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, …
Regional weather & extreme events
The Big Thaw
The Big Thaw is an ambitious new UKRI/NERC-funded Highlight Topic project assessing past, present and future changes in global mountain water resources by studying snow/ice accumulation and melt in the …
Antarctic Climate over the last millennia
The Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica have warmed dramatically in recent decades, with some climate records indicating that these are among the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. The Antarctic …
West Antarctica wind strength and atmospheric circulation
Changes in wind strength and circulation patterns above the Antarctic Peninsula are linked to its warming and increased upwelling of warm circumpolar deep water, resulting in accelerated melting and thinning …
Filchner Ice Shelf System, Antarctica
Understanding the contribution that polar ice sheets make to global sea-level rise is recognised internationally as urgent. The mission of this five-year project is to capture new observations and data …
Scientists chart the growing weather extremes on maritime Antarctic islands
23 January, 2024
Scientists at British Antarctic Survey have found that the number of warm weather events in the South Orkney Islands have significantly increased in frequency over the last 75 years. Using …
Arctic flights to shed light on sea ice and storms link
11 August, 2022
Scientists are flying research aircraft through the heart of Arctic storms this summer to better understand how weather systems are affecting polar sea ice. Arctic cyclones are the main type …
Study sets course for research on Himalayan waters
22 April, 2022
A new study featuring contributions from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists has identified 100 pressing research questions on climate change and water resources in the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) that must be answered to protect the communities that live there.
New verified temperature record for Antarctic continent
1 July, 2021
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has today (1 July 2021) recognised a new record high temperature for the Antarctic continent of 18.3° Celsius on 6 February 2020 at the Esperanza …
Southern Hemisphere westerly winds likely to intensify as climate warms
9 December, 2020
Polar climate scientists have created the most high resolution past record of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. The results, published this week (9 December) in the journal Communications Earth and …
Climate scientists uncover 30-year-old temperature record
23 September, 2020
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has recognized a temperature of -69.6°C (-93.3°F) at an automatic weather station in Greenland on 22 December 1991 as the coldest ever recorded in the …
Record warming at the South Pole
29 June, 2020
The South Pole has warmed at over three times the global rate since 1989, according to a paper published in Nature Climate Change today (29 June 2020). This warming period was …
Climate scientists help businesses tackle climate change
26 February, 2020
Climate change could add around 20% to the global cost of extreme weather events by 2040, according to early findings from Cambridge researchers. The findings come from the Cambridge Climate …
Antarctic snowfall dominated by a few extreme snowstorms
25 March, 2019
A new study reveals the importance of a small number of intense storms around Antarctica in controlling the amount of snow falling across the continent.
Arctic sea ice loss in past linked to abrupt climate events
12 February, 2019
A new study on ice cores shows that reductions in sea ice in the Arctic in the period between 30-100,000 years ago led to major climate events. During this period, …