British Antarctic Survey

The ocean has absorbed 40% of the CO₂ we've emitted from fossil fuels since the start of the industrial era 🩵 But how does this work? And how might this process be affected by climate change? As BAS PhD student Laura Taylor explains, these are key questions being investigated by the BIOPOLE project. She and the team are currently on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough in the Southern Ocean. Here's what they are doing: 💧 Water samples are collected at various ocean depths 🧪 Samples are analysed for nutrient content and dissolved oxygen levels onboard 🔬 Other water samples are filtered and stored for future chemical analysis 🫧 Back on dry land, biogeochemists will analyse the many forms carbon takes within this water Why it matters: 🤔  Nitrogen, phosphorous, and carbon are the building blocks of living things, and are found in higher levels in polar oceans than the rest of the world’s oceans. BIOPOLE is working to understand the availability of these nutrients and carbon in polar oceans and how they may be changed by rapid climate change, to help predict future ocean health. #oceanhealth #oceanheroes #bluecarbon #oceaninbalance #climatechange

Year-end scramble getting you down? ⏳ Applications for lots of our Antarctic #jobs are closing in the next week. They include vehicles manager at Halley Research Station, and radio operator and IT engineer at Rothera Research Station. These are jobs unlike any other, in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Interested in working with British Antarctic Survey in Antarctica? ✅ Current vacancies here: https://lnkd.in/dcT2F7z 🛎️ Register for job alerts: https://lnkd.in/eqXchGxy

This is the search for tiny life 🦠 From algae and moss, to mites and bacteria - Antarctica is teaming with life. A lot of it is just really small. In the latest episode of ICEWORLD podcast, Nadia chats to four Dutch researchers from the Gerritz Laboratory at Rothera Research Station. 🥞 Mareike Bach talks about her fascinating search for sea ice algae, drilling into pancake ice from a cradle suspended from a ship. 🌊 Dr Swan Sow maps microbial life in the Southern Ocean to understand how climate change impacts nutrient cycles. 🐜 Dr Stef Bokhorst explores the relationship between Antarctic plants and invertebrates. 🌱 Seringe Huisman uses satellite imagery to map mosses and lichens in Antarctica 🎧 Search ICEWORLD on your podcast app https://lnkd.in/exruimeP 📸 Timo Hecken, Mareike Bach, Alysa Fisher, Stef Bokhorst

🦭 This International Seal Day, meet ‘Captain Whiskers’ - a cheeky crabeater seal who surprised our team at King Edward Point Research Station! Despite their name, crabeater seals don't actually eat crabs, but filter krill through their unique teeth. This unusual visitor reminds us of the incredible marine biodiversity we work to protect in Antarctica. Video: A crabeater seal lounging at our KEP research station. Credit: Amy Kennedy #InternationalSealDay #BritishAntarcticSurvey #MarineBiodiversity #PolarResearch #AntarcticWildlife

Delving 300 metres below the surface... 🌊 ...is what a team of scientists from BAS as well as international institutions embarked on in the Southern Ocean last month. In the waters surrounding the island of South Georgia, these scientists conducted an important research expedition to explore the diverse marine life thriving in this area of incredibly rich biology - with the mission of investigating icefish and toothfish. Aboard the Polar Seafish Vessel, Sil, the scientists: 🌫️ Battled 50-knot winds and 4-metre swells of ocean waves 🏷️ Tagged more Patagonian toothfish than any survey in the last 20 years 🌙 Trialled a Neuston Net, capturing larval fish at the water's surface at night ⏬ Ventured deeper than ever before: between 400-750 metres 🦑 Uncovered unique deep-sea species like king crabs, warty squids and dagger-tooth fishes It is thanks to funding from the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI), and the UK Government's Blue belt Programme that the two-week trawl survey could happen, and (quite literally!) reach new depths. The data collected will play a key role in shaping the sustainable management of South Georgia’s fisheries, and ensuring the long-term health of these vital marine ecosystems Full story in comments 👇

