My research as a climate scientist focuses on coastal Antarctica: a narrow zone where atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean interact strongly. This region has global importance because it influences how the Southern Ocean stores heat and carbon, how dense waters form and sink to the abyss, and how quickly Antarctic ice shelves may destabilise in future. The aim of my work is to understand and reduce uncertainty in how Antarctic coastal processes will change in a warming climate, and what those changes mean for both Antarctica and the rest of the world.

I am primarily a climate modeller. Coastal Antarctica is challenging to study however because it is shaped by processes that are hard to simulate: strong and highly variable winds, complex topography, polynyas (areas of open water within sea ice), and rapid exchanges of freshwater and heat. Many climate models used for future projections cannot fully resolve these processes, so I make extensive use of observations to inform my approach.

A separate strand of my work translates polar climate science into usable climate information for stakeholder decision-making. Resilience of polar infrastructure and logistics depends on environmental conditions, but Antarctica’s climate is now changing rapidly. In response to this I have been working to package climate information to support decision-making while communicating the uncertainties.

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

2026

Wiener, Valentin. Vignon, Étienne ORCID record for Vignon, Étienne. Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Genthon, Christophe ORCID record for Genthon, Christophe. Toledo, Felipe. Canut-Rocafort, Guylaine. Meurdesoif, Yann. Berne, Alexis ORCID record for Berne, Alexis. (2026) An extensive investigation of the ability of the ICOLMDZ model to simulate a katabatic wind event in Antarctica.

Davies, Bethan. Atkinson, Angus. Banwell, Alison. Brandon, Mark. Convey, Peter ORCID record for Convey, Peter. Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. De Rydt, Jan. Dodds, Klaus. Downie, Ros. Edwards, Tamsin. Gilbert, Ella ORCID record for Gilbert, Ella. Hubbard, Bryn. Hughes, Kevin ORCID record for Hughes, Kevin. Rogelj, Joeri. Rumble, Jand. Marshall, Gareth ORCID record for Marshall, Gareth. Orr, Andrew ORCID record for Orr, Andrew. Seroussi, Helen. Siegert, Martin. Stroeve, Julienne. (2026) Policy brief: Climate change and its impact on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Davies, Bethan J. Atkinson, Angus. Banwell, Alison F. Brandon, Mark. Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Convey, Peter ORCID record for Convey, Peter. De Rydt, Jan. Dodds, Klaus. Downie, Rod. Edwards, Tamsin L. Gilbert, Ella ORCID record for Gilbert, Ella. Hubbard, Bryn. Hughes, Kevin A. ORCID record for Hughes, Kevin A.. Marshall, Gareth A. ORCID record for Marshall, Gareth A.. Orr, Andrew ORCID record for Orr, Andrew. Rogelj, Joeri. Seroussi, Hélène. Siegert, Martin. Stroeve, Julianne. Rumble, Jane. (2026) The Antarctic Peninsula under present day climate and future low, medium-high and very high emissions scenarios.

Cable, Archie. Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Kent, Elizabeth ORCID record for Kent, Elizabeth. Cornes, Richard ORCID record for Cornes, Richard. Bracegirdle, Thomas ORCID record for Bracegirdle, Thomas. (2026) A new index used to characterise the extent of Antarctic marine coastal winds in climate projections.

Haigh, Michael ORCID record for Haigh, Michael. Holland, Paul R. ORCID record for Holland, Paul R.. Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Dutrieux, Pierre ORCID record for Dutrieux, Pierre. (2026) Wind‐Driven Coastal Polynya Variability Drives Decadal Ice‐Shelf Melt Variability in the Amundsen Sea.

2025

Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Lock, Adrian. Bracegirdle, Thomas J. ORCID record for Bracegirdle, Thomas J.. King, John C. ORCID record for King, John C.. Lu, Hua ORCID record for Lu, Hua. Silvano, Alessandro. (2025) Sensitivity of near-surface marine winds and wind stress in coastal Antarctica to regional atmospheric model configuration.

2024

Legg, Tim. Packman, Stephen. Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. McCarthy, Mark ORCID record for McCarthy, Mark. (2024) An Update to the Central England Temperature Series—HadCET v2.1.

Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Bracegirdle, Thomas J. ORCID record for Bracegirdle, Thomas J.. Davrinche, Cécile. Dutrieux, Pierre ORCID record for Dutrieux, Pierre. Gilbert, Ella ORCID record for Gilbert, Ella. Haigh, Michael ORCID record for Haigh, Michael. Jones, Julie M. Kent, Elizabeth C. ORCID record for Kent, Elizabeth C.. King, John ORCID record for King, John. Lu, Hua ORCID record for Lu, Hua. Price, Ruth ORCID record for Price, Ruth. Schmidt, Christina. Vignon, Étienne. Wiener, Valentin. (2024) Advances and next steps in observing and modeling Antarctica’s coastal winds.

Bracegirdle, Thomas J. ORCID record for Bracegirdle, Thomas J.. Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Holmes, Caroline R. ORCID record for Holmes, Caroline R.. Lu, Hua ORCID record for Lu, Hua. Martineau, Patrick. Phillips, Tony ORCID record for Phillips, Tony. (2024) Antarctic extreme seasons under 20th and 21st century climate change.

Jena, Babula. Turner, John ORCID record for Turner, John. Reeves-Francois, Tylei. Bajish, C. C. Holmes, Caroline ORCID record for Holmes, Caroline. Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Phillips, Tony ORCID record for Phillips, Tony. Wang, Zhaomin. (2024) Occurrence of an unusual extensive ice-free feature within the pack ice of the central Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. King, John C. ORCID record for King, John C.. Bracegirdle, Thomas J. ORCID record for Bracegirdle, Thomas J.. Lu, Hua ORCID record for Lu, Hua. (2024) Dynamics of extreme wind events in the marine and terrestrial sectors of coastal Antarctica.

2022

Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Biri, Stavroula ORCID record for Biri, Stavroula. Bracegirdle, Thomas J. ORCID record for Bracegirdle, Thomas J.. King, John C. ORCID record for King, John C.. Kent, Elizabeth C. ORCID record for Kent, Elizabeth C.. Vignon, Étienne. Turner, John ORCID record for Turner, John. (2022) Reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the Antarctic near-coastal region.

Turner, John ORCID record for Turner, John. Holmes, Caroline ORCID record for Holmes, Caroline. Caton Harrison, Thomas ORCID record for Caton Harrison, Thomas. Phillips, Tony ORCID record for Phillips, Tony. Jena, Babula. Reeves-Francois, Tylei. Fogt, Ryan. Thomas, Elizabeth R. ORCID record for Thomas, Elizabeth R.. Bajish, C.C. (2022) Record low Antarctic sea ice cover in February 2022.

2021

Caton Harrison, T. ORCID record for Caton Harrison, T.. Washington, R. Engelstaedter, S. Jones, R.G. Savage, N.H. (2021) Influence of Orography Upon Summertime Low-Level Jet Dust Emission in the Central and Western Sahara.

15. Antarctic Coastal Winds

    This project aimed to improve observational knowledge of winds along the Antarctic coast and use this to both evaluate the current state-of-the art climate models and help make improvements for the next model generation.

    Read more of: Antarctic Coastal Winds

    

1. Think it’s hot here? The Antarctic Peninsula is unusually warm too

   As extreme summer heat causes disruption across the UK and Europe this week, Midwinter at Antarctica’s Rothera Research Station is becoming increasingly unrecognisable.

   Read more of: Think it’s hot here? The Antarctic Peninsula is unusually warm too