Knowledge Hub

Explore our repository of research outputs and information.

We aim to share and communicate our research, to benefit New Zealand and the international community. You can browse, filter by category or type, or search by keywords.

Drilling Sea ice 2025 IMG 8596 INGA Smith

Why is Antarctic sea ice so hard to model?

Authors: Andrew Pauling, Inga Smith, Max Thomas
Year Published: 2023
Document Type: Cold Call Articles
Ownership: Antarctic Science Platform
Summary: Climate models struggle to reproduce observed Antarctic sea-ice behaviour, due to the many processes affecting its formation and melt. Models must get these processes right in order to inform us what might happen next.
Weddell seal pups

Sea ice and ecosystems

Authors: Rowan Howard-Williams, Ian Hawes
Year Published: 2023
Document Type: Cold Call Articles
Ownership: Antarctic Science Platform
Summary: Sea ice plays a crucial role in the life cycles of many Antarctic organisms, from the algae at the base of food chains, to seals and penguins at the top.
Antarctic sea ice

The connections between sea ice and climate

Authors: James Renwick
Year Published: 2023
Document Type: Cold Call Articles
Ownership: Antarctic Science Platform
Summary: Antarctic sea ice has an annual seasonal cycle of formation and melting, plus it’s exposed to the winds and storms of the Southern Ocean and to a range of climate influences from near and far.
McMurdo Sound pack ice

Sea ice and ocean circulation

Authors: Rowan Howard-Williams, Denise Fernandez, Craig Stevens
Year Published: 2023
Document Type: Cold Call Articles
Ownership: Antarctic Science Platform
Summary: Formation of Antarctic sea ice affects ocean circulation across the globe. Understanding the mechanisms linking these phenomena is crucially important to understand the impacts of future change in Antarctica.
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Climate change and international diplomacy in Antarctica

Authors: Rowan Howard-Williams
Year Published: 2022
Document Type: Cold Call Articles
Ownership: Antarctic Science Platform
Summary: How climate change affects Antarctica is going to influence the speed and severity of changes in New Zealand and the rest of the planet. Climate change is a priority topic in Antarctic governance. Next year the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting has dedicated a day to consider the implementation of recommendations in a landmark climate change report. Those discussions will take place in a unique policy setting, almost as unusual as Antarctica itself, because the continent is ‘governed’ by an international treaty system.
Antarctica image

COP26, the IPCC Report and Antarctic Research

Authors: James Renwick, Nick Golledge and Rowan Howard-Williams
Year Published: 2021
Document Type: Cold Call Articles
Ownership: Antarctic Science Platform
Summary: Key findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report released in August 2021, highlighting Antarctic research and the key role of the continent in Earth’s climate system.
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Antarctic Research and New Zealand’s Climate Future

Authors: James Renwick and Rowan Howard-Williams
Year Published: 2021
Document Type: Cold Call Articles
Ownership: Antarctic Science Platform
Summary: Climate change will be a major policy challenge over the coming decades. New Zealand society will be faced with major changes as we work to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and adapt to the changes that are already inevitable
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The Changing Antarctic and Southern Ocean and Pathway to Policy

Authors: Craig Stevens with support from Rowan Howard-Williams
Year Published: 2021
Document Type: Cold Call Articles
Ownership: Antarctic Science Platform
Summary: The Southern Ocean plays a major role in global climate. What happens in this fast-changing region will have huge impacts on New Zealand in the coming decades.