sea ice Archives - British Antarctic Survey

Why is everyone talking about geoengineering? | Beyond the Ice

29 September, 2025 Emily Newton

Geoengineering is the hot topic in climate science debate – drawing increasingly emotive and divisive responses, as investment in blue-sky engineering proposals grows and progress on decarbonisation stutters. Geoengineering is …

Join us for a meeting about climate extremes in the polar regions

This meeting will be taking place on 29 September to 30 September and is organised by Professor Kate Hendry, Professor Dame Jane Francis DCMG FRS, Professor Michael Meredith…

New AI tool aids caribou conservation in a changing Arctic

29 May, 2025

Artificial intelligence sea ice forecasting systems could help predict and protect the migration routes of endangered caribou in the Canadian Arctic, according to a new study. The research, led by …

A group of people standing on top of a snow covered mountain

Declining Antarctic sea ice generating more ocean heat loss and storms

19 December, 2024

A new study shows that the ongoing decline in Antarctic sea ice is leading to more heat loss from the ocean to the atmosphere and an increase in storm activity. …

Sounds of Antarctica come to life in new album

15 November, 2024

Today marks the release of The Seventh Continent, a new album from the international Sounds of Space Project that offers a unique aural journey to Antarctica. The album features contributions …

A seabird flying through the air on a snow covered mountain

Antarctica’s sea ice could impact seabirds’ food supply

13 September, 2024

Antarctica’s rapidly receding sea ice could have a negative impact on the food supply of seabirds that breed hundreds of miles away from the continent. New research led by the …

Record low Antarctic sea ice ‘extremely unlikely’ without climate change

20 May, 2024

Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have found that the record-low levels of sea ice around Antarctica in 2023 were extremely unlikely to happen without the influence of climate …

Emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica suffer as sea-ice diminishes

25 April, 2024

Record low levels of Antarctic sea-ice in late 2023 resulted in breeding failures in a fifth of the continent’s emperor penguin colonies, according to a new study from British Antarctic …

A man standing on top of a snow covered mountain

Feeling the heat in Antarctica: the urgency of sea ice research

30 August, 2023 Emily Newton

Dr Robbie Mallett is a sea ice scientist, currently over-wintering at Rothera Research Station in Antarctica as part of an eight-month research campaign for the NERC DEFIANT project. Robbie explains the …

Retreating sea ice keeps zooplankton in the depths

28 August, 2023

Climate change is affecting the vertical migration of zooplankton in the Arctic, with potential implications for the entire Arctic ecosystem, finds a new study, published today in Nature Climate Change. …

Loss of sea ice causes catastrophic breeding failure for emperor penguins

24 August, 2023

Emperor penguin colonies experienced unprecedented breeding failure in a region of Antarctica where there was total sea ice loss in 2022. The discovery supports predictions that over 90% of emperor …

New Antarctic extremes ‘virtually certain’ as world warms

8 August, 2023

Extreme events in Antarctica such as ocean heatwaves and ice loss will almost certainly become more common and more severe, researchers say. With drastic action now needed to limit global …

The mystery of the missing Antarctic sea ice

3 August, 2023

Winter sea ice in the Antarctic is at a historic low, and scientists are working to understand why an area of ice the size of Greenland is missing. Scientists from …

British Antarctic Survey at Bluedot Festival 2023

British Antarctic Survey is delighted to be exhibiting at this year’s Bluedot Festival from 20-23 July 2023. Join us at Bluedot Festival – an award winning line up of music, science and …

Last Post from the burning decks of a melting iceberg

22 March, 2023 Emily Newton

Composer Ewan Campbell has written a piece of music for trumpet inspired by the 21-year journey of the A22a iceberg. The new composition was also illustrated onto a British Antarctic …

A view of water and a mountain in the background.

Sea ice at both poles

30 June, 2022 by Gaelle Veyssiere

BLOG: Predicting September 2021 Arctic sea ice using artificial intelligence

24 September, 2021 Tom Andersson

Tom Andersson, a data scientist at British Antarctic Survey Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab, shares the latest predictions from a new Arctic sea ice forecasting AI tool as this year’s Arctic …

A body of water surrounded by ice with a mountain in the background

Artificial intelligence to help predict Arctic sea ice loss

26 August, 2021

A new AI (artificial intelligence) tool is set to enable scientists to more accurately forecast Arctic sea ice conditions months into the future. The improved predictions could underpin new early-warning …

Ocean with floating sea ice, with a snowy mountain in the background

Warming Western Antarctic Peninsula waters impact plankton community

17 August, 2021

Warming water and receding sea ice in the Western Antarctic Peninsula is changing the local plankton community with potential consequences for climate change, according to an international team of researchers. …

Climate change risk to emperor penguins

3 August, 2021

British Antarctic Survey scientists have contributed to a new study published today (3 August) which provides valuable new data highlighting how emperor penguins extinction risk is increased due to rapid …

Two people cross country skiing in the snow

BLOG: On Thick Ice

1 July, 2021 Ed Luke

Rothera Field Guide Ed Luke is part of the skilled team who safely facilitate fieldwork year-round in Antarctica. In this blog, Ed takes us on the experience of conducting winter …

Past evidence supports complete loss of Arctic sea-ice by 2035

10 August, 2020

A new study, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, supports predictions that the Arctic could be free of sea ice by 2035. High temperatures in the Arctic …

MOSAiC Blog: Storm on the Barents Sea

3 February, 2020 Markus Frey

Dr Markus Frey is on board Russian icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn, waiting for a weather window to make the journey north to join the MOSAiC expedition on board RV Polarstern. German …

Expedition to Larsen C ice shelf thwarted by sea ice

11 March, 2019

Sea-ice conditions have prevented the Research Icebreaker Polarstern from reaching the Larsen Ice Shelf and the calving areas of iceberg A68.

FEATURED PAPER: Sea-ice loss impacts Northern Hemisphere

20 June, 2018

This study, led by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, suggests that sea-ice loss in different regions of the Arctic, and of different amounts, leads to different effects on surface …

A sunset over a body of water with a mountain in the background.

Working together to make the Arctic more accessible for science

2 February, 2018

Fifteen research institutes from around the world, including British Antarctic Survey, have joined forces to allow scientists access to their polar ships to carry out marine-based research in the Arctic. …

A group of people on a boat in the water.

SCIENCE IN THE SEA – Part 4: Sea ice and science

28 December, 2017 Ryan Scott

Following the glider deployments our next destination was Rothera, the UK’s biggest Antarctic research station on Adelaide Island. Good progress was made until we hit the sea ice – 120 …

Workshop on Sea Ice-Infrastructure Interaction

BAS invites participants of the Isaac Newton Institute programme on Mathematics of Sea Ice Phenomena and industrial and academic partners to attend a half day of talks and discussions on …

Lenticular clouds over James Ross Island

FEATURED PAPER: Antarctic cloud physics

7 April, 2017

Observations were made of clouds over the Antarctic Peninsula during the summer of 2010 and 2011 using one the BAS Twin Otter aircraft fitted with a range of atmospheric instruments. …

FEATURED PAPER: Winds and sea ice

23 March, 2017

It is thought that wind changes over the Southern Ocean may have been critical in driving changes in CO2 between cold ice-world and warm-world climates. Because of inconsistencies between the …

Sea smoke early morning off the Ronne Ice Shelf

FEATURED PAPER: Sea-ice reduction

18 October, 2016

A team of British climate scientists comparing today’s environment with the warm period before the last ice age has discovered a 65% reduction of Antarctic sea ice around 128,000 years …

Research outputs