Aurora color guide! What creates the different shades? Different atoms getting "excited" at different altitudes The bright reds are a sign of a particularly intense event

Saturday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 4th lowest on record (JAXA data) • about 520,000 km² below the 2010s mean • about 1,440,000 km² below the 2000s mean • about 2,170,000 km² below the 1990s mean • about 2,410,000 km² below the 1980s mean More zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

Ngā mihi to the Antarctic Science Platform and Antarctica New Zealand for supporting our kaupapa. These three experts will be viewing Antarctic science and operations through tikanga & Mātauranga lenses so we can understand how to do things better. Now it's time to fly!

MIGHTY INDEED lead and scientist Dr. Natalie Robinson talks about the core of her work with Team K892 in Antarctica. @polargirlnz.bsky.social @antarcticanews.bsky.social Watch full trailer on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7r8...

The sub-ice platelet layer is a unique marine habitat, harbouring the highest concentrations of primary productivity of any oceanic ice. This provides nutrition for the rest of the marine ecosystem. The chains in this video are 5m apart. 📽 Leigh Tait | NIWA & Boxfish 💲 Antarctic Science Platform

Here's what the platelet layer looks like from underneath: untold billions of individual ice crystals float up from the water column to accumulate against the base of the sea ice above them. The crystals deposit like grains of sand, creating ripple & billow structures. 📽 Leigh Tait | NIWA & Boxfish

Here's what we were in Antarctica for... I study the 'sub-ice platelet layer' - a fragile accumulation of individual ice crystals that form in supercooled ocean water and float up to land against the base of the sea ice. The ocean is supercooled b/c of the addition of newly-melted ice shelf water.

This year's sea ice growth season was marked frequent southerly storms which vastly reduced the area of ice we could safely work on (almost identical to 2022), and created lots of ridged/rafted sea ice features. Here's how it ended up directly over our mooring site - very challenging for acoustics.

The sea ice in front of 🇳🇿Scott Base gets pushed up against the land to form 'pressure ridges'. Each year, a safe route is flagged, allowing people to walk through and around them. It's a chance to see lots of Weddell Seals and their newborn pups (as well as beautiful & fantastical ice structures).

Inside one of our Hydrolabs (converted shipping container with a lift out floor) at part of our Antarctic field camp. We can carry on observing the ocean for weeks at a time (i.e. without our sea ice hole freezing over), whatever the weather. Occasionally, we have to share...

Here's what the camp looks like once it's set up. Two of the containers have lift-up sections of floor. This means we can melt down through the sea ice and access the ocean for weeks at a time, all from inside a warm shelter. I'll show you that next time...

November 2024 #C3S Climate Bulletin: it was the second-warmest November globally on record. Findings: 🌡️ +0.73°C above 1991-2020 average 🔥 on track to be the warmest year on record 🌊 Sea surface temperature second highest value All details: climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-...

Our Antarctic field camp is made up of a series of converted shipping containers which are pulled out to site by bulldozers. We have generator, kitchen, freezer (!), sleeping, dry lab and wet lab spaces. 12 containers in all. And the last on the line is the toilet cubicle.

Antarctica is a great place for seeing unusual light phenomena. Here's a couple of sun halos / sun dogs from early (left) and late in the season. Occurs when sunlight passes through a layer of ice crystals in the atmosphere. I happened to be up at 4am to capture the second one 😊

We had a big team this year (11 in total), so we traveled to Antarctica in 2 cohorts. Cohort #1 (Brett, Greg, Svenja, Me, Ollie) were the only kiwis on our flight and had the uncommon privilege of being collected from the airfield by a Hägglunds from Scott Base. Then it was straight into camp prep.

First thing written. Need to walk it off and then will write the longer follow up 🤷‍♀️ #MarsdenSchmarsden

Fortunate to be given a tour of the Scott Base windfarm while waiting for a plane to take me home. These 3x 330 kW are reaching the end of their design life, and will soon be replaced by 3x 1 Mw turbines.

I'm just back from the latest Antarctic field season and want to share some favourite moments. First up: the mighty Drygalski Ice Tongue south of Terra Nova Bay. 80 km long, 15 km wide, and with a fringe of streaky sea caused by the winds whipping straight down its axis.

Breaking news! November, 2024, came in at the second warmest in recorded history, at 1.62°C above the pre-industrial baseline. Starting in June, 2023, there have now been 18 consecutive months above the pre-2023 record high, likely the hottest string of 18 months in the last 120,000+ years.

