26 March 2025
Antarctica is about as far from tropical Cairns as you can get, but two recent trips to the frozen continent were the opportunity of a lifetime for a Queensland-based Navy hydrographer.
Petty Officer Scott Thomas, from the Maritime Geospatial Warfare Unit, was part of a small Navy hydrographic team mapping the Southern Ocean on board Australian Antarctic Division icebreaker, RSV Nuyina.
While Petty Officer Scott usually charts safe passage for ships around the Australian coast, or supports amphibious landings, this time he was charting the kilometres-deep ocean floor to find points of interest for Antarctic Division researchers.
The hydrographic systems manager of 17 years sailed to Antarctica on board Nuyina twice last year with two other Navy personnel.
The team were taking part in Operation Southern Discovery, Defence’s support to the Australian Antarctic Division, which also includes Air Force strategic airlift support and Army geospatial surveys.
'As long as the boat was moving we were recording.'
Nuyina is the Antarctic Division's icebreaker and is capable of transporting hundreds of expeditioners, thousands of tonnes of cargo or millions of litres of petroleum.
It also doubles as a research vessel.
“As long as the boat was moving we were recording,” Petty Officer Thomas said.
Hydrographers are ocean-mapping experts, but their skills were put to use on land when they travelled to a remote field camp.
On Petty Officer Thomas’s first trip, the team spent nine days measuring tides and creating a 3-D map of Law Base, about a 40-minute helicopter ride from Davis Station.
The Law Base field site is little more than a small collection of orange fibreglass pods where expeditioners sleep.
His second trip in December was longer, with visits to all three major Australian bases.
The change in season resulted in ice shelves thick enough to drive across melt into the ocean as the temperature warmed.
“I definitely got lucky getting to see the seasons change. It’s not lost on me,” Petty Officer Thomas said.
“Mawson station was stunning; you’re closer to the glaciers and ice cliffs than the other stations – they’re just right there in front of you.
“I was blown away; the photos don’t do it justice.”
