SAEF

If we can't protect Antarctica, we can't protect the future of the planet

  • 50 Investigators

  • $36 million ARC funding

  • 24 University and partner organisations

  • 6 program collaborators

SAEF is a Monash-led research program dedicated to the conservation of the Antarctic.
Established in 2021 after receiving a $36m grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC) through the Special Research Initiative

in Excellence in Antarctic Science, SAEF’s mission is to understand the past, present and future changes in the Antarctic region so it can shape the best decisions for addressing the region’s challenges.

SAEF is led by director, Professor Steven Chown, who is an internationally renowned researcher in biology and ecology. The SAEF team uses theories, observations, modelling and data from diverse areas of science around themes such as climate processes and change, biodiversity and environmental stewardship.

Record low Antarctic sea ice coverage indicates a new sea ice state

Sea ice around Antarctica is fundamentally changing.

Sea ice plays a crucial role in regulating the Earth’s climate by reflecting sunlight into space and driving ocean circulation. Sea ice also acts as a physical barrier that protects ice shelves and provides habitat for unique wildlife.

State of Low Coverage

The first evidence is emerging of a regime shift underway in the Southern Ocean where Antarctic sea ice has entered a different state of lower coverage. This image is adapted from Ariaan Purich and Edward Doddridge (2023), a contribution to the Monash-led Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF) program, showing the sea ice extent anomaly time series, with the new low sea ice state in orange. For most of winter this year, and compared with the average, approximately 2.5 million square kilometres of sea ice was missing: an area the size of Western Australia.

The image also shows Southern Ocean temperature anomalies, averaged over 50-65°S and 0-100 m depth.

Ocean warming has played a role in pushing Antarctic sea ice into a new low-extent state. Low sea ice in November 2022 led to catastrophic breeding failure of emperor penguins (Fretwell et al. 2023) and other impacts of low sea ice extend far beyond the Southern Ocean. Low sea ice could become the ‘new abnormal’ without more rapid greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

References:
  • Purich and Doddridge 2023: Click here
  • Fretwell et al. 2023: Click here
  • We don’t use the exact climate stripes, but may want to acknowledge inspiration from Ed Hawkins: Click here

Why this matters now?

Who is SAEF?

The science

New Antarctic research endeavour opens at Monash University

Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Special Research Initiative, will be launched by Member for Macnamara, Mr Josh Burns MP, at the University’s Clayton campus.

Read more about the framework behind this research

Download the report

Spanning 15 years and 12 case studies at Monash University, the Framework with its interconnected seven elements seeks to strengthen systems, cultures, and capabilities for responsibly growing university-led research missions

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