Canterbury professor appointed Antarctic Institute director

Canterbury professor appointed International Antarctic Institute director

May 5, 2015

The University of Canterbury’s Professor Bryan Storey has been appointed director of the International Antarctic Institute (IAI), a global consortium of 20 universities and agencies all over the world that provide university-level education and conduct research in Antarctica.

The secretariat of the institute will also be hosted by the university. Professor Storey says the move is expected to result in an increase in overseas students wanting to enrol in Antarctic studies at the university.

“We are already back to pre-quake levels with about 350 students studying issues relating to the frozen continent this year. The institute, which until now has been based at the University of Tasmania since 2006, offers international opportunities in Antarctic undergraduate and postgraduate education by sharing teaching resources between international partner universities.

“We are also developing new and innovative Antarctic courses and pathways between degrees to encourage student and staff mobility. By international agreement the Antarctic continent is set aside for scientific collaboration. Hosting the institute will provide the University of Canterbury’s Gateway Antarctica with an excellent opportunity to expand our international connections with various universities involved in Antarctic studies and research throughout the world.

“International cooperation is the key to the success of large-scale research programs in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.”

On a recent visit to China, Professor Storey signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of the IAI with the Ocean University of China. Professor Storey said about 25 academics and postgraduate students from the University of Canterbury visit the Antarctic each summer for scientific research.

Once seen as a desolate place frozen in time, Antarctica is known to be experiencing relentless change such as loss of ice, changes in ocean circulation and recovery of atmospheric ozone which will have global consequences for climate, sea level, biodiversity and society.

The Southern Ocean has important roles for the planet by connecting the world's oceans and transferring heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the deep ocean. Nutrients carried north support the base of the oceans’ food web. The world’s oceans are becoming more acidic as carbon dioxide dissolves in sea water.

The Antarctic ice sheet contains about 26.5 million cubic kilometres of ice, enough to raise global sea levels by about 60 metres if it returned to the ocean. Having been stable for several thousand years, the Antarctic ice sheet is now losing ice at an accelerating pace.

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