A team of CSIRO scientists is embarking on a month long research voyage to the Antarctic to investigate the impact of climate change on the Southern Ocean.

CSIRO’s Dr Steve Rintoul will be leading the scientific mission aboard the Aurora Australis and recorded an interview HERE  with CSIRO before he left.

There is also an ABC radio interview with Steve about high mercury levels in the Southern Ocean  HERE

The Aurora Australis is Australia’s Antarctic Flagship, designed as a multi-purpose research and resupply ship. On New Year’s Eve the Aurora  set sail for the Southern Ocean, taking a team of scientists to investigate how the Southern Ocean is changing, and to discover what impact those changes will have on climate, sea level, and marine life.

The month long voyage will see the research team retrieve current monitoring equipment, and deploy deep diving robots, known as Argos, beneath the Antarctic’s Ross Sea winter sea ice.