Tas van Ommen
@tasvo.bsky.social
Climate scientist specialising in ice cores, Antarctica and glaciology. Interested in science and how we use it to navigate our place in the universe. Adjunct Professor at U. Tasmania.
Pinned
Tas van Ommen
@tasvo.bsky.social
· Nov 23
For new followers, welcome - here is a taste of what I like to post. This little animation draws on the ice core record of temperature and CO2 over the last 800,000 years. It shows clearly the tight coupling between the two, and the alarming anthropogenic CO2 increase! 🧪
I’ve been looking forward to this journey. Arrived today after months on order. Thanks @peterbrannen.bsky.social
November 28, 2025 at 8:07 AM
I’ve been looking forward to this journey. Arrived today after months on order. Thanks @peterbrannen.bsky.social
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Activity at the Dome C North station is fully underway with the final placement of camp infrastructure and science drilling commencing. The first drilling task will be installation of 120 metres of casing in the upper borehole. 📷 J. Pedro /1
November 26, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Activity at the Dome C North station is fully underway with the final placement of camp infrastructure and science drilling commencing. The first drilling task will be installation of 120 metres of casing in the upper borehole. 📷 J. Pedro /1
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Two billion kids would REALLY appreciate it if we did more about this than just make a few non-binding promises every year & then instantly forget about them.
#COP30
#COP30
November 22, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Two billion kids would REALLY appreciate it if we did more about this than just make a few non-binding promises every year & then instantly forget about them.
#COP30
#COP30
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Home for the next two months for the Traverse and MYIC teams.
📸 Damien Beloin
📸 Damien Beloin
November 21, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Home for the next two months for the Traverse and MYIC teams.
📸 Damien Beloin
📸 Damien Beloin
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Print version of my new commentary ("Bill Gates’s climate comments are a dangerous distraction") on #COP30, Bill Gates and more, in the latest issue of @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 19, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Print version of my new commentary ("Bill Gates’s climate comments are a dangerous distraction") on #COP30, Bill Gates and more, in the latest issue of @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Read this interview with @peterthorne.bsky.social to understand how dire the situation is with respect to US science funding. The US has played an outsized role in Earth observations and global coordination, and even if other nations decide to step in, it would take at least a decade to recover.
Without US satellites, 'we go dark', climate monitor tells AFP
US budget cuts risk creating blind spots in Earth monitoring systems that would imperil weather forecasting and climate research for years to come, the deputy chair of a key UN-backed climate monitori...
www.france24.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Read this interview with @peterthorne.bsky.social to understand how dire the situation is with respect to US science funding. The US has played an outsized role in Earth observations and global coordination, and even if other nations decide to step in, it would take at least a decade to recover.
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
November 12, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
It really needs to emphasised as strongly as possible:
Do not eat Tasmanian farmed salmon.
Do not eat Tasmanian farmed salmon.
Lobster fishery off Bruny Island in TAS closed on eve of the opening of fishing season due to antibiotic use by the salmon farms.
No indication of how long for. Must be a devastating blow for fishermen approaching Xmas.
No indication of how long for. Must be a devastating blow for fishermen approaching Xmas.
Crayfish Closure Follows Salmon Antibiotic Deployment - Tasmanian Times
The commercial rock lobster fishery south of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel is now closed effective 15 November 2025
tasmaniantimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 6:13 AM
It really needs to emphasised as strongly as possible:
Do not eat Tasmanian farmed salmon.
Do not eat Tasmanian farmed salmon.
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Touchdown on ice.. three MYIC science and drilling team members arrived to Casey Station yesterday after ride in the big jet with other incoming Casey Station crew. Thanks ADF!
#AusAntarctic 📸 JP
#AusAntarctic 📸 JP
November 16, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Touchdown on ice.. three MYIC science and drilling team members arrived to Casey Station yesterday after ride in the big jet with other incoming Casey Station crew. Thanks ADF!
#AusAntarctic 📸 JP
#AusAntarctic 📸 JP
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Traverse is making excellent progress more about this and some great picutres at www.facebook.com/share/p/1Fxr...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Traverse is making excellent progress more about this and some great picutres at www.facebook.com/share/p/1Fxr...
