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| Nick Gales became the director of the Australian Antarctic Division in 2015 after years as a research scientist. (Supplied: AAD) |
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| Dr Gales will continue his role on the International Whaling Commission. (ABC News: Carla Howarth) |
Nick Gales has lost count of the number of times he has ventured to Antarctica.
He thinks he has spent roughly three years on the frozen continent, but he won't be going back.The vet and wildlife biologist began working at the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) in 2001 and spent four years as chief scientist.
He took on the role of director in 2015 and will retire on Thursday after a successful career driving climate change research and working to protect whales.
Despite losing count of the number of times he's ventured south, Dr Gales vividly remembers with awe his first winter in Antarctica.
"It's indescribable," he said.
"You see the photographs of Antarctica and it's a truly beautiful place and you can tell that, but to experience it first hand is something very, very special."Certainly I recall in my first winter south seeing the southern lights, getting up in the middle of the night in winter minus 40 degrees, crisp and very, very cold seeing these dancing lights in the sky, is absolutely extraordinary."
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| The Aurora Australis is one of the highlights of being an Antarctic scientist, Dr Gales says. (Supplied: Shane Ness) |
"It's almost difficult to overstate the important role that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean play in actually driving our climate," he said.
Sea ice retreat is exposing ice shelf fronts to destructive wave action. (Australian Antarctic Division) (ABC News)
"With human climate change, those things are expressed in Antarctica and that changes the way Antarctica will affect our daily lives.
"Sea levels rise, as warming atmosphere and warming oceans break down those ice shelves."
Dr Gales said the ice shelves are rapidly breaking down in the Arctic.
"And we're beginning to see in parts of Antarctica rapid change down there as well," he said."Everyone is showing very clear evidence that humans are driving climate change and are predicting broadly what is going to happen."
Dr Gales is passionate about conservation and will continue in his role as Australia's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission.
"I don't think in these big areas, individuals on their own make the difference, so I hope I've contributed a big deal to the team effort, that has seen that shift in the agenda towards conservation," he said.
"There is absolutely no scientific basis for killing a whale in the name of science.
"We can do just as well with non-lethal science and we can do far better with our understanding of marine mammals."
Australia has long opposed commercial whaling and in 2010, the Rudd government challenged Japan's illegal whaling practices in the International Court of Justice.
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| Dr Gales (left) helps with seal research in his earlier years as an Antarctic scientist. (Supplied: AAD) |
Dr Gales played a role in the case.
"It was a privilege to participate in Australia's court case against Japan in the International Court of Justice, where the first independent arbiter, the highest court in the land, concluded just that, that there wasn't a scientific case being made," he said.
Dr Gales will now spend his time sailing and travelling with his wife.
The AAD's new director will be announced in the coming days.
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| Nick Gales (left) with seal researchers on Macquarie Island. (Supplied: AAD) |
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