Oceanographer Helen Phillips Investigates Antarctic Circumpolar Current and Climate Change

Oceanographer Dr. Helen Phillips of Tasmania is a drifter at sea studying the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This current flows all of the way around Antarctica and separates the warm waters of the subtropics from the cold Antarctic.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is like a big wall in the path of this movement of heat. Helen Phillips is studying those processes that allow the heat to move across the current. Eddies and the meandering of the current are a key part of her studies that help her to understand this process and climate change.

She says the world our children will live in is vastly different from the one that she has enjoyed because of climate change unless we say right now, this is not good enough. We need to demand that action be taken to improve our future.

June is Ocean Awareness month. Helen explains her research and the instruments she uses.