I am a polar scientist and drilling engineer in the Shelf Seas oceanography group at BAS, and a visiting professor at the China University of Geosciences (Beijing). My research interests are within the fields of polar oceanography and glaciology. These include the measurement and modelling of sub-ice shelf ocean circulation, numerical modelling of ice-ocean interactions, and sub-ice shelf ocean mixing, particularly the influence of tides in these environments. As an engineer, I lead the UK’s hot water drilling national capability, which designs, develops, maintains, and operates the BAS deep hot-water drills used to provide subglacial access holes through ice shelves and ice sheets ranging in thickness from a few 100’s of metres to over 2 km.

A fuller publication list, with .pdf’s, can be found here and citation details at Google Scholar.

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

• Smith, A., Murray, T., & King, M. (2020). Long-duration GPS record from Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica, 2004-2007 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/dac20505-a56e-4beb-97ba-077eecd587c0

• Smith, A., Makinson, K., & Nicholls, K. (2020). Borehole thermometry data from Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica, 2007 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/1fd6ab5a-3139-4a12-99d3-2ba0c0213744

1. PRESCIENT

   PRESCIENT supports long-term, strategically important measurements and capabilities for the wider science community.

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2. Melting at Thwaites Grounding Zone and its Control on Sea Level

   MELT is an ice-based project that will use autonomous sensors to monitor the ice column and ocean beneath the ice shelf in the critical area of the grounding line (the point where the glacier goes afloat to become ice shelf).

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3. BEAMISH: Basal Conditions on Rutford Ice Stream

   BEAMISH drilled through over 2 km of ice on Rutford Ice Stream to discover when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet last collapsed and how water and soft sediments beneath it help the ice flow towards the sea.

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Fimbulisen Ice-shelf Observatory (FIO), part of the Troll Observing Network (TONe): A collaboration with the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI). https://www.npolar.no/en/tone/

Development of technologies for geophysical survey and hot water drilling of the sub-glacial lakes below Antarctic David glacier: A cooperation with the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI). https://www.kopri.re.kr/eng/html/rsch/020102.html?mode=V&mng_no=143

LIONESS/TG (Land-Ice/Ocean Network Exploration with Semiautonomous System: Thwaites Glacier): A collaboration with the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI). https://www.kopri.re.kr/eng/html/rsch/02010301.html?mode=V&mng_no=162

Drilling Subglacial Lake CECs in Antarctica: A collaborative partnership with Chilean scientists from the Centro de Estudios Científicos (CECs). https://nerc.ukri.org/research/funded/programmes/subglacial-cecs/

Filchner Ice Shelf System (FISS), Antarctica. https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/fiss/

1. Update from Thwaites Glacier: when science doesn’t go your way

   Researchers from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and South Korea (KOPRI) have concluded a highly ambitious field operation at Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica.

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2. Scientists’ drilling mission on remote and inaccessible glacier

   A team of researchers from the UK and Korea has reached the most inaccessible and least-understood part of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica where they will drill through the glacier to directly observe how warm ocean water is melting it from below.

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3. Scientists reconstruct past history of largest ice shelf on Antarctic Peninsula

   For the first time, geological records have been used to reconstruct the history of Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica.  The ice shelf is the largest remaining remnant of a […]

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4. Scientists drill to record depths in West Antarctica

   A team of scientists and engineers has for the first time successfully drilled over two kilometres through the ice sheet in West Antarctica using hot water. This research will help […]

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5. Hot Water Drilling

   Accessing below glaciers

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• Chair (2022-present), External Scientific Advisory Board for Neumayer Station III and Kohnen Station, AWI, Germany
• Member (2019), IceCube Enhanced Hot Water Drill (EHWD) upgrade Drill Advisory Panel (DAP), Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, USA
• Chair (2018-present), U. S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) Technical Assistance Board
• Member (2011-2018), U. S. Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDDO) Technical Advisory Board
• Member (2009-2013), Direct measurement and sampling of Subglacial Lake Ellsworth (SLE) steering committe
• Member (2009-2012), Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) Science Advisory Board