advisor Dr Fiona Shanhun was on campus yesterday discussing climate change on the frozen continent.
Her talk, ‘What are we learning about climate change and its effect on life on and under the ice?’, was part of Lincoln University’s SAGE (Sustainability Action Group for the Environment) Sustainability Seminar Series.
Dr Shanhun, a Lincoln University alumna, talked about how Antarctica drives climate patterns and ocean circulation. She said ice cores were a window back into the past as they could ascertain, through bubbles trapped in the ice, the concentration of gases in the atmosphere millions of years ago.
She said if the ice on Antarctica did melt, there was enough to raise global sea levels by 60 metres.
New Zealand’s research in Antarctica is focused on how melting ice is raising sea levels, biological resilience and adaptation to change, and how Antarctica connects with the rest of the world.
She said Kiwi researchers were venturing further from Scott Base than they had in the past to conduct their research, some as far as 1000km away.
Other research has been carried out on indicator species such as toothfish and Adélie penguins, as well as on active volcano Mt Erebus, which has warm soils, to see what life could survive there.
There are also investigations into the edge where land ice meets the ocean, to gauge the rate of change through the warming climate.
Lincoln has a strong research connection with the Antarctic. As a student, Dr Shanhun worked there with the university’s Dr Peter Almond, Professor Tim Clough, and Dr Carol Smith.
SAGE endeavours to ensure that Lincoln treads lightly on the earth, in areas such as energy conservation, protection of native biodiversity, water management and resource recovery.