Three peer-reviewed papers in Nature and Nature Geoscience published in recent weeks report the work of science collaborations between British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and leading UK and international researchers. The findings are the result of an urgent push by the international scientific community to understand better the causes of ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the contribution that ...

British Antarctic Survey geologists are participating in the ‘Discovering Earth’ Lyme Regis Fossil Festival from 4–6 May in the Dorset town of Lyme Regis. Come along to see for yourself the wonderful fossils from Antarctica that have shown scientists that the frozen continent was once a tropical rainforest and roaming with dinosaurs. Fossils have played a pivotal role in the bir...

A new study of the wandering albatross – one of the largest birds on Earth – has shown that some of the birds are breeding earlier in the season compared with 30 years ago. Reporting online this month (April) in the journal Oikos, a British team of scientists describe how they studied the breeding habits of the wandering albatross on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. The...

Reporting this week (Thursday 26 April) in the journal Nature, an international team of scientists led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has established that warm ocean currents are the dominant cause of recent ice loss from Antarctica. New techniques have been used to differentiate, for the first time, between the two known causes of melting ice shelves — warm ocean currents attacking the u...

Ary Rongel in brash (Photo: Rod Strachan, British Antarctic Survey) Early on Easter Sunday morning (8th April), British Antarctic Survey ship RRS Ernest Shackleton was alerted to assist a Brazilian navy vessel Ary Rongel from thick pack ice in the north eastern end of Bransfield Straits near the South Shetland Islands on the Antarctic Peninsula. The Ary Rongel — an icebreaker and oceano...

A new study using satellite mapping technology reveals there are twice as many emperor penguins in Antarctica than was previously thought. The results provide an important benchmark for monitoring the impact of environmental change on the population of this iconic bird. Emperor penguins on the sea ice close to Halley Research Station Reporting this week in the journal PLoS ONE, an international...

The new UK Antarctic Science Conference 2012 (UKASC2012), organised by British Antarctic Survey, with funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is now accepting registrations for this year’s event. The three-day conference invites Antarctic scientists from around the UK to meet at the Kaetsu Centre in Cambridge from 12–14th September 2012. The closing date for regist...

Professor Eric Wolff, FRS. This week in the journal Nature, Eric Wolff of British Antarctic Survey reviews an article by Jeremy Shakun et al. on the causes for the end of the last ice age. In their article, Shakun and his colleagues investigate the sequence of events at the end of the last ice age, or glacial period, between 21,000 and 10,000 years ago. There are several theories of what happ...

The BBC Frozen Planet series, which generated huge public interest in the polar regions, continues to engage large audiences. At the recent Missoula International Wildlife Film Festival in the US, episode 7 of the series ‘On Thin Ice’ which featured glaciologist Dr Andy Smith from British Antarctic Survey was awarded the Sapphire Award (Second Place) within the Best of Festival categor...

As part of an international collaboration between British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Netherlands Polar Programme — managed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Earth and Life Sciences Division (NWO-ALW) three new laboratories arrived at Rothera Research Station yesterday (Tuesday 2 April) onboard the RRS Ernest Shackleton. The new Dutch laboratories are unloaded fr...

British Antarctic Survey (BAS) staff are heading to St Paul’s Cathedral, London, on Thursday 29 March to pay their respects to Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his companions who died in Antarctica exactly 100 years ago. They will join up to 2000 people to participate in a commemorative service to remember the great explorer and his men who travelled to Antarctica 100 years ago and never retu...

The overturning circulation in the Southern Ocean is fundamentally important to global climate, not least because it draws down anthropogenic carbon from the atmosphere and stores it deep in the ocean, thereby acting as a sink that slows the rate of global warming. This overturning is partly wind-forced, and the strengthening of the winds in recent decades has led to fears that this carbon si...

Our warm congratulations go to Professor Eric Wolff who has been awarded the Geological Society’s prestigious Lyell Medal for his significant contribution to science by means of his substantial body of research. Professor Eric Wolff Eric is a world-renowned scientist most notable for his contributions in the study of ice core palaeoclimate. He leads the BAS science programme Chemistry a...

Seeds attached to Antarctic visitors’ clothing and bags may introduce invasive alien plant species that could threaten the continent’s ecosystems, according to research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) this week. An international team of scientists, including environmental scientist Dr. Kevin A. Hughes from the British Antarctic Survey (BA...

Universities and Science Minister David Willetts has returned from British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station where he experienced first-hand how our scientists are contributing to the truly international effort to help society live with and adapt to climate change. The visit, which took place in February marked the centenary of Captain Scott’s final expedition to the South P...

A new European Union system to forecast space weather goes live today (1 March). Led by researchers at British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the €2.54m SPACECAST project will provide frequent and reliable web-based forecasts so that satellite operators can take action to protect their satellites from space radiation damage. Researchers from six European countries, working in partnership with ...

BAS biologist Dr Simon Morley holding a Patagonian toothfish - Dissostichus eleginoides, about 1.2m long at King Edward Point Station on South Georgia The Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) announced this week the establishment of a large sustainable use Marine Protected Area (MPA) covering over 1 million km2 of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) Ma...

A new ice core successfully drilled from the Antarctica Peninsula last month (January) may shed new light on how the vulnerable West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) has responded to climate change in the past. The Fletcher ice core drilling team A seven-person team — a collaboration between British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l’Environ...

A CTD profiler being lowered in to the Southern Ocean to measure conductivity, temperature and density. Credit: Paul Holland/British Antarctic Survey A new observing system for the study of the Southern Ocean has been created to improve understanding of global challenges including climate change, sea-level rise, ocean acidification and the sustainable management of marine resources. An internati...

A new gallery, celebrating the life of Antarctic explorer Captain Lawrence Oates, will officially open on Saturday 10th March 2012 at 11:00am to mark the 100th anniversary of his death. Captain Oates was a member of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole (1911-12) and is remembered as the fearless Antarctic hero who, as conditions worsened on the return jou...