A digital twin of Antarctica will be created by the Australian Antarctic Division. The AAD claims that the initiative will benefit its scientific and geopolitical interests in the Southern Ocean, which are becoming increasingly competitive.
The federal government committed $804.4 million in February to a number of programmes geared at bolstering the country’s Antarctica programme over the following ten years.
The investment, according to Environment Minister Susan Ley, is vital to protect the Antarctic and Southern Ocean “conflict-free” in the face of “growing demands.”
A spokesman for AAD told iTnews that the money would be used to “start the design work required to construct a digital twin for Antarctica” and hire three more data scientists, though she wouldn’t say how much.
“IDEA will complement ongoing work being done through the AAP alliance to provide an interoperable data platform for Antarctic sciences (Digital Antarctica),” according to the spokeswoman.
The AAD is looking for a programme lead to help them start scoping IDEA alongside AAP partners such the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, Geosicence Australia, and the University of Tasmania.
The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment has yet to receive a full business case for the digital twin from AAD.