Dr Duncan is a Research Fellow at Victoria University’s Antarctic Research Centre.             

She will discuss what the changes mean for the Wairarapa, NZ and the world.  She will also briefly comment on the geo-political situation – the number of countries who claim an interest or foothold in the region and their ambitions.

As Bella Duncan says: “The drastic reduction in sea ice extent around Antarctica recently is unprecedented in our historic records, and is just one of the many changes we’re seeing in our Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems in response to continuing increases in atmospheric CO2.  We know from studying records of the Antarctic environment over the geological past that we can expect these changes to continue, with significant impacts to our local and global climate, sea level and ecosystems.”

She also says: “The inequality of climate change impacts mean that lower income regions of the globe like the tropics will experience extreme temperatures and climate impacts earliest.”

As a researcher, she uses molecular fossils, known as biomarkers, to reconstruct the climate and environment during periods of global warmth and elevated atmospheric CO2 in the geological past, with a focus on Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

“I am particularly interested in the Oligocene and Miocene epochs (34-5 million years ago), when Antarctica was still vegetated, and significant ice volume and sea level variability occurred under global temperatures and atmospheric CO2 levels projected to occur in the coming centuries.”

She uses the fossilised molecular remnants of plants, algae, archaea, and bacteria to reconstruct aspects of the climate and environment such as air and sea surface temperatures, and the hydrological and carbon cycles.

“We need urgent action to reduce emissions to limit the impact of climate change, and every emissions reduction step we can take will help,” she says.  “We also need to plan to mitigate and reduce the impact of the changes we’ve already locked in.”