Media Releases

Radio New Zealand in the Steps of Douglas Mawson

Released at 11:55 am on 27 November 2013

Radio New Zealand’s Our Changing World presenter, Veronika Meduna, has joined a group of international scientists on the first leg of an expedition to explore the sub-antarctic islands, studying climatic change and its impact on the islands' ecology.

Walking in the steps of Australian explorer, Douglas Mawson, Veronika will share her experiences online with a real-time blog allowing audiences to follow their discoveries.

The Spirit of Mawson: The Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013-2014 marks the centenary of an expedition of the same name led by the Australian scientist and explorer Sir Douglas Mawson.

The expedition’s ship, the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, is a fully ice-strengthened polar and oceanographic research vessel. On-board the ship will be a range of high-tech 21st century vehicles, from submersibles that can travel independently across the ocean for years at a time, to submersible robot arms and even remotely operated aerial drones.

The 2013 expedition will retrace Mawson's voyage and carry out research across the region, building on the work from 100 years ago, to try to better understand present and future change in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica

Veronika Meduna’s blog can be followed online at: www.radionz.co.nz/spiritofmawson