Alex Pyne
Alex Pyne, of Wellington, received the New Zealand Antarctic Medal for services to Antarctic engineering. Mr Pyne has been involved in Antarctic research since 1979. He has managed many of Victoria University of Wellington’s Antarctic expeditions, which included working with the CIROS drilling project which achieved a record drilling depth. This success was recognised by the award of the Polar Medal in 1990. Since then he has used his skills in Antarctic drilling technology and field operations to develop new techniques and increase the capability of the first system designed for drilling from floating ice platforms. The latest system, the ANDRILL McMurdo Sound Project, has allowed scientists to investigate and report on warmer climactic periods in the past when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet did not exist and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was highly variable. Mr Pyne designed and supervised the operation of drill systems for the Cape Roberts Project from 1997 to 1999 and the ANDRILL Project from 2006 to 2008. This work has entailed a total of 37 months in Antarctica from 1990 to 2009.