Welcome to the Antarctic Research Centre

In July of 2004, the Advisory Board adopted the following as the Mission of the Antarctic Research Centre:

Research the field of Antarctic earth sciences with a focus on past climate history and processes and their influence on NZ and global climate, and as a consequence:

The Antarctic Research Centre is one of a number of centres of research excellence within the Faculty of Science and reports directly to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty. It is co-located within the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, with which it shares academic staff and facilities. It also contributes to both undergraduate and graduate teaching and supervision in the fields of sedimentology, glaciology, paleoclimatology and Antarctic affairs.

The ARC mission is to improve understanding of Antarctic climate history and processes and their influence on the global climate system, especially New Zealand and the SW Pacific region. We believe this field provides exciting opportunities and challenges attractive to young researchers, and is needed to provide a sound basis for international debate and policy development on global change issues.

The Antarctic Research Centre (ARC) is directed by Professor Tim Naish. The Centre holds a library of maps, as well as a range of purpose-built equipment for polar marine studies. Such articles include winches, corers, oceanographic instruments and GPS surveying equipment.

Since 1957, staff and students from VUW have gone to the ice each year to carry out field studies for a variety of research projects. Normally three or four projects are carried out per year. Results are reported in student theses and scientific papers.

Proposals for new research should be discussed with Centre staff. Field research proposals must be submitted to Antarctica New Zealand by early October each year for the summer field season 12 months ahead. Approval of projects carries with it a commitment from Antarctica New Zealand to provide travel, food and accommodation to and within Antarctica. However, funding for food, accommodation, clothing and transport to and from Christchurch, along with costs of scientific equipment, must still be found from other sources such as FRST or the Marsden Fund.

Our History

On December 30, 1957, over 50 years ago, two third-year geology students stepped off the H.M.N.Z.S. Endeavour equipped with Professor Bob Clark’s WWII field gear to keep them warm, and hitched a helicopter ride with biologist Ron Balham to the unexplored McMurdo Dry Valleys. Their fine mapping and reporting from that season formed the basis for the annual Victoria University Antarctic Expeditions (VUWAE) that continue to this day.

Since then VUWAE expeditions have taken over 250 staff and students to the ice, to share the excitement and satisfaction of discovering and understanding this remarkable part of the planet. The nature of exploration has changed as the region has become increasingly well known, but the style and spirit remain – a small group of innovative thinkers tackling some aspect of a big problem.

The Antarctic Research Centre (ARC) itself was established in 1972 as part of the Department of Geology at Victoria University and was led by Prof Peter Barrett who remained the Director for 35 years until he stepped-down in December 2007. In April 2008 there was a celebration to honour Peter in recognition of his dedication to the ARC and his tremendous achievements in Antarctic research including the discovery of the first tetrapod remains in the Antarctic Beacon Supergroup, a succession of Devonian to Triassic (420-200 million years old). Peter is also universally recognised for his leadership in Antarctic geological drilling, and has been chief scientist on several drilling projects in McMurdo Sound including the CIROS-1 drill hole (1984-86) and the Cape Roberts Project (1997-2000).

Much of our Antarctic exploration involves sampling otherwise inaccessible records by coring, on ice, on land and offshore. Our success in these endeavours has also been largely through the work of Alex Pyne, who first went to the ice as an Honours student in 1978. He has since combined his geological and engineering skills for a wide range of Antarctic field activities. Over the last two decades Alex has worked as Projects Manager on deep drilling ventures with the CIROS (1984-86) and Cape Roberts projects (1997-2000), and continued with the development of the system for drilling into the sea floor beneath the Ross Ice Shelf for the ANDRILL Project.

In 2001, the ARC became a separate unit within the Faculty of Science and is recognised as a world leader of research into Antarctica’s past climate, its influence in global climate change, and polar scientific drilling technology and operations. In the last few years our research has focused on Antarctic climate history and ice sheet behaviour from sediments over the last 30 million years and more recently from permafrost and coastal ice cores. We are also integrating our geological knowledge with models of glacier, ocean and climate behaviour, seeking to improve our understanding of the global climate system, and continue the spirit of discovery that has been the hallmark of VUWAE for the last 50+ years.