Reprieve for Aussie sub-Antarctic base
Print Edition
AUSTRALIA’S permanent sub-Antarctic research base at World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island has won a reprieve from closure and will instead get a multi-million-dollar revamp, the government said yesterday, in a boost for science.
The Australian Antarctic Division said in September the station on the island — which lies in the Southern Ocean between Australia and Antarctica — would shut after almost seven decades due to environmental contamination concerns and aging infrastructure.
But after pressure from scientists and politicians, Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said it will now get a new state-of-the-art facility with the government announcing a A$50 million (US$37.8 million) funding boost.
“The new station will be the most advanced of its type in the Southern Ocean, capable of supporting the full range of priority activities we have conducted in the past and to ensure a permanent and recurring year round presence,” he said.
“The new modern station will be significantly more efficient than the existing station and be designed to have minimal environmental impact, lower operating and maintenance costs.”
Due to its position as the only base between Australia and Antarctica, Macquarie Island is an important global monitoring location for scientific research, including tracking southern hemisphere weather and gathering climatic data.
Around 15 researchers man the base year-round, rising to 30 in the summer.
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