research projects in antarctica

Research projects

Browse the list of current science projects

• Animal science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Atmospheric physics & chemistry
• Behavioural ecology
• Biogeochemical cycles
• Boundary layer meteorology
• Climate & climate change
• Climate modelling
• Clouds and aerosols
• Community ecology
• Conservation ecology
• Earth observation
• Earth resources
• Ecology & biodiversity
• Ecosystem scale processes
• Ecotoxicology
• Genetics & development
• Geoelectric field
• Geosciences
• Glacier flow
• Ice & ice-movement
• Ice chemistry
• Ice-sheet modelling
• Land-ocean interactions
• Magnetic storms & substorms
• Mantle & core processes
• Marine ecosystems
• Natural hazards
• Ocean circulation
• Ocean-atmosphere interactions
• Oceanography
• Ozone monitoring
• Palaeoenvironments
• Past climate
• Plant science
• Population ecology
• Population genetics/evolution
• Properties of earth materials
• Quaternary science
• Radiation belt modelling
• Radiative processes & effects
• Regional weather & extreme events
• Remote sensing
• Sea-ice extent
• Sea-level rise
• Sediment/sedimentary processes
• Space debris
• Space physics
• Space weather
• Stratospheric processes
• Sun-earth connections
• Systematics & taxonomy
• Tectonic processes
• Terrestrial & freshwater environments
• Tropospheric processes
• Upper atmosphere processes & geospace
• Volcanic processes
• Wave particle interactions
• BAS-Arctic Working Group
• Business teams
• - BAS IT team
•  - Communications team
•  - Finance team
•  - HR, EDI and Wellbeing team
•  - Information Services team
•    -- Archives Service
•    -- BAS Library
•    -- UK Polar Data Centre team
•    -- Web & Applications team
•  - Innovation team
•  - Mapping and GIS team
•  - Research Development and Support team
• Fellows and associates
• Leadership teams
• - BAS Executive team
•  - BAS Management team
•  - BAS Science Management Team
•  - BAS Science Strategy Executive Group
• Operational Teams
•  - Engineering and Technology teams
•    -- Antarctic marine engineering team
•    -- Estates team
•    -- Polar ships engineering team
•    -- Vehicles team
•  - Operational Support teams
•    -- Antarctic employment pool team
•    -- Environment Office team
•    -- Health and Safety Management team
•  - Polar Operations teams
•    -- Air Operations team
•    -- Falkland Islands team
•    -- Infrastructure Project Management Teams
•    -- Polar Operations Support Team
•    -- Polar Ship Operations Team
•    -- Polar Supply Chain Logistics
•    -- Research Stations & Field Planning team
• Science teams
• - Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab
•  - Atmosphere, Ice and Climate team
•  - Biodiversity, Evolution and Adaptation team
•  - Ecosystems team
•  - Geology and Geophysics team
•  - Ice Dynamics and Palaeoclimate team
•  - Palaeo Environments, Ice Sheets and Climate Change team
•    -- Glacial history and ice sheet sensitivity to climate change
•    -- Past behaviour of polar oceans and their role as drivers of future climate change
•    -- Patterns and mechanisms of late glacial and Holocene climate change
•    -- Understanding Earth's response to a future high CO 2 world
•  - Polar Oceans team
•  - Space Weather and Atmosphere team

Showing: All projects

250 projects

Overview Climate change is proceeding faster at the poles than any other region, with sea-ice retreating, glaciers melting and biotic communities being invaded by sub-polar species. These changes are affecting …

Overview While climate models suggest Antarctic sea ice extent should also reduce in response to rising atmospheric CO2 concentraions, satellite observations reveal that during 1979-2015 the opposite was in fact …

International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration

This joint UK-US research programme aims to improve the understanding of the processes affecting ice sheet stability to predict, with more certainty, the future impact of sea-level rise from Thwaites …

The Greenland Ice Sheet is decaying at an accelerating rate in response to climate change. Warm ocean waters moving through the fjords eventually meet the faces of marine-terminating glaciers, increasing …

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) …

Overview OCEAN:ICE will assess the impacts of key Antarctic Ice Sheet and Southern Ocean processes on Planet Earth, via their influence on sea level rise, deep water formation, ocean circulation …

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 …

Surface Fluxes in Antarctica (SURFEIT) is a BAS National Capability International research programme. Its primary aims are to bring together relevant members of the international scientific community and increase our …

Space debris is emerging as a key problem for humanity with the potential to cause major socio-economic impacts. It is currently estimated that there are over 900,000 pieces of debris …

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 …

‘Sounds of Space’

Using a Very Low Frequency receiver at Halley Research Station we can pick up radio waves made by our planet. We use these waves to investigate the science of space …

60 Second Science

We’ve challenged our science, engineering and support staff and their research collaborators to explain in 60 seconds what they do.  Decide for yourself if they have met the challenge well!  …

A High-Order Model of the Earth’s External and Induced Magnetic Field

For centuries people have used magnetic compasses to guide them on their way and explore new territories. This has led scientists to embark on their own journeys of discovery about …

A new polar research ship for Britain: project delivery

A new research platform to put UK scientists at the forefront of polar science

A23 repeat section

Understanding Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) and its affect on global ocean circulation.

