INTRODUCTION

I am a physical oceanographer specializing in the Southern Ocean. My research focuses on the dynamics of the Southern Ocean and its role in regulating heat, freshwater, carbon, and material cycles within the climate system. I utilize a range of tools including in-situ ocean observations (such as ship-based measurements, autonomous profiling floats, and biologging), satellite remote sensing, numerical simulations, and statistical data analysis. I aim to distill complex physical processes—such as turbulence and the interactions between the ocean, atmosphere, sea ice, and ice shelves—into simplified frameworks, while exploring climate variability on decadal to centennial scales. I am also committed to enhancing the sustainability of ocean monitoring systems by employing advanced tools like ocean gliders and machine learning techniques.

WHAT I STUDY

Southern Ocean dynamics

What is the response to a changing climate?

Antarctic ice melt

Antarctic Ice Sheet possesses 70% of Earth's freshwater

Global carbon cycle

SO absorbs 75% heat and 40% carbon of anthropogenic

Ocean mixing

Understanding the chaos and the system of geophysical fluid

Towards optimized ocean monitoring system

International collaboration and autonomy in icy ocean

Frontiers in oceanography with computational innovations

Earth science is big data


Research Background

The Southern Ocean is the only sea that connects the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. The Antarctic ice sheet, surrounded by the Southern Ocean, holds 90% of the Earth's ice and 70% of the freshwater on land, capable to raise the global sea level by 60 meters. Although 93% of the heat generated by global warming is absorbed by the oceans, the Southern Ocean alone absorbs 75% of its heat and 43% of the anthropogenic CO2. Despite its climatic importance, observational data from the Southern Ocean are extremely limited, and numerical models are insufficiently constrained. As a result, the uncertainties in the behavior of the Southern Ocean and ocean-ice sheet interactions are the biggest sources of error in climate and sea level predictions over decades to centuries.

Works

TWEETS

GALLERY

Australian Antarctic Marine Voyage

Denman Glacier and Shackleton Polynya in 2025 on RSV Nuyina

Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition

Totten Glacier and Syowa Station in 2019/2020 on Icebreaker Shirase

Antarctic Icescape

Glacier, sea ice, iceberg... and more!

CONTACT

kaihe.yamazaki AT utas.edu.au or kaiheyamazaki AT gmail.com

ARC Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS)
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
University of Tasmania
IMAS Waterfront Building, 20 Castray Esplanade, Battery Point TAS 7004 AUSTRALIA