Happy World Day for Glaciers! 🎉 This year, for the first time, glaciers are getting a whole day of celebration to themselves 🥳 - and rightly so! One of the most well known is #ThwaitesGlacier, which is around 192,000 km²! But what else is there to know about them? Well, glaciers are... 🧊 Vast, slowly moving frozen masses - like frozen rivers of ice ❄️ Formed by large amounts of snow, compacted on mountains or near the Earth's poles 🚰 Freshwater reservoirs which provide water for millions of people 🌍 Essential to Earth's ecosystem by regulating sea levels and supporting biodiversity 🩺 Indicators of the planet's health For all these reasons and more, this day of celebration for the planet's glaciers encourages us to learn more about these stunning natural phenomena, and take action to safeguard the vital role they play in sustaining life on Earth #Glacier #WorldDayforGlaciers #UNOSD #UN #SDGs 📸 Chris Gilbert, Pete Bucktrout, Paul Holland, Elisabeth Biersma

What happens in the secret world under the Antarctic ice? 🤔 That's the question the international team on board the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel, the 'Falkor (too)' have been investigating. Working in the Bellingshausen Sea, the team, which included BAS paleoceanographer and marine geologist, Dr Svetlana Radionovskaya, changed their research plans after A84 - an iceberg the size of Chicago - calved from the George VI Ice Shelf in Antarctica, revealing a newly exposed section of seafloor, never before accessible to humans. Observing the 510 square kilometre (~200 square mile), area of seafloor over eight days, the team gained new insights into how ecosystems functions beneath ice shelves, and were surprised to find vibrant ecosystems at depths as great as 1300 metres. With large corals and sponges supporting an array of animal life, including icefish, giant sea spiders, and octopi, the size of the animals and level of ecosystem biodiversity means the scientists suspect the communities they have discovered have been there for decades - perhaps even longer - and contains several new species. Just some of the work the team aboard the 'Falkor (too)' did during the investigation was: 🪸 Collected biological and geological samples 🔄 Used automated vehicles to examine the ocean circulation of the region 💧 Inspected the impacts of glacial meltwater on physical and chemical seawater properties 🧊 Studied the past behaviour of Antarctic ice sheet dynamics 📸 RV Falkor (too) Read full story in comments 👇

🧠 This Neurodiversity Celebration Week, we're proud to spotlight how inclusive workplaces benefit everyone. Meet Claudette, Natalia and Lou from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), who share how flexible working and supportive management have transformed their experience as neurodiverse professionals. "Making our spaces inclusive, and introducing things like flexible working, makes everyone's jobs better, whether you're neurodiverse or not," says Lou, our apprentice project manager. At BAS, our Neurodiversity Staff Network is working to create genuine allyship and practical accommodations that address real needs. Read their full stories and learn how your organisation can better support neurodivergent colleagues: link in comments👇 #NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek #WorkplaceInclusion #Neurodiversity #FlexibleWorking #EDI

1.2 million years - have you heard of ice this old?! 🧊 As the oldest ice ever extracted from Antarctica, these ice cores were retrieved from the Little Dome C site as part of the Beyond EPICA - Oldest Ice project. The core are being transported to Europe and are: 🛥️ Currently aboard the research vessel Laura Bassi 🥶 Stored in specialised containers at -50°C ⏰ Expected to arrive in Ravenna, Italy, on 16 April The sample cores will then be distributed to research labs around Europe, including BAS in Cambridge, for analysis. BAS ice core scientist Dr Robert Mulvaney, who was part of the site selection survey work, said: "BAS specialises in analysing soluble impurities in the ice, and others will join us with their instruments in our lab to measure the water isotopes and dust components. The greenhouse gases trapped in air bubbles in the ice will also be measured in Copenhagen on a similar section of ice. Taken together, the analyses will reveal the Earth's climate and atmosphere stretching back between 700,000 and 1.5 million years ago." The project aims to unlock crucial insights into Earth's past climate and atmospheric conditions dating back over 1.2 million years, providing critical data for predicting future climate trends and long-term impact on the planet 📸 PNRA, IPEV Link to full story in comments 👇

Have you heard about the (westerly) winds of change? 🍃 In a new study, scientists have discovered how the strength and position of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds have changed significantly over the past 11,000 years: 🌡️ When temperatures on Earth were generally warmer than they are today, these winds were closer to Antarctica 🌀 Between 10,000 and 7,500 years ago, the winds shifted northward and reached their strongest level, intensifying directly over the Southernmost point of South America 🌎 The winds then gradually weakened, moving further north as temperatures cooled, and settling across Chile and Argentina where they exist today These scientists - including some based at BAS - have uncovered that the strength and position of these winds are affected by global temperature change. Rising temperatures on Earth could mean that these winds could be set to change again, with potentially significant consequences for climate and sea levels worldwide. Link to the full story in comments 👇