The BAS Science Strategy Team ensures that the organisation delivers world-leading science underpinned by a clear polar science strategy, that science in BAS is well-managed and has funding that is appropriate and secure.
Terms of Reference
1 May, 2020
CAMBRIDGE: British Antarctic Survey (BAS) continues to plan its operational support to the UK and international polar research community during global challenges posed by COVID-19. Halley and Signy Research Stations …
12 September, 2018
The British Antarctic Survey has been awarded National Capability funds for polar science which will strengthen UK national security, resilience, economic growth and societal benefit
30 April, 2018
A new UK-U.S. Antarctic research programme to improve the prediction of future sea-level rise is launched this week (Monday 30 April 2018) at British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Cambridge. The £20 …
15 September, 2016
ODA funds – expertise to address major challenges facing the developing world
3 August, 2020 by David Vaughan
BLOG. BAS Director of Science, Professor David Vaughan describes his ambition for more diversity in science.
1 May, 2021 by Jakob Thyrring, Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark
The Arctic is experiencing particularly rapid rates of warming, consequently invasive boreal species are now able to survive the less extreme Arctic winter temperatures. Whilst persistence of intertidal and terrestrial…Read more on Resilience in Greenland intertidal Mytilus: The hidden stress defense
28 April, 2021 by Peter Convey
Belgica antarctica (Diptera: Chironomidae), a brachypterous midge endemic to the maritime Antarctic, was first described in 1900. Over more than a century of study, a vast amount of information has…
28 April, 2021 by David Vaughan, Julien Bodart
Understanding the contribution of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) to past and future sea level has been a major scientific priority over the last three decades. In recent years,…19 April, 2021 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Robert Mulvaney
The area near Dome C, East Antarctica, is thought to be one of the most promising targets for recovering a continuous ice-core record spanning more than a million years. The…
16 April, 2021 by David Barnes, Lloyd Peck, Nadescha Zwerschke, Simon Morley
All coastal systems experience disturbances and many across the planet are under unprecedented threat from an intensification of a variety of stressors. The West Antarctic Peninsula is a hotspot of…
15 April, 2021 by Andrew Orr, Gareth Marshall, Hua Lu, Scott Hosking, John King, John Turner, Steve Colwell, Tony Phillips
Commencing in 1956, observations made at Halley Research Station, Antarctica provide one of the longest continuous series of near-surface temperature observations from the Antarctic continent. Since few other records of…Read more on Inhomogeneity of the surface air temperature record from Halley, Antarctica
15 April, 2021 by Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
Antarctica currently has few non-native species, compared to other regions of the planet, due to the continent’s isolation, extreme climatic conditions and the lack of habitat. However, human activity, particularly…10 April, 2021 by Peter Convey
We assessed the diversity of fungal DNA present in sediments of three lakes on Vega Island, north-east Antarctic Peninsula using metabarcoding through high-throughput sequencing (HTS). A total of 640,902 fungal…
8 April, 2021 by Richard Horne
Severe space weather was identified as a risk to the UK in 2010 as part of a wider review of natural hazards triggered by the societal disruption caused by the…1 April, 2021 by Gareth Marshall, Hua Lu, John King, John Turner, Steve Colwell, Tony Phillips
We present the first Antarctic-wide analysis of extreme near-surface air temperatures based on data collected up to the end of 2019 as part of the synoptic meteorological observing programs. We…
1 April, 2021 by Dominic Hodgson
Terrestrial biota in the Antarctic are more globally distinct and highly structured biogeographically than previously believed, but information on biogeographic patterns and endemism in freshwater communities is largely lacking. We…Read more on Diatoms define a novel freshwater biogeography of the Antarctic
31 March, 2021 by Kaitlin Naughten, Paul Holland
A potentially irreversible threshold in Antarctic ice shelf melting would be crossed if the ocean cavity beneath the large Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf were to become flooded with warm water from…Read more on Two-timescale response of a large Antarctic ice shelf to climate change
30 March, 2021 by Peter Convey
Lichens produce various carbon-based secondary compounds (CBSCs) in response to abiotic conditions and herbivory. Although lichen CBSCs have received considerable attention with regard to responses to UV-B exposure, very little…
28 March, 2021 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne
We use data from eight satellites to statistically examine the role of chorus as a potential source of plasmaspheric hiss. We find that the strong equatorial (|λm| < 6o) chorus…
25 March, 2021 by Adrian Jenkins, Louis-Alexandre Couston, Paul Holland
We report an idealized numerical study of a melting and freezing solid adjacent to a turbulent, buoyancy-affected shear flow, in order to improve our understanding of topography generation by phase…Read more on Topography generation by melting and freezing in a turbulent shear flow
25 March, 2021 by Peter Convey
The Antarctic Peninsula is under pressure from non-native plants and this risk is expected to increase under climate warming. Establishment and subsequent range expansion of non-native plants depend in part…Read more on Warming impacts potential germination of non-native plants on the Antarctic Peninsula
24 March, 2021 by Richard Horne
The impact of radial diffusion in storm time radiation belt dynamics is well‐debated. In this study we quantify the changes and variability in radial diffusion coefficients during geomagnetic storms. A…24 March, 2021 by Fabian Haumann, Michael Meredith
The Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean is the world’s main production site of Antarctic Bottom Water, a water-mass that is ventilated at the ocean surface before sinking and entraining…Read more on Ventilation of the abyss in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean
22 March, 2021 by Emma Woodfield, Jade Reidy, Jade Reidy, Johnathan Ross, Mark Clilverd, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
Particle precipitation is a loss mechanism from the Radiation Belts whereby particles trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field are scattered into the loss cone due to wave‐particle interactions. Energetic electron…19 March, 2021 by Jakob Thyrring, Lloyd Peck
Whether global latitudinal diversity gradients exist in rocky intertidal a-diversity and across functional groups remains unknown. Using literature data from 433 intertidal sites, we investigated α-diversity patterns across 155° of…Read more on Global gradients in intertidal species richness and functional groups
