Australian Antarctic Division’s RSV Nuyina discovers massive underwater canyon in Antarctica

While battling four metre high seas and 50 knot winds, crew on-board the RSV Nuyina were forced to take a detour that led to a groundbreaking underwater discovery. WATCH THE VIDEO.

Battling four metre high seas and cyclone strong winds, crew on-board the Australian Antarctic Division’s RSV Nuyina took a detour that led to a groundbreaking discovery.

During a resupply of Casey Station, the icebreaker encountered wild weather which forced the crew to temporarily divert missions south towards Adams Glacier.

Using a multibeam echosounder, the crew mapped a massive 2100m deep and 9000m wide underwater canyon about 70km away from Adams Glacier, which extends more than 46km off the glacier front.

Acousticians mapped a canyon in front of Adams Glacier earlier this year, while the Vanderford Canyon was mapped from RSV Nuyina on her maiden voyage in 2021-22. Picture: Australian Antarctic Division/Hydrographic material reproduced with permission of The Australian Hydrographic Office © Commonwealth of Australia 2024

RSV Nuyina off the Vanderford Glacier in 2021. Picture: ©Pete Harmsen/Australian Antarctic Division

“We had already mapped a canyon in front of the Vanderford Glacier two years ago, which is nearby so it was really cool to be back in that area and mapping another one,” senior acoustician Alison Herbert said.

“We came in from the north and found a small channel where the sea floor was just getting deeper and deeper as we got closer to Adams glacier … even the satellite models of the sea floor didn’t think it was (2100m) deep.

“It’s such a huge discrepancy between the data that we had before, and how deep it actually is.”

Acoustician Alison Herbert on board RSV Nuyina. Picture: ©Pete Harmsen/Australian Antarctic Division

Adam's Glacier Picture: © Keith Deverell/AAD

Building a comprehensive picture of the sea floor and discovering structures like an underwater canyon is important, Ms Herbert said.

“We don’t have a good map of the sea floor, there’s just so much unknown out there and the shape and the roughness of the sea floor have an impact on currents, flow and habitat,” she said.

“It’s just important to get a picture of the sea floor, and it can contribute to a lot of other scientific disciplines like geology, glaciology and oceanography.”

Adam's Glacier Picture: © Keith Deverell/AAD

Australian Antarctic Division's voyage leader Keith Ashby who will embark to Casey Station in Antarctica for a Christmas resupply and vital science projects on Wednesday. Picture: Chris Kidd

Voyage leader Keith Ashby said voyage two was about resupplying Casey Station with enough food and fuel to look after the expeditioners for the coming year.

“We had three or four cracking (weather) days which meant we could get barges on the water and get cargo off the ship on the shore,” he said.

“Then we had some tough weather come in, and you can’t operate the boats anymore so we seized an opportunity. We knew the Adams Glacier was about five hours away so we headed down there.

“It was a genuinely exciting bonus – we got out there to do some science and then to find something on top of it. We were pretty pumped.”