The Antarctic Marine Engineering Team is responsible for providing engineering support and expertise in the design, development, manufacture and support of equipment used to conduct BAS research. Disciplines include electronic, mechanical, software and communications engineering.
The team’s main function is to develop systems for science data acquisition purposes. The requirements of these systems are often quite diverse and usually unique in their design. Much of the equipment is specially developed and is application specific. However, the group has developed equipment that has applications in other areas and where practical this technology has been utilised on other programmes.
The group provides support during many science programmes and has key responsibilities for marine science cruises and airborne survey work. Coupled with this is a requirement to provide engineering support in areas such as communications and systems monitoring.
The team has a very wide remit at BAS and is dedicated to providing a high quality engineering service to its users, whilst maintaining quality, flexibility and efficiency.
31 October, 2023
Polar science could reach new heights as researchers prepare to test the new Windracers ULTRA autonomous drone in Antarctica this season. A new, state-of-the-art autonomous drone capable of carrying a …
9 March, 2018 by Carwyn Davies
Mechanical engineer Carwyn Davies, from British Antarctic Survey’s Antarctic Marine Engineering (AME) is working onboard the RRS James Clark Ross with our science team to investigate Larsen C Benthos. Find …
16 November, 2024 by Neil Cobbett, Tracy Moffat-Griffin
Meteoroids of sub-milligram sizes burn up high in the Earth's atmosphere and cause streaks of plasma trails detectable by meteor radars. The altitude at which these trails, or meteors, form…5 September, 2024 by Carl Robinson, Keith Nicholls, Tom Jordan
As a part of the project "Melting at Thwaites grounding zone and its control on sea level" (MELT), we developed a compact 750-MHz ice-penetrating radar for phase-sensitive measurements to infer…Read more on An UWB UHF Ice-Penetreating Radar for the Thwaites Melt Project
2 February, 2024 by Andrew Kavanagh, Gareth Chisham, Neil Cobbett, Paul Breen, Timothy Barnes
Solar tides play a major role in the dynamics of the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). Hence, a comprehensive understanding of these tides is important for successful modelling of…1 February, 2024 by Laura Gerrish, Michael Rose
The Lost Meteorites of Antarctica project was the first UK-led Antarctic meteorite recovery expedition. The project has successfully confirmed two new high-density meteorite stranding zones in the Hutchison Icefield and…Read more on Overview of the Lost Meteorites of Antarctica field campaigns
1 September, 2023 by Alvaro Arenas Pingarron, Carl Robinson, Hugh Corr, Tom Jordan, Alvaro Pingarron Arenas
Polarimetric Airborne Scientific INstrument, mark 2 (PASIN2) is a 150 MHz coherent pulsed radar with the purpose of deep ice sounding for bedrock, subglacial channels and ice-water interface detection in…28 June, 2023 by Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse, Peter Enderlein
Deep-sea benthic fauna is vital for a well-functioning marine ecosystem but is increasingly under threat from a changing environment. To monitor and conserve this fauna, an understanding of their large-scale…Read more on Pan-Atlantic Comparison of Deep-Sea Macro- and Megabenthos
1 June, 2023 by Dieter Tetzner, Julius Rix, Robert Mulvaney
The British Antarctic Survey's (BAS) Rapid Access Isotope Drill (RAID), designed for rapid drilling to survey prospective ice core sites, has been deployed at multiple Antarctic locations over 6 years.…16 February, 2023 by Catrin Thomas, David Vaughan, James Smith, James Wake, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker, Peter Davis, Catrin Thomas
Thwaites Glacier represents 15% of the ice discharge from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and influences a wider catchment. Because it is grounded below sea level, Thwaites Glacier is thought…Read more on Heterogeneous melting near the Thwaites Glacier grounding line
16 February, 2023 by Irena Vankova, James Smith, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker, Peter Davis, Robert Arthern
Thwaites Glacier is one of the fastest-changing ice–ocean systems in Antarctica1,2,3. Much of the ice sheet within the catchment of Thwaites Glacier is grounded below sea level on bedrock that…Read more on Suppressed basal melting in the eastern Thwaites Glacier grounding zone
25 January, 2023 by Neil Cobbett, Tracy Moffat-Griffin
The mesosphere/lower thermosphere (MLT, 80–100 km) region is an important boundary between Earth's atmosphere below and space above and may act as a sensitive indicator for anthropogenic climate change. Existing…1 November, 2022 by Bjorg Apeland, Clara Manno, Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Sophie Fielding
Estimating the amount of organic carbon leaving the upper water column and becoming sequestered in the deep ocean is a major challenge in our understanding the oceanic C cycle. This…15 October, 2022 by Bjorg Apeland, Clara Manno, Elisa Bergami, Peter Enderlein, Rad Sharma
Marine plastic pollution is a global and pervasive environmental issue. Knowledge on plastic degradation in natural settings is still very limited due to current technological limitations, hampering our understanding of…
25 July, 2022 by Alice Fremand, Carl Robinson, David Vaughan, Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Helen Peat, Julien Bodart, Tom Jordan
Over the past 50 years, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has been one of the major acquirers of aerogeophysical data over Antarctica, providing scientists with gravity, magnetic, and radar datasets…22 July, 2022 by Neil Cobbett, Tracy Moffat-Griffin
The mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) is a dynamic layer of the earth’s atmosphere. This region marks the interface at which neutral atmosphere dynamics begin to influence the ionosphere and…20 April, 2022 by David Newnham, Mark Clilverd, William Clark
Ground-based observations of 11.072 GHz atmospheric ozone (O3) emission have been made using the Ny-Ålesund Ozone in the Mesosphere Instrument (NAOMI) at the UK Arctic Research Station (latitude 78∘55′0′′ N, longitude 11∘55′59′′ E),…Read more on Ground-based Ku-band microwave observations of ozone in the polar middle atmosphere
1 February, 2022 by Jack Humby, Julius Rix, Liz Thomas, Rebecca Tuckwell, Robert Mulvaney
Dissolved and particulate sodium, magnesium and calcium are analyzed in ice cores to determine past changes in sea ice extent, terrestrial dust variability and atmospheric aerosol transport efficiency. They are…1 October, 2021 by Florian Mekhaldi, Julius Rix, Robert Mulvaney
Ice cores are excellent archives for obtaining long and continuous 10Be records. However, traditional ice core 10Be measurements required a lot of ice (0.5–1kg) and often needed to be connected…Read more on The potential for a continuous 10Be record measured on ice chips from a borehole
1 September, 2021 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Julius Rix, Rebecca Tuckwell, Robert Mulvaney, Scott Polfrey
To understand the long-term climate and glaciological evolution of the ice sheet in the region bordering the Weddell Sea, the British Antarctic Survey has undertaken a series of successful ice…Read more on Ice drilling on Skytrain Ice Rise and Sherman Island, Antarctica
1 September, 2021 by Andy Smith, David Goodger, Julius Rix, Keith Makinson, Paul Anker, Scott Polfrey
Recent drilling successes on Rutford Ice Stream in West Antarctica demonstrate the viability of hot water drilling subglacial access holes to depths >2000 m. Having techniques to access deep subglacial…Read more on Development of a clean hot water drill to access Subglacial Lake CECs, West Antarctica
1 September, 2021 by Andy Smith, Dominic Hodgson, Daniel Ashurst, James Smith, Keith Makinson, Paul Anker, Peter Davis
Subglacial sediments have the potential to reveal information about the controls on glacier flow, changes in ice-sheet history and characterise life in those environments. Retrieving sediments from beneath the ice,…Read more on A new percussion hammer mechanism for a borehole deployable subglacial sediment corer
