Denman Terrestrial Campaign enters final weeks after blue skies, blizzards and long days on the ice 25 January 2024

Australian Antarctic Division

The Denman Terrestrial Campaign is entering its final weeks and scientists have made excellent progress collecting samples, doing surveys and deploying monitoring instruments in a bid to better understand the Denman Glacier system.

The Denman Glacier is one of the fastest-receding glaciers in East Antarctica and has the potential to increase global sea levels by 1.5 metres.

The system is also the deepest-known glacier on Earth, with its base in some places sitting on ground that is more than 3.5 kilometres below sea level.

This may make the Denman Glacier susceptible to rapid and unstoppable ice loss over the coming decades and centuries.

Twenty-seven scientists from a range of universities and disciplines are studying the impacts of climate change on the system from Edgeworth David base camp in the Bunger Hills, 450 kilometres from Casey research station.

It’s the most ambitious deep-field camp the Australian Antarctic Division has coordinated in more than 20 years.

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