PRESCIENT

What PRESCIENT does

It supports long-term, strategically important measurements and capabilities for the wider science community. PRESCIENT’s work focuses on the following four areas.

Polar and mountain climate data records

• year-round monitoring of climate-sensitive factors on the Antarctic Peninsula
• ice core drilling and analysis to study past climates
• upgrading airborne atmospheric sensing with new systems and low-carbon platforms
• improving satellite sea ice measurements
• enhancing sea ice modelling in the UK Earth System Model (UKESM)
• building a network to measure snowfall in mountain regions

Southern Ocean biological observatories

• long-term monitoring to understand how ecosystems respond to climate change, sea ice shifts, and pollution
• research on plankton structure, biodiversity, productivity, life cycles, and migration
• using autonomous platforms and environmental DNA (eDNA)

Antarctica’s contribution to sea-level rise

• processing satellite data to track ice sheet changes
• improving UKESM land ice components for better forecasts
• enhancing airborne radar for studying basal ice properties
• developing hot water drilling for access beneath ice shelves and streams
• expanding ocean observations near and under ice shelves

Space weather observatory

• sustained observations of space weather through the 2025 solar maximum
• expanding the Antarctic monitoring network to fill data gaps

Who is involved

The project is a joint programme between British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM).

PRESCIENT will aid our transition to low carbon science delivery. For example, delivery of airborne science using remotely piloted autonomous systems (RPAS) will be progressed, building on the recent learning from the WINDRACERS project.

This project also supports the delivery of National Public Good. We will deliver independent scientific advice and support to a range of stakeholders in government, business, and wider society, ensuring that our scientific activities and expertise is available to support solutions.

As required for National Capability (NC) research, the activities offered in this proposal will provide crucial support to the UK and international research communities, underpinning existing programmes, grants, fellowships, studentships, supporting future activities, widening participation in polar science, and providing independent expert advice to stakeholders.

PRESCIENT has a number of specific objectives that will be delivered by BAS and CPOM:

• To acquire and understand polar and mountain climate data records in order to document changes in Earth’s frozen regions and support reliable representations of their future evolution, ultimately allowing stakeholders to form climate change mitigation plans.
• To expand our capability to understand the role and response of polar marine ecosystems to changes in environmental stressors, including temperature, sea ice, and pollution, by applying novel technologies and sensors.
• To build our capability to measure and predict polar ice sheet contributions to global sea level rise and assess the likelihood of reaching tipping points in the polar cryosphere.
• To extend Antarctic space weather observations through the 2025 solar maximum, a high risk period for satellites and ground infrastructure, delivering data to global networks and supporting activities within the UK National Risk Register.

In all of the above we will capture sustained observations and publish fully-quality-controlled datasets which will be open-access and AI ready.

We will also deliver underpinning capabilities, such as numerical models and field research platforms, that will be accessible to UK/international researchers and the programmes in which they are involved. These capabilities will be offered on a collaborative basis.

Our National Public Good activities will generate and maximise impact from our science and operations in wider communities of government, business, and public society. To achieve our NPG objectives, expertise is drawn from all of BAS’s science programmes and their operational interfaces.

We will manage and deliver our programme, on time and to budget, including our broad cross–programme activities that align to NERC strategic ambitions in Digital, Net Zero, and EDI.

CPOM

1. New funding to underpin long-term polar research

   British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is a beneficiary of a major investment in the UK’s network of leading environmental science research centres announced today (8 October).

   Read more of: New funding to underpin long-term polar research

   

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1. BAS Cambridge

   Science, business and operational planning

   Read more of: BAS Cambridge

   

2. Hot Water Drilling

   Accessing below glaciers

   Read more of: Hot Water Drilling

   

3. Ice core aquisition and analysis

   UK national facility and capability

   Read more of: Ice core aquisition and analysis

   

4. Ice Core Gas Lab

   Specialist ice core facility to measure concentration and isotopic composition of greenhouse gases

   Read more of: Ice Core Gas Lab

   

5. Clean Air Sector Laboratory (CASLab)

   Specialised observatory with a suite of instruments to measure the air and snow chemistry around Halley.

   Read more of: Clean Air Sector Laboratory (CASLab)

   

6. Airborne science and technology

   Discover the UK’s national capability to support science from the air

   Read more of: Airborne science and technology

   

7. Airborne Meteorology

   Airborne instrument capability

   Read more of: Airborne Meteorology

   

8. Airborne Remote Sensing

   Two of the four BAS Twin Otters are equipped with a full remote sensing capability, providing scientists with data on land, ice and sea.

   Read more of: Airborne Remote Sensing

   

9. Airborne Geophysics

   Enabling ice observation programmes

   Read more of: Airborne Geophysics