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
The Coalition is spinning a lie that climate action is economically bad. How are they getting away with it? | Zoe Daniel
The Coalition is spinning a lie that climate action is economically bad. How are they getting away with it? | Zoe Daniel
In this post-truth environment, the interests of coal and gas are somehow able to win the hearts and minds of voters
*
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
During the last parliament I negotiated an amendment to the Climate Change Act to lock in Australia’s carbon emissions target as a floor – not a ceiling.
I did it to promote government ambition to exceed the target and, having covered the first Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement, to provide a legislative buffer against backsliding by a future Australian government. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The Coalition is spinning a lie that climate action is economically bad. How are they getting away with it? | Zoe Daniel
This is good communication - a simple message clearly articulated. The fossil-ocracy arguments around affordability are distortions of reality.
Politicians in Australia keep saying that the net zero target will cost too much, but multiple analyses, including from Treasury, show that it is actually *much cheaper* for the economy than not doing more
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
November 14, 2025 at 8:53 PM
This is good communication - a simple message clearly articulated. The fossil-ocracy arguments around affordability are distortions of reality.
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
They don't care if it is solved so much as that they profit from it.
November 7, 2025 at 2:20 AM
They don't care if it is solved so much as that they profit from it.
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Stunning start to the weekend on Kunanyi /Mt Wellington. Chilly weekend for mid November and will be full winter by Monday with snow down to the upper suburbs of #Hobart.
November 7, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Stunning start to the weekend on Kunanyi /Mt Wellington. Chilly weekend for mid November and will be full winter by Monday with snow down to the upper suburbs of #Hobart.
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Our season is now well and truly underway with the traverse climbing toward the drill site on the plateau. www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2025/lo...
Long haul for science begins – Australian Antarctic Program (News 2025)
Australia’s Antarctic tractor-traverse team is making its way up the Antarctic plateau to deliver scientific equipment, fuel and food to the site of the Million Year Ice Core (MYIC) drilling project.
www.antarctica.gov.au
November 7, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Our season is now well and truly underway with the traverse climbing toward the drill site on the plateau. www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2025/lo...
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
6,000,000 year old ice & plenty of wind and cold! What folks go through for old ice.
Team is headed back to Allan Hills now, follow more at COLDEX.org
Support via the incredible National Science Foundation and US Antarctic Program.
PNAS 6Myr results: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Team is headed back to Allan Hills now, follow more at COLDEX.org
Support via the incredible National Science Foundation and US Antarctic Program.
PNAS 6Myr results: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
November 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM
6,000,000 year old ice & plenty of wind and cold! What folks go through for old ice.
Team is headed back to Allan Hills now, follow more at COLDEX.org
Support via the incredible National Science Foundation and US Antarctic Program.
PNAS 6Myr results: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Team is headed back to Allan Hills now, follow more at COLDEX.org
Support via the incredible National Science Foundation and US Antarctic Program.
PNAS 6Myr results: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
If anyone has interest in a WW2 RAAF bomber pilot’s memoir this might be worth a look. My father in law got a rare (for aircrew) DSO for a pretty epic save of his aircraft and crew.
archive.org/details/cock...?
archive.org/details/cock...?
Cockerill And His Bantams V 3.3 ( Dig PDF) : Albert Cockerill DSO : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Autobiography of wartime experiences of RAAF pilot Albert (Bert) Cockerill.
archive.org
November 5, 2025 at 11:12 AM
If anyone has interest in a WW2 RAAF bomber pilot’s memoir this might be worth a look. My father in law got a rare (for aircrew) DSO for a pretty epic save of his aircraft and crew.
archive.org/details/cock...?
archive.org/details/cock...?
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
New video: A glacier on Antarctica’s Eastern Peninsula experienced the fastest retreat recorded in modern history—in just two months, nearly 50 percent of the glacier disintegrated. Watch this video to understand what happened. Study by @ciresnews #Antarctica #glaciermelt
November 3, 2025 at 8:17 PM
New video: A glacier on Antarctica’s Eastern Peninsula experienced the fastest retreat recorded in modern history—in just two months, nearly 50 percent of the glacier disintegrated. Watch this video to understand what happened. Study by @ciresnews #Antarctica #glaciermelt
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
New climate classification maps from BoM show the march southwards of the tropics and subtropics over recent decades.
