THE SCIENCE FACULTY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN INVITES YOU TO THE 2025 SEMINAR SERIES

This seminar series is organised by the Science Faculty Research Committee.
Everyone interested is welcome to attend.

Speaker
Professor Sebastian Skatulla
University of Cape Town

Title
Guardians of the Ice: South Africa’s Expedition to the Fimbul Ice Shelf – Monitoring the Critical Barriers Against Antarctic Ice Sheet Loss in the Age of Global Warming

Abstract
As one of the original twelve signatories to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, South Africa bears custodial responsibilities toward the protection of the Antarctic environment. With a longstanding research presence in Dronning Maud Land, initiated by the first South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE) in 1959-1960, the country is committed to advancing our understanding of this critical region. However, to effectively respond to the challenges posed by climate change, South Africa's long-term glaciological observation efforts require revitalization, particularly in evaluating the impacts on the Antarctic continent—impacts that are crucial for maintaining global environmental stability and sea level.

Recent developments signal a renewed commitment, as a team from the University of Cape Town (UCT) has just returned from its inaugural field campaign on the Fimbul Ice Shelf. This expedition marks South Africa's re-entry into the international scientific community, focusing on monitoring the Antarctic ice sheet and its ice shelves. Ice shelves, which extend hundreds of meters beneath the sea surface, serve as vital structural supports for the Antarctic ice sheet that contains approximately 60% of the Earth's freshwater. Deterioration of these shelves, which may lead to accelerated glacier flow rates, poses the risk of a catastrophic retreat and collapse.

This expedition featured an interdisciplinary team of engineers, glaciologists, geodesists, and geophysicists who employed cutting-edge technologies—including radar, GPS, seismic exploration and satellite imagery—complemented by hands-on fieldwork to conduct critical measurements and deploy long-term monitoring equipment. The data collected will contribute to the international collaborative research project, "Structural Glaciological Analysis of the Antarctic Ice Shelves" (SANAS), led by Professor Sebastian Skatulla at UCT. By providing detailed insights into the rates of melt and calving loss from the ice shelves, this research is essential for informing national governments and environmental advocates on effective climate action and global risk mitigation strategies. South Africa is poised to play a crucial role in this endeavour as we advance our understanding of one of the planet's most critical environments.

Speaker Biography
Prof. Sebastian Skatulla joined UCT in 2009 as a Senior Lecturer in Structural Engineering and Mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering. He holds a Master’s degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Adelaide.

He is the Director and founder of the Polar Engineering Research Group (PERG) at UCT. His research activities are centred on multiscale and multiphase continuum methods. In addition to cardiac mechanics, his current activities include studying Antarctic shelf-ice and sea-ice dynamics. He is the principal investigator of a research project studying the Antarctic ice shelves, funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP), where he has led a field campaign to the Fimbul Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 2024/2025, collecting glaciological data and deployed long-term monitoring instrumentation to complement the modelling work of PERG.

He served as the President of the South African Association for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (SAAM) from 2016 to 2021. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ISCCBE) and a member of the Scientific Council of the International Centre for Mechanical Sciences (CISM). He also serves on the Editorial Boards of the Archive of Applied Mechanics and Mathematical and Computational Applications.