Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Shelf to 2 Degrees Celsius (SWAIS 2C)

Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash

Science Communicator and Strategist

If Antarctica’s ice sheets melt, sea levels could rise more than 7 metres in New York, London, Tokyo, and Oslo. The SWAIS 2C (Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to 2 Degrees Celsius) Project is a multinational collaboration involving Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The project will transport innovative scientific technology hundreds of kilometres across the Ross Ice Shelf to the heart of the West Antarctic Ice Shelf. They will use this to drill through ice and sediment into the sea floor to take core samples. 

The international, interdisciplinary team will use what they find to understand how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet behaved in the past and how sensitive it is to a warmer climate. This knowledge will be applied by scientists, governments, and organisations around the world to improve the resilience of seaside communities.

My role is to scope the communications for this international project and provide a strategy and plan going forwards.