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Tas van Ommen

@tasvo.bsky.social
1.9K followers 979 following 343 posts

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.

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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 7h
A speculation about spectacles 👓 Fashion has a big role in frame styles, but now thick or dark frames are potentially associated with camera-spy-ick glasses; and bans at some venues. Will this drive fashion toward frameless and wire-frame styles to reduce suspicion?
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Ed Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
100%! The climate doesn't care if we are Democrats or Republicans: When we mess with it, it messes with us (and it bats last). Most Americans are concerned about climate change. Let's set aside partisan differences & solve this problem before it messes more with what we love. @katharinehayhoe.com
time.com
We Need to Stop Talking Like Climate Change Is Partisan
Climate change should be seen as a shared challenge to solve together, not a political debate, write Katharine Hayhoe and Dana R. Fisher.
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Tom Quinn @tomquinn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Climate impacts just this year in the EU have caused damage of €180bn, a low ball figure of what is to come. That climate isn't broken out at a key trend is an embarrassment @jimchalmers.bsky.social - there is literally no other trend that will have a bigger impact on our economic trajectory.
theguardian.com
Burning forests, emptying rivers, €180bn in damage: Europe’s politicians face reckoning after ‘summer of truth’
Amid record-shattering heatwaves and popular demand for climate action, why are politicians often timid or in denial?
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Andrew B. Watkins @windjunky.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New IGR focuses on 4 physical risks (Sea level coastal damage, heat impacting workforce, tourism decline, agriculture crop losses) when the National Climate Risk Assessment identified 63 "Nationally Significant Climate Risks" & subset 11 "Priority Risks". Do we multiply IGR impact by 2.25 or 15.75?
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Andrew B. Watkins @windjunky.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Thats just 4 physical risks, when the NCRA identified 63, 11 of which the government decided were a "Priority". #IGRfail
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Jessica Tierney @leafwax.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I rarely post on here (apologies) but: @danibarra.bsky.social and I have some thoughts about CO2 in blue ice 🧊 🧐 Preprint is up... essopenarchive.org/doi/full/10....
essopenarchive.org
A reassessment of proxy signal preservation in Antarctic blue ice: Implications for Plio-Pleistocene CO2 | ESS Open Archive
Marks-Peterson et al. (2026) measured greenhouse gas concentrations in “blue” ice from the Allan Hills, Antarctica and concluded that atmospheric CO2 was broadly stable over the past ~3 million years....
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Matt King @deformedearth.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
For those interested in the Wilkes Subglacial Basin or Antarctic Ice Sheet comms in general, I made some visualisations that may be useful. All are from code and traceable to the data. First, an overview of the system. Full video and metadata: youtu.be/kzpCeVsNNwU
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The Neotoma Paleoecology Database @neotomadb.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
🧊 Early-Career Researcher Workshop | IPICS 2026 🇨🇦 🌍 Ice Core Young Scientists (ICYS) Workshop for ECRs 📅 11 October 2026 📍 The Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada ⏰ Full-day workshop 🔗 Official workshop: www.ipics2026.org/icys-worksho...
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
PhD Project Evaluating reanalysis and satellite estimates of snowfall over East Antarctica www.utas.edu.au/research/deg...
utas.edu.au
Available projects for research degrees | University of Tasmania - Evaluating reanalysis and satellite estimates of snowfall over East Antarctica using surface observations.
This project will use a unique 50-year network of East Antarctic autom...
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
PhD Project as part of the Million Year Ice Core at University of Tasmania www.utas.edu.au/research/deg...
utas.edu.au
Available projects for research degrees | University of Tasmania - Continuous Methane Measurements in the Million Year Ice Core
This project will generate a continuous methane record from the Millio...
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Andrew B. Watkins @windjunky.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
That makes it 37 fossil fuel projects approved by Labor, and 10 since their own National Climate Risk Assessment told them and us of the catastrophic consequences, including 63 Nationally Significant Climate Risks that span across every aspect of society. Its ok to be angry.
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
It is refreshing, indeed inspiring to hear such calm, steely and erudite repudiation of US behaviour. Courageous! Now if other leaders would only support, learn and adopt similar style…what could be achieved!
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
This is getting a bit of attention, so at the risk of recounting the poster’s point, I find it compelling that we trust our coauthors with our careers in regard to plagiarism. LLM AI is patently untrustworthy in this regard and renders us complicity so to our colleagues if we use it.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I wrote about a reason not to use generative AI in your writing that I haven't seen anyone talking about. Once I realized this, banning GenAI in our lab's writing became a no-brainer. Feel free to share, I think this is probably useful especially for trainees: www.carlsonlab.bio/thoughts/the...
carlsonlab.bio
The only reason you’ll ever need not to write with AI — The Carlson Lab
Over the last year, our lab has been developing a policy on AI use. To do this, we did three main things: We read a lot of academic publications and tech news. We set up an #ai channel on our la...