Come do polar oceanography with me in NZ! We are recruiting 2x PhDs at @UCNZ onto our @MarsdenFund project on Oceanography in an #Antarctic Grounding Zone. Modelling-based informed by new in-situ data. More info here: nz.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=305… Please share widely. TIA 🙏

NZ SciComm: Julian Thomson (Out There Learning) is running a free online SciComm webinar on zoom tomorrow (19th) at 5pm. courses.outtherelearning.co.nz/kickstart-yo... For researchers, students or enthusiasts who want to share their experiences and build a network of followers.

Drilling sea ice in New Harbour, Antarctica. Can't complain about the weather or location!

We *did* get our ocean mooring back after 12 months collecting precious data beneath the sea ice of McMurdo Sound. Enormous thanks go to Leigh for his extraordinary ROV rescue! Cool, calm, and utterly focused in a challenging and stressful situation.

Big day in the field yesterday - got very close to recovering our mooring, but called it a day when we got snagged and the weather turned nasty. We regrouped and debriefed back at Scott Base over dinner and will try again today. 🤞 L-to-R: Chazz, Leigh, Ollie, Greg

A few pics from the past few days in #Antarctica 🇦🇶: Ollie with halo; #Erebus smoking; Greg & I at the end of the day; Flagging our path off the main route.

Landed safely and right on time yesterday. And today, made a start on getting ready for our field work. First, we dug out the containers so we can access our stuff. Then we 'refreshed' our Antarctic Field Training, so that we're permitted to leave the footprint of Scott Base.

All set for take-off in 25 mins!

At the #AntarcticaNewZealand warehouse collecting our clothing kit, ready to fly to Antarctica tomorrow morning 🤞

Getting ready to head to #Antarctica this week. (@vanessawells.bsky.social - this one's for you! )

First post! 🐧😁 This is the doco we are working on and so proud of ... if you can help, please consider a donation or share on socials - we can't wait to get in the edit suite! Thanks to Earth Sea Sky, our match sponsor, we are off to a fabulous start!! www.boosted.org.nz/projects/the...

We do understand the #globalwarming caused by fossil fuels - for four decades it’s been going as predicted. But we don’t understand the surprise upward leap that is happening now. And that worries me.

If you've got any spare cash I think now would be a good time to donate to the NZ Greens. There are heaps of people still undecided and Greens' policies are popular. I've never donated before but have now dipped into my rainy day savings as I think it's that important 💚✨ www.greens.org.nz

This is most alarming. Why is climate change not a bigger focus for #nzpol? We need drastic emissions cuts now!

Gorgeous NZ-Antarctic doco needs YOUR help to become reality. 'The Climate Canary' 3 women from 3 generations and their personal relationships with Antarctica & climate science. Every bit helps NZ donors get 33% tax rebate Watch the teaser: www.boosted.org.nz/projects/the... Please share widely

We've now added live-stream capability, so you can join from anywhere! Please share widely and pre-register here: events.humanitix.com/panel-discus...

Are you interested to know more about the very low Antarctic sea ice, it's influence on global climate and possible impacts for New Zealand? Come along to a panel discussion session on 3 October | In-person (Wellington) and online. Register here: events.humanitix.com/panel-discus... Please share.

Are you interested to know more about the very low Antarctic sea ice, it's influence on global climate and possible impacts for New Zealand? Come along to a panel discussion session on 3 October | In-person (Wellington) and online. Register here: events.humanitix.com/panel-discus... Please share.

Drop something blue from your gallery

Just came across a conversation on the other site about how angry people will become when near-term climate change hits them. But does anyone (I.e. social psychologists?) know how people might actually respond when they're also full of despair, hopelessness, and fear? I'm not imagining an uprising.

😭 "Wellington's Victoria University is axing 229 jobs... The institution will no longer offer Greek, Latin, Italian, geophysics, geographic information science or physical geography." Earth Sciences, Physics, and Music also at risk of the same fate. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

“Over the past seven summers there have been three record [sea ice] minimums, said the study’s lead author, Dr Ariaan Purich of Monash University" www.theguardian.com/world/2023/s... www.nature.com/articles/s43...

If you're in Christchurch, Aotearoa, come along to our panel discussion on October 4 as part of #DaysOfIce23. We'll be talking sea ice and it's impacts for the ecosystem. Book your free ticket here: events.humanitix.com/life-in-a-fr...