New Zealand would also benefit from gaining greater understanding of what effect such climate-linked changes would have on our fishing and farming operations, he said.
Prof Wilson, of the Otago marine science department, was last year appointed to a half-time post as director of the recently established New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute.
The institute initiative was announced last August by the Government after New York philanthropist Julian Robertson, a billionaire, had provided $5.3 million through his Aotearoa Foundation.
Prof Wilson said at that stage the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean held the solutions to ''many of the key questions scientists and policymakers need to answer in order to manage the threats of climate change''.
Prof Wilson said this week the institute, with its public and private funding, would help speed up key Antarctic research.
The institute was ''about to get started'' and would soon be calling for its first research proposals.
Scientists operating from New Zealand's Scott Base, in the Ross Dependency, were well located to investigate some key aspects of Antarctic climate research.
The nearby Ross Ice Shelf acted as an important buffer between warm ocean waters and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, he said.
Ecosystems in the Dry Valleys area could provide sensitive indications of climate change. Any climate-related changes in the major Antarctic Circumpolar Current could also have far-reaching implications, including for New Zealand.
The recent extensive drought in the North Island highlighted the impact changing weather had on our agricultural production.
Much of New Zealand's economy was based on ''ocean and atmospheric conditions'' and it was clearly in New Zealand's interests to know what ''downstream effects'' on our farming and fisheries would flow from Antarctic-linked climate changes.
More research to clarify key aspects of Antarctic climate change and their implications for New Zealand was ''badly needed''.