The source of sea-salt aerosols in the Polar Regions appears to be linked to sea ice surfaces, but exact details are unclear. Defining the sources is important given the critical …

Major changes are occurring across the North Atlantic climate system: in the ocean and atmosphere temperatures and circulation, in sea ice thickness and extent, and in key atmospheric constituents such …

Aero geophysical investigation of Institute and Moller Ice Streams

West Antarctic ‘rivers’ of ice

Exploring Antarctica’s ‘ghost mountains’

AI for Earth Observation

Recent increases in the spatial coverage and temporal resolution of 40 m resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, is opening new opportunities to rapidly detect environmental observations e.g. ice sheet and iceberg position with greater positional accuracy. Our team are developing supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques to automatically detect sea ice and iceberg position from Sentinel-1 SAR imagery.

AI for smart conservation

In the AI for smart conservation project, BAS are collaborating with local ecologists and conservation agencies to develop decision-making tools informed by sea ice forecasts. By combining satellite observations, GPS …

AI4EOAccelerator

The AI4EO Accelerator is a collaboration between Φ-Lab of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in the Application of Artificial Intelligence to the …

ANGWIN is now a SCAR action group.  See the proposal that was presented at the Polar 2018 conference here: SCAR_Proposal.pdf ANGWIN (in the Cornish English dialect ANGWIN means “the white”) …

This project will reconstruct millennial-scale ice sheet change in the western Amundsen Sea Embayment, Antarctica, using high-precision exposure dating.

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 …

Antarctic Coastal Winds

Winds along the Antarctic coast are small scale but have global importance. Climate models must have a realistic representation of these winds as they influence ice shelves, sea ice and …

Antarctic Digital Database

The SCAR ADD is a seamless compilation of topographic data for Antarctica to 60°S. It is the place to go to get data such as Antarctic coastline or contours for working in desktop GIS.

ApRES and groundwater

The aim of this study is to investigate whether a technique developed to measure the basal meltrate of ice shelves can be used to monitor groundwater in arid and semi-arid …

Arctic marine geophysics

This research focuses on investigating the glacial histories of Arctic ice sheets and ice caps using the marine geological record preserved on continental margins. By reconstructing past ice sheets, their …

Arctic PASSION

The Arctic is more affected by climate warming than any other region. To monitor the ongoing changes, to predict the evolution of the climate system and to develop mitigation measures, …

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, …

The ASCCC Project  has been funded by ACE (Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition) to investigate, quantify and understand the role of polar and subpolar seabeds in the carbon cycle, particularly in response …

Ascension Island Marine Sustainability (AIMS)

The project Ascension Island Marine Sustainability (AIMS) – A Fisheries and Marine Biodiversity Project Ascension Island harbours globally important marine biodiversity, potentially representing a unique assemblage of western and eastern …

Atmospheric Data Access System

An online data access tool to discover, visualise and access atmospheric and space weather data holdings from the polar regions.

Automated lithological mapping using airborne hyperspectral remote sensing

Antarctica is a unique and geographically remote environment. Field campaigns in the region encounter numerous challenges including the harsh polar climate, steep topography, and high infrastructure costs. Additionally, field campaigns …

The BAS Animal Welfare & Ethics Review Body (AWERB) enforces British Antarctic Survey’s duty of care to protect animals. The AWERB  review each and every application, from any project that …

The radiation belts are the region of space around the Earth where high energy charged particles are trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field. The energy of the particles and their …

The BBAS science programme was a British Antarctic Survey-funded project, part of the wider BBAS-AGASEA collaboration between BAS, the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), and the U.S. National …

BEAMISH: Basal Conditions on Rutford Ice Stream

The polar ice sheets play a major role in controlling Earth’s sea level and climate, but our understanding of their history and motion is poor. The biggest uncertainty in predicting …

Bedmap is a collaborative community project with the aim to produce a new map and datasets of Antarctic ice thickness and bed topography for the international glaciology and geophysical community, …

Bedmap Himalayas

Bedmap Himalayas is an ongoing BAS core-funded and grant-funded programme. It aims to measure how much water much is stored as glacier ice in High Mountain Asia. In warm weather, …

understanding whats beneath the ice, opens new opportunities for detailed modelling of the past and future evolution of the Antarctic ice sheets

Bedmap3 is a collaborative community project with the aim to produce a new map and datasets of Antarctic ice thickness and bed topography for the international glaciology and geophysical community, …

Beyond Epica

A decade ago, the European EPICA project completed drilling a deep ice core at Dome C, revealing the close link between climate and atmospheric greenhouse gases over the past 800,000 …

The BAS Transformation Programme is a key driver of change across the organisation. Our ambition is to pull together our in-house expertise to rethink our future ways of working. In …

