August 14, 2023 - Hobart, Tasmania
Earlier this month, the OCEAN:ICE team joined the SOOS Symposium in Hobart. OCEAN:ICE had a significant presence at the SOOS Symposium this year as a sponsor, keynote speakers, session chairs, and presenters.
On August 14th, 2023, Andrew Meijers held a keynote plenary presentation on observing the Southern Ocean - 'Circumpolar observations and programmes' highlighting the OCEAN:ICE programme and its plans. Here, he provided the participants a broad overview of our observational system and the current state and predicted future of the Southern Ocean, while also featuring and drawing attention to the circumpolar observational plan and integration with modelling and the ice sheet which OCEAN:ICE is undertaking. This was attended by more than 300 scientists from around the world.
Andrew was joined by fellow OCEAN:ICE members, Markus Janout, Pierre Detrieux, Povl Abrahamsen, Francesco Misurale and Antonio Novellini (who has provided us with some pictures from Andrews' talk!).
Markus Janout, Pierre Dutrieux, Antonio Novellino, Francesco Misurale and Povl Abrahamsen all presented OCEAN:ICE related material as talks or posters.
Notably, the primary impact of OCEAN:ICE at the SOOS Symposium was earmarked by the dedicated session proposed and coordinated by the project - 'Circumpolar Antarctic Ice Sheet-Ocean observations: Towards an integrated view and improved climate models'. This session was convened by core members, Andrew Meijers, Markus Janout, and Pierre Dutrieux, in collaboration with Felicity McCormark from Monash University and Sue Cook from the University of Tasmania.
This session brought together scientists from around world to engage in discussions around the core observational theme of OCEAN:ICE, coordinated circumpolar observations to understand the delivery and export of waters to key regions of ocean-ice sheet interaction, as well as refining our understanding of what observations, and in what regions, are needed to support the modelling in this region.
Coming out of the conference, Andrew Meijers acted as a co-spokesperson for the SOOS symposium to media, delivering the conference statement on the critical role of Southern Ocean observations as well as answering questions from the media. These were disseminated across digital, physical newspaper, and TV platforms around Australia and internationally. Andrew additionally was interviewed on the ABS radio national breakfast programme, heard by around 300 000 around Australia. Find this overview of our Knowledge Hub - News Articles!
Find the presentations in the OCEAN:ICE Zenodo Community here.