MEDIA RELEASE
28 JANUARY 2010
NZ JOINS MISSION TO PROBE ANTARCTIC MARINE GEOLOGY
Forty scientists from eight countries set off from Wellington this week on the German ice-breaker Polarstern on a nine-week voyage to investigate past glacier behaviour, seafloor geology, and oceanography in the Ross Sea.
Information collected on the voyage on past and present Antarctic ice sheet dynamics will help to refine estimates of sea level changes in the future.
Chief scientist on the voyage, Karsetn Gohl of the Alfred Wegener Insitute for Polar and Marine 
Research in Germany, said the overall aim of the voyage was to develop a better understanding of the complex relationships between ocean, ice, seabed, and atmosphere in the Antarctic region.
“There is a large amount of uncertainty about ice sheet behaviour in the geological past. We hope this voyage can answer vital outstanding questions and reduce scientific uncertainty,” Dr Gohl said.
Scientists on the voyage will examine the evolution of the Antarctic circumpolar current, and the spread of sea ice and its influence on atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations in the past.
They will also study the impact on global ocean circulation of the many advances and retreats of the West Antarctic ice sheet over the past 20 million years.
Geophysicist Bryan Davy, of GNS Science, is the only New Zealander on board. A veteran of many research voyages, he says the nine-week voyage will be his longest to date.
“I’m delighted to be part of this multidisciplinary expedition. It represents a fantastic opportunity for New Zealand to contribute to unravelling the complex physical relationships in Antarctica,” Dr Davy said.
The voyage is part of a longterm collaborative relationship in earth and ocean sciences between New Zealand and German research organisations which dates back to the early 1970s.
The Polarstern is operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and the costs of this voyage are being met by the German government. The ship is the most sophisticated polar research vessel in the world and this is its first visit to New Zealand.
This voyage marks the 50th expedition of the Polarstern to Antarctic and Arctic waters since the ship was built in 1985. It has two helicopters and even a small surgical facility for medical emergencies as it spends so much time in remote parts of the world.
It can tow a 3km-long seismic streamer with hydrophones to analyse the geology of the seafloor to a depth of 13km.
The 185m-long ship can plough though 3m-thick ice while maintaining a speed of five knots (9km/h). While ice-breaking, its four engines consume 40 tonnes of diesel a day.
