Andrew Meijers

Andrew Meijers serves as Science Leader of the Polar Oceans Team at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, UK, and acts as Deputy Science Leader for the Polar Oceans programme. Originally from Hobart, Australia, he joined BAS in 2012 after completing his PhD at the University of Tasmania and conducting postdoctoral research at CSIRO. His leadership extends to serving as Principal Investigator for the large multi-centre ORCHESTRA research programme and as a member of the BAS AI-lab, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to polar oceanography.

Meijers earned his PhD from the University of Tasmania, where he developed novel techniques combining altimetry and in situ hydrography to examine the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. His early career included participation in two Antarctic research voyages on the Aurora Australis (BROKE-West, 2006 and SIPEX, 2007), totaling 18 weeks at sea, which solidified his commitment to observational oceanography.

His research focuses on Southern Ocean dynamics, particularly the Antarctic Circumpolar Current overturning and property trends. He employs property-following techniques like Gravest Empirical Modes to separate observed trends into adiabatic (water mass movement) and diabatic (water mass property changes) components. A significant portion of his work examines coupled climate models, with particular attention to Southern Ocean representation and the application of machine learning to identify non-linear relationships within these complex systems. His research also investigates the export of dense shelf water and Antarctic Bottom Water from regions like the Weddell and Scotia Seas, which play crucial roles in long-term sequestration of atmospheric heat and carbon.

Meijers leads and participates in numerous major research initiatives including ORCHESTRA, SO-CHIC, OCEAN:ICE, and BIOPOLE. His recent work has contributed significantly to understanding declining Antarctic sea ice, the impacts of record-low sea ice extent, and the role of the Southern Ocean in global heat and carbon uptake. His research demonstrates increasing integration of traditional oceanographic methods with machine learning approaches to address complex climate questions.

As Science Leader of the Polar Oceans Team, Meijers oversees multiple research voyages and field campaigns in the Southern Ocean, having participated in four voyages since joining BAS and leading three of them. His team's work has been featured in numerous high-impact publications and media reports, including coverage of the world's largest iceberg grounding near South Georgia and investigations into the mystery of the missing Antarctic sea ice.