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Hobart people might like to bookmark this: events.humanitix.com/mozart-and-m...
events.humanitix.com
Mozart and Mendelssohn
The Secret Orchestral Society perform a varied programme with a UTAS Conservatorium student soloist.
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Trump and those behind him literally don’t care that they torch the planet for some extra billions - sacrificing human wellbeing on an unprecedented scale. Do they not understand that they immiserate their own futures as well?
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Done it! Recommended.
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
This may be about the UK but has an excellent quote that could be squarely aimed at the Australian Government: ““Future generations will not judge governments by the ingenuity with which they justified expanding fossil fuel production,” the scientists wrote./2 ”
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
This is at the core of much misguided thinking and disinformation.
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Likewise as a climate scientist who began in radio astronomy I can’t understand how such a central and iconic part of your science infrastructure could be lost to current and future generations. 😥
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Kristi Ellingsen @kristiellingsen.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Spectacular lenticular clouds over Hobart now. #Tasmania
UFO like clouds that are really dark with back lit fringes over a suburban scene. Tree silhouettes are on either sides of the image
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
😳 hmm, sauce, goose, gander? AI developers complain of IP theft: Illicit distillation "is IP theft and industrial espionage" and "a national challenge that creates serious national security risks for the United States and democratic allies," Sarah Heck, Anthropic's head of public policy, said on X.
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
A bit thought provoking: (Paywall but refundable in first week) podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
The Day America Cuts Europe Off From AI
Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 9 July · Subscribers Only · 1hr 2min
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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Why did Antarctica freeze millions of years before the Arctic? New research suggests the answer wasn't just climate... Slow-moving mantle waves lifted Antarctica high enough for glaciers to take hold. Once ice formed, powerful feedback loops did the rest. theconversation.com/why-antarcti...
theconversation.com
Why Antarctica froze millions of years before the Arctic – new research
New solutions to two interlinked mysteries reveal how and why the Antarctic’s enormous ice sheet formed.
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Andrew B. Watkins @windjunky.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Me, daughter S and Pandora at Mt. Hotham last year. I'm quoted about my hope that Miss S will be able to enjoy the snow until she is my age. Science says 'maybe'...
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David Jones @ozhillbilly.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Excellent explainer about the record heat in Europe by @windjunky.bsky.social theconversation.com/europe-is-ba...
theconversation.com
Europe is battling a record-breaking heatwave. What’s making it so severe?
A climate expert unpacks the potential causes and risks of extreme heat.
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Reminded today of this critical piece of reporting that escaped me. Maybe others too, so here it is: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...
abc.net.au
Foreign Facebook pages have been promoting One Nation. It wants them to stop
An ABC NEWS Verify investigation uncovers a raft of foreign Facebook accounts targeting Australian users. And they're just the tip of the iceberg.
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Laurel Gale @laurelgale.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
I found this neat tool that lets you generate text and images just from your ideas. It's really good!
a pencil
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Perfect conditions for a winter solstice swim.
Sunrise over a sandy foreshore.
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Priestley Centre for Climate Futures @priestleycentre.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
📢The latest Indicators of Global Climate Change report has been published today: doi.org/10.5194/essd... Created by over 70 leading international scientists, this annual update provides key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence. Read the thread to see key findings 👇 [1/9]
doi.org
Indicators of Global Climate Change 2025: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence
Abstract. In a rapidly changing climate, evidence-based decision-making benefits from up-to-date and timely information. We track twelve key sets of indicators of the state of the climate system, clos...
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Andrew B. Watkins @windjunky.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
The National Climate Risk Assessment was not just a science report, it was a report on existential risk commissioned by the very government that has subsequently ignored it. The corresponding government National Adaptation Plan appears to be a plan for a plan. We had such high hopes.
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 13/06/2026
El Niño is here, which means it's time for me to dust off and refine my old collection of ENSO-related climate visualizations. Check out how much sea surface temperatures have already warmed this year across the equatorial tropical Pacific. Wow! Data from psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded...
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Wicked Newspeak from a once leading nation in Antarctic affairs: “watering down of references to climate change at the request of the United States, which prefers to speak of sea ice loss or generic environmental changes.”
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
More on the ultra-cool science of Australia’s Million Year Ice Core Project: www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2026/an...
antarctica.gov.au
Analysing ancient air in Antarctic ice cores – Australian Antarctic Program (News 2026)
Greenhouse gases trapped in 3,000 year-old Antarctic ice are being extracted and analysed for clues to Earth’s climate past. The gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – were trapped as sno...
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Kate Hendry @krhendry.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
New article out: Antarctic science operations must account for climate change and extreme environmental events @bas.ac.uk www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-03629-2
nature.com
Antarctic science operations must account for climate change and extreme environmental events - Communications Earth & Environment
As extreme environmental events increase in Antarctica, scientific operations will face mounting challenges, as argued in this Perspective, which assesses potential impacts on research stations and ac...
