Research projects

A project to compile over 50 years of geological field data into new geological maps has already seen the publication of six new sheets.

GHOST is an ice-based project which will examine the bed beneath the Thwaites Glacier, to assess whether conditions are likely to allow rapid retreat, or if the retreat may slow or stop due to a ridge 70 km inland.

The aim of this programme was to image englacial layering and bedrock topography over this sensitive catchment of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and Antarctic Peninsula.

DRAGON-WEX used a novel 3D satellite analysis method combined with meteor radars at Rothera and King Edward Point to track how gravity waves influence atmospheric circulation.

This project maps the movements and foraging areas of juvenile albatross in order to determine the overlap with fisheries, and assesses the survival rate of juveniles in the initial weeks and months after they fledge.

This innovative, multi-year, project created a suite of autonomous scientific instrumentation around Halley Research Station, enabling data collection even when the station may be unoccupied.

In 2017 Antarctica’s first re-locatable research station was moved successfully 23 km inland to avoid the path of large cracks in the ice

SO-CHIC is a European research project investigating how the Southern Ocean regulates global climate through heat and carbon exchanges.

A collection of dried plant specimens from the Antarctic, sub-Antarctic and surrounding continents.

SIWHA investigates how westerly winds and sea ice have influenced CO2 uptake and release in the Southern Ocean.

MIDAS investigates how climate warming affects the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica. The project studies the formation of large summer melt ponds and their influence on ice shelf structure and stability. Fieldwork, satellite observation, and computer simulations are used to understand these processes.