Antarctic Gateway Partnership

The ARC Special Research initiative (SRI) for Antarctic Gateway Partnership funding agreement ceased 30 June 2020. These pages are archived, however remain active for viewing purposes. From 2014-2020 the Antarctic Gateway Partnership undertook world class research in four cross disciplinary themes, employing over 50 researchers and technicians, training 30 PhD students and producing 400 high impact research papers.

We acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council for funding the Special Research Initiative, and the three partner organisations University of Tasmania, CSIRO and the Australian Antarctic Division for their contributions to the research.

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The Antarctic Gateway Partnership is an Australian Government funded initiative to build further polar research capability in Tasmania. The Partnership also aims to reinforce the Tasmania's recognition as a global leader in Antarctic and Southern Ocean science and as a gateway for Antarctic research, education, innovation and logistics.

Key objectives of this Partnership include:

• Developing an innovative, next-generation, polar AUV to acquire high resolution data under sea ice and ice shelves;
• Providing a near real-time sea ice charting service to vessels operating in the East Antarctic and conducting research to support sea ice forecasting;
• Advancing our understanding of how the oceans melt Antarctic ice shelves, and quantifying present and future Antarctic Ice Sheet mass loss and its contribution to sea-level rise;
• Building our understanding of environmental controls on marine life, ranging from pelagic microbes to benthic communities using various sampling platforms, lab-based microbial culture experiments, habitat and life history assessments of mesopelagics, and regional process studies; and
• Assessing the contribution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to sea level since the Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000 years ago) via geophysical observations and modelling.

The research program involves the employment of forty young researchers and technicians working with senior scientists at the largest Southern Hemisphere Antarctic and oceans research hub. The Antarctic Gateway Partners are the University of Tasmania, CSIRO and the Australian Antarctic Division.

The Gateway Partnership works closely with the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre the Integrated Marine Observing System and the Southern Ocean Observing System.

Funding of $32 million over four years for the Antarctic Gateway Partnership is being provided through the Australian Research Council's Special Research Initiatives scheme.