BAS-Arctic Working Group
Working Group purpose
The Arctic Working Group is a group of more than 60 BAS scientists and operations staff who are currently working in the Arctic or have aspirations to work there. The AWG was started in 2018 to bring together researchers in different fields to share their experiences of Arctic research, to enable new collaborations, and to maximise the potential output of this group by coordinating efforts and knowledge regarding Arctic projects, funding calls and logistics.
Terms of Reference
Content coming soon
Our priorities
Content coming soon
Map of Arctic Working Group projects
Arctic marine geophysics
This research focuses on investigating the glacial histories of Arctic ice sheets and ice caps using the marine geological record preserved on continental margins. By reconstructing past ice sheets, their …
SDOO
Abrupt warming episodes punctuate Greenland ice core records throughout the last glacial period. These events were first identified in two Greenland stable water isotope records (Dansgaard et al., 1993), and …
Climate and Ice during the Last Interglacial
During the Last Interglacial (129-116 thousand years ago, ka) CO2 and global temperature were both higher than they were before human industrialisation. By examining Last Interglacial climate, we thus gain …
TEA-COSI
TEA_COSI assesses Arctic Sea-ice which has an important impact on currents and ocean circulations around the globe
UKESM-BAS
Reliable projections of the Earth’s climate are at the heart of scientific support for international efforts to address global change. There is increasing recognition that reliable projections require that physical …
ESA IAP ArcticSat project
Situational awareness in the Arctic
ICE-ARC
physicists, chemists, biologists, economists, and sociologists from 21 institutes in 11 countries across Europe assess the rapid retreat and collapse of Arctic sea-ice cover
SIOS
Svalbard Integrated Earth Observing System (SIOS) is an international infrastructure project. There are 26 partners from Europe and Asia involved. The essential objective is to establish better coordinated services for …
SEANA
Global shipping is undergoing significant changes. In January 2020 the maximum sulphur emission by ships in international waters will reduce from 3.5% to 0.5% by mass, as a result of …
Data As Art
DATA AS ART is an ongoing science & art project in development at NERC’s British Antarctic Survey (BAS). It visualises science data (in its widest definition), to create stunning and …
EISCAT Science Support
The UK EISCAT support group (UKESG) is a collaboration between the British Antarctic Survey and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, funded via the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) EISCAT, the …
Iceland Greenland seas Project
PI: Ian Renfrew (University of East Anglia) CO-I’s: Tom Bracegirdle, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Alexandra Weiss PDRA’s: Andrew Elvidge (University of East Anglia), James Pope NERC Grant: NE/N009924/1 Project Partners: Robert Pickart …
ACSIS
Major changes are occurring across the North Atlantic climate system: in the ocean and atmosphere temperatures and circulation, in sea ice thickness and extent, and in key atmospheric constituents such …
Increasing ship traffic in Inuit Nunangat
17 August, 2023
Researchers from British Antarctic Survey are heading to the Canadian Arctic this week to learn more about the impacts of increasing ship traffic in Inuit Nunangat. In recent years, climate …
Poet Laureate visits UK Arctic Research Station
14 July, 2023
The UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage CBE has travelled to the UK Arctic Research Station, where he will create new works inspired by the visit. While hosted at the UK …
Britain’s Arctic Research Station celebrates 30 years of science and monitoring climate change
28 September, 2021
The Arctic Station in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard in Norway, the UK’s permanent Arctic research facility, celebrates its 30 years anniversary this week (Tuesday 28 September) as it continues to undertake critical …
BAS celebrates International Day of Women and Girls in Science
11 February, 2022 by Melody Clark
Today, 11 February, is International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a global initiative led by UNESCO and UN-Women. To celebrate, we have asked some of our female staff …
Silicon isotopes reveal the impact of fjordic processes on the transport of reactive silicon from glaciers to coastal regions
20 December, 2024 by Kate Hendry
Accelerated mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet leads to retreating glaciers and enhanced freshwater runoff to adjacent coastal regions, potentially providing additional essential nutrients, such as silicon, to downstream…Direct Geologic Constraints on the Timing of Late Holocene Ice Thickening in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, Antarctica
19 December, 2024 by Jonathan Adams, Joanne Johnson, Stephen Roberts
Constraining past West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) change helps validate numerical models simulating future ice sheet dynamics. Following rapid deglaciation during the mid-Holocene, ice near Thwaites Glacier was ∼35 m…Uncharted territory: the arrival of Psychoda albipennis (Zetterstedt, 1850) (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Maritime Antarctica
17 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Despite increasing awareness of the threats they pose, exotic species continue to arrive in Antarctica with anthropogenic assistance, some of which inevitably have the potential to become aggressively invasive. Here,…Meridional Wind in the Upper Stratosphere: A Source of Winter NAO Predictability
11 December, 2024 by Elizabeth Collingwood, Gareth Marshall, Hua Lu, John King
Improvement of subseasonal to seasonal North Atlantic winter forecasting requires better prediction of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the dominant mode of variability in the Northern Hemisphere. Despite recent research…Read more on Meridional Wind in the Upper Stratosphere: A Source of Winter NAO Predictability
