Our History

ACE has a long history as a CRC. ACE was originally established as the “CRC for the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Environment” in 1991 in the first round of funding for Australia’s Cooperative Research Centres Program. Since then, it has been refunded in 1997 (as the CRC for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean), and in 2003 and 2010 as the ACE CRC.

View: Dr Ian Allison talks about his 40-year career as a glaciologist

Research undertaken since 1991 through the ACE CRC has revealed the role of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the global climate system and the course of climate change. Over almost two decades ACE has studied and described the physical and chemical properties of the Southern Ocean and recorded changes in these properties; investigated the nature of the Antarctic ice sheet and Antarctica’s surrounding sea ice and recreated detailed historic climate records from high resolution ice cores; recorded changes in the acidity of the Southern Ocean and impacts on ocean life; described and modelled sea-level rise to better understand its impacts on the globe and Australia; and conducted research on ecosystems and the impacts of potential climate change on Antarctic marine life.

Through ACE’s unique collaborations it has been able to undertake cross disciplinary research to integrate knowledge from many different fields of science to better understand the Antarctic’s profound influence on the globe and Australia.

To complement  our focus on  excellent research, the ACE CRC has produced plain language policy documents (“Position Analyses”) which highlight significant aspects of climate change science; developed a web-based decision-support tool for understanding the implications of sea-level rise for coastal infrastructure; conducted briefing sessions for policymakers; and provided vocational training courses.  These initiatives have helped maximise the understanding and uptake of our research.

Increasing interest in our research form the business sector has recently been underlined by the inclusion of five commercial participants in the ACE partnership for the first time in 2010; and the Climate Futures for Tasmania, is a showcase example of an effective collaboration between researchers, governments and industry producing outputs of direct relevance to the community.