Investigating physical and chemical changes in atmospheric circulation, ozone depletion, temperatures and sea-ice extent in both Polar Regions can help determine how much of the observed change is due to human activity and how much is a result of natural factors. Unique chemical processes occur in the atmosphere above Antarctica and the Arctic reveal much about our changing world.

Understanding the atmosphere and the ozone layer – a short film from UNEP

 

 

turbulence probe over sea ice

Arctic Summer-time Cyclones

The Arctic Summer-time Cyclone Project is a joint project of scientists from the University of Reading, University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey with expertise in atmospheric dynamics, …

MesoS2D

In order to accurately predict impacts of space weather and climate variability on the whole atmosphere we need an accurate representation of the whole atmosphere. The mesosphere (~50-95 km altitude) …

Chart showing climate temperature records from the Arctic in a blue to red colour scale

Climate Code

This collaborative project is born from exploring novel ways of visualising environment​al data and telling the climate change story. Read more about the project and the science behind it through the project page.

Panorama view of South Georgia looking SSW

Southern Ocean Clouds

SOC is a project of the NERC CloudSense Programme The biases observed in climate models over the Southern Ocean in surface radiation and sea surface temperature are larger than anywhere …

A sunset over a body of water.

SEANA

Global shipping is undergoing significant changes. In January 2020 the maximum sulphur emission by ships in international waters will reduce from 3.5% to 0.5% by mass, as a result of …

A plane flying over a body of water.

North Sea Methane

Offshore gas fields worldwide are major sources of methane emissions. Developing reliable methods to locate emissions and pinpoint sources is critical for quantifying the volume of methane emissions from gas …

Schematic of atmospheric waves and the large-scale circulations they drive.

Whole Atmosphere Climate Change

The near-Earth space environment is host to an increasing amount of advanced, satellite-based technology, used for both commercial and scientific purposes. To safeguard this technology and ensure that we can …

Aurora Australis from the ISS

SWIGS

  Certain ground based technologies, such as electrical power grids, pipelines and railways are susceptible to the effects of Space Weather. Changes in the way the magnetic fields of the …

A person riding a wave on top of a mountain.

SONATA

The Southern Ocean is one of the most important and poorly understood components of the global carbon cycle that profoundly shapes Earth’s climate. It is the primary hot spot for …

A snow covered mountain.

A recent pause in Antarctic Peninsula warming

20 July, 2016

The rapid warming of the Antarctic Peninsula, which occurred from the early-1950s to the late 1990s, has paused. Stabilisation of the ozone hole along with natural climate variability were significant in bringing about the change. Together these influences have now caused the northern part of the peninsula to enter a temporary cooling phase. Temperatures remain higher than measured during the middle of the 20th Century and glacial retreat is still taking place. However, scientists predict that if greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise at the current rate, temperatures will increase across the Antarctic Peninsula by several degrees Centigrade by the end of this century.

A large body of water.

Ocean warming primary cause of glacier retreat

14 July, 2016

A new study has found for the first time that ocean warming is the primary cause of retreat of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. The Peninsula is one of the largest current contributors to sea-level rise and this new finding will enable researchers to make better predictions of ice loss from this region.

A large ship in the water.

Carbon dioxide level breached at Halley VI

16 June, 2016

Levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere – which is the leading driver of recent climate change – have reached a milestone at British Antarctic Survey’s …

Globe Arctic header

FEATURED PAPER: Polar Vortex teleconnection

26 January, 2016

This paper provides new evidence and proposes a new dynamical mechanism for the teleconnection between the two largest jet streams in the northern winter stratosphere – the tropical wind system …

Field party campsite, Subglacial Lake Ellsworth during strong winds

FEATURED PAPER: Improving air quality models

13 October, 2015

Recent research in polar and non-polar regions showed that sun-lit snow packs are important chemical reactors and reservoirs, which strongly influence air quality of the lower atmosphere and likely also …