Meet the PCAPS SG: Reflections from PCAPS SG member Hanne Nielsen on representations of Antarctica in the media

This month’s Meet the SG blog post features PCAPS SG member, Hanne Nielsen, a senior lecturer in Antarctic law and governance at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. Her research focusses on representations of Antarctica in popular media, including in advertising material, polar tourism and Antarctica as a workplace. Hanne is a Chief Officer of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic research’s Standing Committee on Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS) and a past President of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS).

Hanne on a hill at Neko Harbour, Antarctica, with a glacier and cruise ship in the background. Image courtesy of Hanne Nielsen.

When you hear the word “Antarctica,” what comes to mind? Perhaps you picture a vast white expanse, with heroic figures man-hauling towards the horizon. Perhaps you think of penguins, with their distinctive black and white colouring and associated cacophony of braying calls. Perhaps your mind goes to the Antarctic Treaty System, which sets the continent aside as a place for peace and science. But where did those ideas come from? And have you ever considered the other ways Antarctica might have meaning?

Hanne at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Prague, 2019. Photo credit: Morgan Seag.

My area of interest is how people think about and interact with Antarctica. This includes activity on the continent, such as tourism, as well as the ways Antarctica is represented back home in literature, media, and advertising.

My route to the polar regions was unorthodox – I studied German Literature and turned my attention to Antarctica thanks to the first play about Robert Falcon Scott in the Antarctic, which was written in German. Joining the University of Canterbury’s Postgraduate Certificate in Antarctic Studies course in 2011 allowed me to both write about the play, and experience the Ross Sea region of Antarctic first-hand during a field trip with Antarctica New Zealand. From that point on, my eyes have been trained on the south.

Antarctica is difficult to access, but there is a growing workforce that makes both scientific and tourism activity in the region possible. I joined the workforce, spending 5 seasons as a guide in the Southern Ocean, sharing stories about the southern continent and its history with visitors, while spending the winters in Hobart writing a PhD on Antarctica in advertising. I also joined the team of rapporteurs who write the report at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM). Held annually by a rotating host, the ATCM is far removed from the ice of Antarctica yet vital in terms of governance of the region.

Although most people will never visit the continent, they carry an “Antarctic imaginary” with them in their minds – this is particularly the case in Antarctic Cities located on the rim of the Southern Ocean, such as Hobart, on Australia’s island state of Tasmania.

Hanne presenting her SCAR Fellowship project at KTH Stockholm, 2018. Photo credit: Peder Roberts.

Hobart, or Nipaluna, is where I live and work, and I pay my respects to the Palawa and Pakana people of this island. The connections between Hobart and Antarctica are tangible through the chilly south wind, the whales that migrate past our shores, and the Aurora Australis, or “nuyina” that light up the southern skies. The community links manifest in a range of ways, but are particularly visible during the biannual Australian Antarctic Festival. The connections are important for the State Government too, where Antarctic Tasmania is tasked with promoting Tasmania as “a global centre of cold-climate scientific and technical excellence.”

The PCAPS project is an exciting development as it brings together such a range of disciplines to address very pressing problems about not only predicting weather and improving data but also investigating how people interact with and use that data to make decisions. That human aspect is where my work on people and Antarctica is useful – it is important to engage with the wide range of people who make decisions about the south, including those involved with National Antarctic Programs, tourism, and in the polar-adjacent Antarctic Cities. Human and environmental well-being are intertwined, making this an important tenet of the overall project.

I have seen first-hand why decision-making is so important to get right in remote environments, such as the Antarctic. Having guided in the Antarctic, I am aware of how quickly conditions can change, and how vital it is to understand what is coming up, in order to both deliver a safe tourism experience, and to manage the expectations of guests who are often on the trip of a lifetime to experience the “7th continent.”  As Antarctic tourist numbers continue to grow, projects such as PCAPS have very real applications for improving safety in the region.

I look forward to working with the very talented and diverse team who make up the steering committee, to help improve the actionability, impact, and fidelity of environmental forecasting for human and environmental well-being in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. From where I sit on the edge of the Southern Ocean, there is certainly much to be learnt and gained.