The Spirit of Mawson

THE AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 2013-2014

Let’s get more students down to Antarctica

2013-2014 marks the centenary of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition led by the great scientist and explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. In a celebration of this remarkable endeavour, the new Australasian Antarctic Expedition (or AAE for short) will follow the route of its namesake, melding science and adventure, to discover and communicate the changes that have taken place in this remote environment over the last hundred years. Led by Professor Chris Turney and Dr Chris Fogwill, from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, the 2013-2014 expedition will work its way across the Southern Ocean and attempt to reach the original AAE Base at Cape Denison, Antarctica, at the enigmatically named ‘Home of the Blizzard’.

The Antarctic expeditions of old would routinely advertise for applicants to join them in the south. Exciting – and often wonderfully sensational – proclamations would be placed in the broadsheets, appealing to national sense of duty to scientifically explore the newly discovered continent in the Southern Ocean. Posting calls in the press helped team leaders fill key positions in their party while also maintaining a high public profile, crucial for raising much needed funds. Mawson was no exception in this regard. Adverts for the original Australasian Antarctic Expedition included open meetings in state capitals and an appeal by Shackleton in the British newspapers. The public responded enthusiastically to the scale of the expedition: four bases spread out along a near-unknown Antarctic coastline. Here was a venture everyone could get involved in, either directly as a team member or by sponsoring essential supplies and equipment.

Inspired by the efforts of Mawson and his men to communicate their scientific findings to a public hungry to learn more, we recently advertised for 4 PhD positions to join the expedition. Applicants had to send in a two-minute YouTube movie clip to tell us why they wanted to join the expedition and how they would help convey our discoveries to the rest of the world. The response has been overwhelming. The deadline has now passed and 67 applications have been received. We have been blown away by the quality of the films while the range of expertise and nationality is simply fantastic; we have applications from around the world including Australasia, the USA, Chile and Europe, promising a fabulous international mix on board our vessel, the MS Shokalskiy. We are incredibly excited about helping support a new generation keen to communicate our results with the rest of the world. We would love to take more students south but just don’t have the funds. Given the scale of interest we are keen to offer more PhD students the opportunity of joining us on the expedition, but to do this we need financial support. The aim of this Indiegogo campaign is to raise enough money to support four more PhD students the chance to come to the Antarctic with us!

What We Need & What You Get

To extend the number of students we can take south with us, we need to cover the costs of two berths on the second leg of the expedition at $16,900 AUD each, totaling some $27,800 AUD. We really hope that you can help us reach our target, but if we undershoot at least we will be able to give some more students the chance of a lifetime to come south with us on this unique expedition!

The concept of crowd funding with Indiegogo harks back to Mawson‘s original Antarctic expedition one hundred years ago, where many expedition items — including huskies, tents and sleeping bags — were funded by schools and public donations from across the world! To attract potential supporters we are able to offer a number of unique gifts and perks, ranging from limited edition t-shirts, exclusive photographic prints and signed books.

The Impact

The Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013-2014 is all about adventure, exploration, scientific discovery, and importantly communication. The AAE aims to engage with a broad audience live from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean throughout the expedition. Through a variety of media, including Google+ Hangouts on Air, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, we will broadcast live using the latest satellite technology to support live streaming from Antarctica.  

The Antarctic remains one of the last great unexplored regions on our planet. In spite of over a century of discovery – including aerial and satellite surveys – remarkably little of this great continent has been explored on the ground. Crucially this pristine southern polar region is uniquely placed to monitor the health of our planet. The Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) will focus its efforts on the Antarctic Commonwealth Bay and subantarctic islands to provide the first complete snapshot of this region for a century.

The AAE has identified a team of scientists who are world experts in the natural and physical sciences while also being passionate about science communication. The research programmes to be undertaken include:

1. Oceanography: The Southern Ocean plays a crucial role in global climate and the carbon cycle. 90% of the world’s excess heat trapped by the atmosphere is going into the ocean and changing circulation patterns, threatening to turn the region into a source of carbon, exaggerating future warming. The AAE will make detailed measurements on the passage south (e.g. temperature, salinity, carbon) to determine just how sensitive the Southern Ocean is to change.

2. Climate: The ‘screaming sixties’, the ‘furious fifties’ and the ‘roaring forties’ filled sailors of old with dread. And yet these fearsome westerly winds are migrating inexorably southwards taking warmer water with them, threatening the stability of Antarctic ice. The AAE will collect peat, ice and rock samples to place satellite data in the context of the past millennia.

3. Biology: Recent expeditions to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica continue to report the discovery of thousands of new species, while living and ‘fossil’ animal and plant remains provide a sensitive measure of the changing environment. The AAE will observe, document and monitor the wildlife above and below the Antarctic ice, giving new insights into this unexplored region.

By supporting our campaign you will be helping us achieve our goal of conveying science in real time from one of the most extreme and challenging environments on our planet. The students will help support science on the ice, providing a unique perspective for understanding and communicating change in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica.

Other Ways You Can Help

Whilst not everyone can contribute directly to this campaign, we would love you to join us on the AAE. For more information of how to join the expedition either virtually or in person please go to www.spiritofmawson.com. Please spread the word with your friends, either through our web page, or with the Indiegogo share tools!!!