#climatechange
www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps...
#climatechange
www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps...
November 3, 2025 at 9:29 AM
New climate classification maps from BoM show the march southwards of the tropics and subtropics over recent decades.
#climatechange
www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps...
#climatechange
www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps...
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
Spencer Creek (Australia) snow depths, updated for 2025 (which many called a bumper year)
Source: snowdepth.info
Source: snowdepth.info
November 2, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Spencer Creek (Australia) snow depths, updated for 2025 (which many called a bumper year)
Source: snowdepth.info
Source: snowdepth.info
@windjunky.bsky.social - now that you remind me of the brilliant Working Dog comedies - my favourite is The Hollowmen S2E6 “A Quiet January” (18:10) where the PM is set to give scientists an ice drill to get CO₂ samples! It sort of came true in a round about fashion.
November 1, 2025 at 11:23 PM
@windjunky.bsky.social - now that you remind me of the brilliant Working Dog comedies - my favourite is The Hollowmen S2E6 “A Quiet January” (18:10) where the PM is set to give scientists an ice drill to get CO₂ samples! It sort of came true in a round about fashion.
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
While the field teams are already in action, preparing to traverse to the drill site, things in the MYIC labs are moving forward. Daniel and Andy made the first serious gas sublimation measurement using our system with some known-composition Law Dome core. 📷 Joel Pedro
October 31, 2025 at 7:39 AM
While the field teams are already in action, preparing to traverse to the drill site, things in the MYIC labs are moving forward. Daniel and Andy made the first serious gas sublimation measurement using our system with some known-composition Law Dome core. 📷 Joel Pedro
Simple management logic dictates that you should only override expert advice (aka Planning Commission) where you are clearly in command of greater knowledge and capability. After the rolling Spirit of Tasmania fiasco and the cloistered AFL dealings how can this be remotely likely? #NoNewStadium
"For Tasmania, that is just unaffordable."
FFS @jeremyrockliff go seek therapy for your cognitive dissonance. HTF is a stadium affordable if we can't afford to pay teachers, nurses, police, allied health and more what they should be paid. #politas
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
FFS @jeremyrockliff go seek therapy for your cognitive dissonance. HTF is a stadium affordable if we can't afford to pay teachers, nurses, police, allied health and more what they should be paid. #politas
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
Schools to shut in Tasmania as unions plan stop work action over pay offer
Unions are unhappy with the state government's latest public sector pay offer and are planning stop work actions next week. Schools and health services for non-urgent patients will be affected.
www.abc.net.au
October 31, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Simple management logic dictates that you should only override expert advice (aka Planning Commission) where you are clearly in command of greater knowledge and capability. After the rolling Spirit of Tasmania fiasco and the cloistered AFL dealings how can this be remotely likely? #NoNewStadium
Local Tasmanian and Australian issue - the sorry tale of a potential stadium overwhelming Hobart’s iconic waterfront. Acclaimed writer Richard Flanagan as a piece in The Age www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/a-... …/2
A footy club meant to unite Tasmanians is bitterly dividing them
The brutal irony is that the AFL’s demand for a near-bankrupt state to build a stadium to get a football team may lead to loathing and even failure in its home state.
www.theage.com.au
October 29, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Local Tasmanian and Australian issue - the sorry tale of a potential stadium overwhelming Hobart’s iconic waterfront. Acclaimed writer Richard Flanagan as a piece in The Age www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/a-... …/2
Reposted by Tas van Ommen
While searching for the world's oldest ice, scientists find sediment sneaking under the #Antarctic ice sheet.
phys.org/news/2025-10...
phys.org/news/2025-10...
While searching for the world's oldest ice, scientists find sediment sneaking under the Antarctic ice sheet
For decades, researchers seeking to understand global climate change have analyzed ice cores drilled deep within the Antarctic ice sheet. This ice traps chemicals and bubbles of ancient air that tell ...
phys.org
October 22, 2025 at 7:13 AM
While searching for the world's oldest ice, scientists find sediment sneaking under the #Antarctic ice sheet.
phys.org/news/2025-10...
phys.org/news/2025-10...