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
It’s been a good two weeks of Wordle. Wordle 1,807 2/6 🟨⬛⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Archive: May 19, 2026 Wordle 1,795 2/6 🟨⬛⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Tied the Wordle Bot 8 times and beaten it 3 times. Maybe time to retire 😬
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
It’s worth reading this excellent thread, but if you don’t, this is a good take-home.
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
ABC burying the lede: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05... He says: "There's this recognition that on so many of these big challenges we are facing, it's not necessarily left versus right, it's actually vested interests and their stranglehold on the major parties versus the Australian people."
abc.net.au
Pocock open to party of independents as One Nation support climbs
The independent senator says Australians are frustrated with a political system that "does not work for them".
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Call it a party or maybe just a nation-wide cohort of independents with ideas and integrity like @davidpocock.bsky.social - I reckon they’d scare the pants off both major parties (albeit LNP already look like Malcolm Fraser in Memphis, iykyk 😉).
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Dr Nathan Kilah @chemistrynathan.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Tell me again mainland footy fans and AFL corporate folk, and build-it-and-all-will-be-excellent-never-mind-the-economic-modeling locals about how much Tasmania needs a stadium. #Priorities #politas www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05...
Cuts
Health ($700m)
Education ($238m)
State Growth ($264m)
Justice ($68m)
Emergency services ($72m)
Worker's compensation
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Australian Antarctic Program Partnership @antarctic.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
"Climate risk information is only as reliable as the modelling infrastructure that underpins it. Neglecting Australian #climate modelling capability would be like continuing to use GPS after deciding to stop maintaining the satellites that make it work." 📝 www.scimex.org/newsfeed/ope...
scimex.org
Open letter to Federal Ministers about impacts of CSIRO job cuts
Open letter to Federal Ministers about impacts of CSIRO job cuts Proposed CSIRO job cuts threaten to cripple Australia’s climate modelling capability The Hon. Chris Bowen MP, Mi
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
bsky.app/profile/wend... This is wilfully crippling our ability to understand what is coming down the climate pipeline and to mange costly and acknowledged risks (www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-chan...) facing our nation. It is madness. Choosing to drive down the highway partly blindfolded.
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Tas van Ommen @tasvo.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Love it that Bluesky is labelled a left wing echo chamber and ideological safe space by the right wing media - simply because they can’t manipulate an algorithm and swamp views they want to dismiss with toxic disinformation. 😆
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The Monthly @themonthly.com.au · 15/05/2026
Read more: mnth.ly/rhkbdhI
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Dr. Peter Neff @icy-pete.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
How do we know old Antarctic ice is old? Got a few minutes? Atmospheric argon isotope dating: a process discovered last century here at UMN (Al Nier) & perfected by scientists at Princeton (Bender). This is COLDEX science funded by NSF and conducted in university communities nationwide.
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Australian Antarctic Program Partnership @antarctic.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
The MYIC @millionyearice.bsky.social project by the Australian Antarctic Program is drilling an ice core to 3,000 metres depth in three-metre segments, and returning the cores in pristine condition to Hobart, Tasmania. Why? And how? Find out at aapp.shorthandstories.com/the-memory-of-ice
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Matt King @deformedearth.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Important new insights on the conditions beneath the fastest changing part of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. This will govern the rate of retreat of the glacier. Now the community needs to upscale these and get them into updated sea projections www.nature.com/articles/s43...
nature.com
Hard rocks and deep wetlands beneath Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica - Communications Earth & Environment
Beneath Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica lies a highly heterogeneous bed of elevated ridges and sediment filled basins as well as an active lake, which presents a level of complexity that current models...
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Valérie Masson-Delmotte @valmasdel.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Shameful www.france24.com/en/europe/20...
france24.com
G7 omits climate change from Paris talks to avoid US clash, France says
A meeting of the G7 nations on the environment begins in Paris on Thursday but climate change has been left off the agenda to avoid a dispute with the United States, France’s ecology minister Monique…
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stranger @strangerous.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Larissa Waters asks former Treasury chief Ken Henry if it’s too simplistic to say wartime gas profits from the war on Iran can either go to Australians, or to overseas investors & shareholders. Henry “That’s not simplistic, that’s how it is!” “It is as simple as that.” 💥 #auspol
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Benjamin Cook @dustybowl.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Anyone know an updated version of this figure (or something similar) showing for different sectors risk at 2 vs 4 deg. AND potential capacity for adaptation to reduce risk? I know the burning embers diagrams, but looking for one that includes adaptation images.theconversation.com/files/182690...
Older plot from IPCC AR5, showing risk of impacts for different sectors at 2 and 4 degrees of warming, along with shading indicating adaptation potential to reduce risks at those two temperature targets
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