BAS provides the UK’s only capability to recover and analyse ice cores (up to 1000 m). We provide ice core drills for deployment by research teams around the world, and operate state-of-the-art laboratories in Cambridge to provide a wide range of climatologically and environmentally-relevant chemical, gas and stable isotope analyses.
Ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland are drilled, processed and analysed by BAS scientists and engineers. Laboratory facilities in Cambridge allow the analysis and interpretation of ice cores dating from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years old. The current facilities allow ice to be stored, processed and analysed, using a number of analytical chemistry techniques (e.g. ICP-mass spectrometry and Fast-ion chromatography) to provide information from the past to help to predict the future.
Science Programme Coordinator
BAS Science strategy team, Ice Dynamics and Palaeoclimate team
Ice Core Drilling Engineer
Antarctic marine engineering team, Ice Dynamics and Palaeoclimate team
17 July, 2018 by Lisa Hauge
A new blog from ISOL-ICE project team member Lisa Hauge, who describes recent progress in the lab. Read the team’s earlier blog here. During the last 3 months the ISOL-ICE project has made …
18 December, 2017 by Robert Mulvaney
This Antarctic season BAS scientist Dr Robert Mulvaney is taking part in the ongoing hunt for the oldest ice record Beyond Epica. Using a variety of different techniques, he and …
15 December, 2017 by Markus Frey
A new blog from the ISOL-ICE project team describes recent progress in the lab. Read the team’s earlier blog here. Holly Winton and Lisa Hauge have completed now with great success their …
23 November, 2017 by Robert Mulvaney
BAS glaciologist Dr Robert Mulvaney journeys deep into Antarctica where he and the team continue their search for the oldest ice record of atmosphere and climate – hopefully stretching back 1.5 million years.
19 October, 2017 by Holly Winton
A new blog from Polar Atmospheric Ice Chemist Dr Holly Winton, who is part of the ISOL-ice research project, explaining the process from fieldwork on the Polar Plateau to laboratory work …
7 February, 2017 by Markus Frey
Ice core drilling is a large complex operation to firstly get the equipment out into the field, assemble it, drill intact columns of ice and then process the collected ice for analysis. Markus Frey explains.
26 November, 2019
A new climate change artwork – Ice Floor, a new Phase 2 by Wayne Binitie, opens this week at Arup’s Fitzroy Street offices in London. The work was developed in …
10 January, 2019
A team of scientists and engineers from British Antarctic Survey and the University of Cambridge has successfully drilled over 650 metres in to an Antarctic ice cap to obtain an …
6 November, 2018
Congratulations to Dr Emilie Capron who has been awarded the prestigious Early Career Scientist Award of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG). Dr Capron is a palaeoclimatologist at British …
9 April, 2018
The first comprehensive study of snowfall across Antarctica provides vital information in the study of future sea-level rise. Presenting this week (Monday 9 April 2018) at the European Geosciences Union …
8 October, 2016
Data as art captivates a London audience
4 November, 2015
West Antarctic coastal snow accumulation rose 30 percent during 20th century Annual snow accumulation on West Antarctica’s coastal ice sheet increased dramatically during the 20th century, according to a new …
8 July, 2015
Polar ice cores reveal volcanic eruptions that changed human history Researchers find new evidence that large eruptions were responsible for cold temperature extremes recorded since early Roman times A freshly …
12 May, 2014
Ocean winds keep Australia dry and Antarctica cold New research explains why Antarctica is not warming as much as other continents, and why southern Australia is recording more droughts. Analysis …
1 May, 2014
Earth’s last warm phase exposed Analysis of data collected from ice cores and marine sediment cores in both polar regions has given scientists a clearer picture of how the Earth’s …
10 September, 2013
Life found in the sediments of an Antarctic subglacial lake for the first time Evidence of diverse life forms dating back nearly a hundred thousand years has been found in …
18 November, 2009
Mysteriously warm times in Antarctica A new study of Antarctica’s past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. …
The Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica have warmed dramatically in recent decades, with some climate records indicating that these are among the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. The Antarctic …
A decade ago, the European EPICA project completed drilling a deep ice core at Dome C, revealing the close link between climate and atmospheric greenhouse gases over the past 800,000 …
British Antarctic Survey has an ongoing science & art collaboration with glass artist and Royal College of Art MPhil candidate Wayne Binitie. Wayne has visited BAS a number of times …
iStar-D will identify the potential contribution to sea-level rise, from ice locked in the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica
The ice sheets of Antarctica can be several kilometres thick, and contain precious information about the past climate. However, the bottoms of the ice sheets are melting, erasing this information. …
The Sub-Antarctic – ice coring expedition (SubICE), part of the international Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE), successfully drilled several shallow ice cores, from five of the remote and globally significant sub-Antarctic …
Robert Mulvaney – Science Lead
Emily Ludlow – Laboratory manager
Julius Rix – Ice core engineer
Rebecca Tuckwell – Ice core analytical chemist
