Dr Rintoul grew up in a house where science was the norm. His mother was a science teacher and would bring microscopes home from school to share the research with her family. It is no surprise that Dr Rintoul dedicated his life to the field ever since.

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"Every time I go to Antarctica I think, 'wow, I can't believe I'm doing this'. I feel very lucky Antarctica has been able to be my second office, and that I get the privilege of going there many times and seeing that special part of the world," he said.

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However, the researcher will be adding another prestigious honour to his name as he has been awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia, or AO.

"I got an email [about the award], and I was blown away, it's a tremendous honour," he said.

Dr Rintoul has spent time with the Australian Academy of Science as a fellow, past member, and council member, and has worked as a leader with the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre.

He has worn many hats with CSIRO - and also within the Division of Marine Research - including project leader, interim director, acting chief, theme leader, and senior principal research scientist.

On top of this, he has held co-chair and member positions with Climate and Ocean - Variability, Predictability and Change, and World Ocean Circulation Experiment.

All of his roles have been held while researching many different climate science-related projects.

"From a science perspective, the work that my colleagues and I have done has helped show how important the Southern Ocean is," he said. "We have been able to make some advances that are putting us in a better position to respond to climate change."

Dr Rintoul has no plans to stop his research and is currently examining how changes in the Southern Ocean will affect the Antarctic ice sheet.