In the last 2 years, Canadian scientists spent time in Antarctica on the Royal Canadian Navy ship HMCS Margaret Brooke in 2025 and the AGB-46 Almirante Viel, a Chilean icebreaker, in 2026. They were extraordinary trips: spectacular, fascinating and strange.  The mission was science and science diplomacy. The scientists were there to investigate the effects of climate change on the coastal waters of Antarctica… but that was only part of the story.

Location: Camosun Interurban Campus, Liz Ashton Campus Centre Room 124

Date and time: Wednesday 3 June from 18:00-19:30

Presented by Sophie Johannessen (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Institute of Ocean Sciences) and Tom James (Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada)

Dr. Sophia Johannessen is a geochemical oceanographer at Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Institute of Ocean Sciences in North Saanich. She studies the effects of climate change and other human activities on the coastal ocean. Her recent projects include studies of the change in productivity in the Salish Sea, the fate of diluted bitumen spilled in BC coastal waters, and the potential for “blue carbon” storage in seagrass meadows for climate change mitigation. She works mainly in the coastal waters of British Columbia, but she has also worked in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and most recently in the coastal waters of Antarctica.

Dr. Thomas James is a research scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada at Natural Resources Canada. He studies the sources of sea-level change, especially the Antarctic Ice Sheet, and works to communicate sea-level science to the public and policy makers.  Dr. James has worked to develop a Canadian Antarctic Research Program. Most recently as Chief Scientist he led the planning and execution of Canadian Antarctic Research Expeditions to the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula on the HMCS Margaret Brooke in 2025 and on the ABG-46 Almirante Viel, a Chilean research icebreaker, in 2026.