A cosmopolitan Serendipita forms mycothalli with sub-Antarctic leafy liverworts
8 December, 2024 by Chester Sands, George Foot, Kevin Newsham, Will Goodall-Copestake
The occurrence of mycothalli, symbioses between liverworts and fungi bearing similarities to mycorrhizas, is poorly documented in sub-Antarctica, and biogeographical patterns in Serendipita, one of the main fungal genera forming…Read more on A cosmopolitan Serendipita forms mycothalli with sub-Antarctic leafy liverworts
Brief communication: New perspectives on the skill of modelled sea ice trends in light of recent Antarctic sea ice loss
5 December, 2024 by Caroline Holmes, Jeremy Wilkinson, Paul Holland, Thomas Bracegirdle
Most climate models do not reproduce the 1979–2014 increase in Antarctic sea ice cover. This was a contributing factor in successive Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports allocating low confidence…Circumpolar and regional seascape drivers of genomic variation in a Southern Ocean octopus
4 December, 2024 by Katrin Linse
Understanding how ecological, environmental and geographic features influence population genetic patterns provides crucial insights into a species' evolutionary history, as well as their vulnerability or resilience under climate change. In…Antarctic pelagic ecosystems on a warming planet
3 December, 2024 by Michael Meredith
High-latitude pelagic marine ecosystems are vulnerable to climate change because of the intertwining of sea/continental ice dynamics, physics, biogeochemistry, and food-web structure. Data from the West Antarctic Peninsula allow us…Read more on Antarctic pelagic ecosystems on a warming planet
Shallow coverage in shallow waters: the incompleteness of intertidal species inventories in biodiversity database records
2 December, 2024 by Jakob Thyrring, Lloyd Peck
The availability of online biodiversity data has increased in recent decades, aiding our understanding of diversity patterns and species richness–environment relationships across temporal and spatial scales. However, even the most…Extremely low biodiversity Arctic intertidal habitats as sentinels for environmental change
2 December, 2024 by Huw Griffiths, Stephen Roberts
The Arctic is undergoing dramatic changes, including an unprecedented decline in sea ice. Previous studies have shown the severe structuring impact of sea ice scour upon polar intertidal communities. A…Phylogeography of Cold Water Soft Coral Alcyonium spp. (Anthozoa, Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) Between South America and the West Antarctic Peninsula
2 December, 2024 by Simon Morley
The Antarctic marine environment has a unique geologic and climatic history that has contributed to the evolution of high species diversity. Given the current trend of environmental warming, understanding the…Historical occurrence of Antarctic icebergs within mercantile shipping routes and the exceptional events of the 1890s
1 December, 2024 by Jeremy Wilkinson
A major consideration for maritime activity in the Southern Hemisphere is the northern limit of icebergs, or the Southern Ocean Limit Of Known Ice (SOLOKI). This analysis of historical reports…Deciphering stable water isotope records of firn cores from a strongly maritime, high-accumulation site on the Antarctic Peninsula
1 December, 2024 by Liz Thomas
Stable water isotope records of six firn cores retrieved from two adjacent plateaus on the northern Antarctic Peninsula between 2014 and 2016 are presented and investigated for their connections with…Diurnal temperature fluctuation inhibits the growth of an Antarctic fungus
1 December, 2024 by Kevin Newsham
The surface temperatures of Antarctic soils and bryophyte colonies can fluctuate from close to freezing point to approximately 20 °C under clear skies around solar noon during midsummer. However, whether diurnally…Read more on Diurnal temperature fluctuation inhibits the growth of an Antarctic fungus
Community assembly among potential invasive plants in Antarctica shaped by life history characteristics and climate warming
1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Species arrival sequence in new habitats impacts plant community development. This ‘priority-effect’ is documented, but mechanisms by which early arriving plants dominate future communities are less clear, complicating our ability…Green beauty unveiled: Exploring the potential of microalgae for skin whitening, photoprotection and anti-aging applications in cosmetics
1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Microalgae are gaining considerable attention in the field of cosmeceuticals due to their unique profile. In particular, the diverse range of valuable bioactive compounds isolated from microalgae are known to…Dye tracing of upward brine migration in snow
1 December, 2024 by Gaelle Veyssiere, Jeremy Wilkinson
Salt is often present in the snow overlying seasonal sea ice, and has profound thermodynamic and electromagnetic effects. However, its provenance and behaviour within the snow remain uncertain. We describe…Pathogenicity of psychrotolerant strains of Antarctic Pseudogmynoascus fungi reveals potential opportunistic profiles
1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Recent studies have demonstrated the presence of fungal taxa in the extreme ecosystems of Antarctica that are known to opportunistically infect humans and animals. Among these are members of the…On the terrestrial and freshwater invertebrate diversity of the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard: a revised species inventory and synopsis of the community composition
1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Arctic terrestrial invertebrate biodiversity is generally poorly known, but the archipelago of Svalbard has one of the most up-to-date inventories of its terrestrial and freshwater faunas of any Arctic region,…Native woody species depend on the soil microbiome to establish on burned soils, while non‐native do not
1 December, 2024 by Kevin Newsham
1. Wildfires are important natural disturbances with profound ecological impacts. However, our understanding of how to restore plant–soil microbiome interactions following wildfires remains limited, revealing a key knowledge gap in…
