Australian Antarctic Division

😮Antarctic expeditioners at Mawson research station have had front row seats to a rare atmospheric phenomenon – the formation of spectacular polar stratospheric clouds, also known as ‘nacreous’ or ‘mother of pearl’ clouds. The clouds usually form over polar regions at altitudes of 15-25 km, during winter and early spring, when temperatures in the stratosphere cool to below −78°C. 🌈They are made up of ice crystals, which reflect and refract light, producing the bright, iridescent mother-of-pearl colours. Learn more https://lnkd.in/gem2EGJ9 📷Justin Chambers

👩🚀Australian astronaut with the Australian Space Agency, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, orbited the Australian Antarctic Division this week on a tour of our facilities. Katherine recently returned to Australia after completing astronaut training with the European Space Agency - ESA in Germany. While our Antarctic puffer jackets won’t cut it on a space walk, Antarctic expeditioners face many of the same challenges as astronauts on the International Space Station – with both being isolated, confined populations in extreme environments. 🩺Using Antarctica as a space analogue, our Polar Medicine Unit is collaborating with space agencies on projects to improve expeditioner and astronaut health. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/erJ8U2au 📷 Simon Payne

🐳From sizing up sperm whales using sound science, to miniature Antarctic worlds in a soap bubble, the latest issue of our online newsletter, Antarctic Insider, has something for everyone. 📰 Read online or subscribe today 👉 https://lnkd.in/gspKpXn 📷 Justin Chambers

🐳Whale acousticians have sized up sperm whales with sound science. The whales’ echolocation clicks were captured on an acoustic recorder, moored off Heard Island for seven months. Measuring the time between clicks, the team determined that sperm whales in the area were large males, about 16 metres long. The team also captured the most southerly recording of pygmy blue whales, and the first recordings of fin and Antarctic minke whales in the region. Learn more https://lnkd.in/g3f3zK63

🔭Have you spotted RSV Nuyina off Tasmania’s East coast recently? 🛳Throughout June and July the ship will be conducting science commissioning activities in preparation for an ambitious marine science voyage early next year. Systems to deploy nets, cameras, sediment corers and oceanographic instruments are in the spotlight, as is developing a well-oiled and integrated team of scientists, technicians and crew for the challenges ahead. More 👉 https://lnkd.in/g_74eNJr 📷 Lihini Weragoda, Jen Cross, Phil Boxall

👀Attention Antarctic researchers. Hobart will host the next Australian Antarctic Research Conference from 19-22 November. Registration and abstract submissions open 10 June. The conference will cover Antarctic, Southern Ocean and sub-Antarctic research, and contributions are invited from all relevant disciplines, including within social science, law, arts and technology. Find out more and register your interest: https://lnkd.in/g-pTt_9E 📷Richard Jupe

Macquarie Island is a landscape transformed. Ten years after the island was declared free of rabbits, rats and mice, the vegetation is flourishing. 👏 Scientists and managers are now building on the success of this conservation triumph, to ensure the future of the World Heritage listed island and its wildlife.🐧 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gemSHrgJ

Fragile sea angels, and comb jellies with retractable tentacles, are among the exotic new residents in the Australian Antarctic Division's research aquarium. The predatory zooplankton were captured in RSV Nuyina’s unique ‘wet well’, which allows scientists to collect gelatinous animals in perfect condition. It’s our scientists' first chance to study live, healthy specimens which, alongside krill, play an important role in the Southern Ocean ecosystem. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gKMmp8xs

🍾It’s the scientific equivalent of finding a message in a bottle. A satellite tag, originally attached to a sandpaper skate off remote Heard Island, washed up on a beach in southern Tasmania, after travelling more than 5000 km in 10 months. The data on the tag will help scientists better understand the activity and behaviour of these little-studied deep-sea denizens, which spend most of their life on the sea floor – or so we thought! https://lnkd.in/gaNq9WAt 📷Simon Payne

👀Check out this ship’s-hull view of the seafloor on the approach to Mawson research station. 🚢On a recent voyage to the station, 719 square kilometres of seafloor features and potential shipping hazards were precisely mapped for the first time using RSV Nuyina’s acoustic instruments. The work will enable updates to navigation charts to improve ship safety, and can be used for a variety of scientific research. Learn more https://lnkd.in/gWNqT69S