Biodiversity at BAS Cambridge

Biodiversity@BAS is an initiative formed by BAS staff. Adopting current NERC Biodiversity policy​ and working closely with BAS Estates and Environment Office teams, its goal is to assist with the …

Bird Island Research Station Modernisation

A new jetty and logistics facilities for Bird Island

Black-browed Albatross Juvenile Tracking

Until the last decade, South Georgia held the third largest population of black-browed albatrosses at any island group (Phillips et al. 2016) [4]. However, assuming trends at surveyed sites are …

British Antarctic Oral History Project

Capturing the reminiscences and memories of those involved in British polar science

Brunt Ice Shelf movement

British Antarctic Survey is monitoring cracks on the Brunt Ice Shelf. Find out how here

Building data resources for managing the South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area

The South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) Marine Protected Area (MPA) was established by the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in 2012, to ensure the …

Bycatch risk of wandering albatrosses from radar detection

Wandering albatrosses are threatened by bycatch. Populations at South Georgia have declined catastrophically since the 1960s due to incidental mortality (bycatch) in fisheries (Pardo et al. 2017) [1]. This led …

Pushing forward our understanding of calcium production in the marine environment

Cambridge Centre for Climate Science

CCfCS promotes interdisciplinary research in climate science across the wide range of departments and institutes in Cambridge.

Extreme weather events can have substantial impacts. For instance: the extensive UK flooding during the stormy winters of 2013/14 and 2015/16 resulted in £3 billion of damage to property and …

Changing biodiversity

Baseline study to monitor how marine biodiversity will respond to climate change

Chinstrap Penguin Tracking

The commercial fishery for Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) operates in the southwest Atlantic, in particular along the west Antarctic Peninsula, and over the shelf breaks of the South Shetland Islands, …

Climate and Ice during the Last Interglacial

During the Last Interglacial (129-116 thousand years ago, ka) CO2 and global temperature were both higher than they were before human industrialisation. By examining Last Interglacial climate, we thus gain …

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.

Cold Skeletons

Does the cold affect how animals grow? Are skeletons different in Antarctic marine species, which survive almost permanently below 0°C? It is well known that animals grow at different rates …

Investigating the twilight zone The four-year COMICS project, is led by the National Oceanography Centre, is a collaboration between the British Antarctic Survey and the universities of Queen Mary London, …

CONSEC is addressing the challenge to understand the links between the biodiversity, structure and function of Southern Ocean ecosystems and the impacts of rapid environmental changes to improve scientific knowledge …

Continuous Plankton Recorder

Contemporary research has shown that the Southern Ocean is warming. Summer surface temperatures have risen by more than 1 degree Centigrade in the last 80 years and a strong upper-layer …

Sea ice is an integral, changing part of the global Earth system. The polar climate system affects lives and livelihoods across the world by regulating climate and weather; providing ecosystem …

CUPIDO aims to address: what is the role of zooplankton in promoting the transport of plastic in the ocean? and how this plastic transport interferes with zooplankton’s ability to store carbon in the deep ocean?

Darwin Plus SO Red Listing

The IUCN Red List is the international standard for conservation, a crucial tool to communicate threats to species, which can be applied to all species and ecosystems. Molluscs represent a …

Data As Art

DATA AS ART is an ongoing science & art project in development at NERC’s British Antarctic Survey (BAS). It visualises science data (in its widest definition), to create stunning and …

Depositional patterns and records in sediment drifts off the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica

The biggest uncertainty in predictions of sea-level rise is what the contribution will be from the great ice sheets on Antarctica and Greenland as climate warms. The West Antarctic Ice …

Detecting rare earth elements with remote sensing

Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of naturally occurring, chemically similar elements present in the Earth’s crust. Over the past decades these elements have become increasingly critical to many …

Environmental research relies on digital infrastructure (hardware, software and methods) to provide services that help researchers answer questions about the environment around us, and innovators to work out ways that …

Digital Twins of the Polar Regions

Digital Twinning is next generation technology for data fusion and computer modelling enabling us to rapidly get answers to “what-if” questions. Digital Twins (DTs) are already in operation in industry …

Discovery Metadata System

A web-based system to discover polar datasets collected by UK-funded scientists

Diversity in UK Polar Science Initiative

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office helping increasing representation of people from under-represented groups engaged in Polar Science.

DRAGON-WEX (the DRake pAssaGe and sOuthern oceaN – Wave EXperiment) is a NERC funded standard grant between the University of Bath and the British Antarctic Survey.   We will implement and …

DRIIVE will use the new EISCAT_3D radar to understand multi-scale coupling in the Ionopshere and how it is influenced both by space weather and the lower atmosphere.  The impact of …

Dynamics of the Orkney Passage Outflow (DynOPO) is a collaboration between BAS, the University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). The project aims to investigate the flow of …

EC Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service

The Copernicus marine environment monitoring service provides regular and systematic reference information on the state of the physical oceans and regional seas. The observations and forecasts produced by the service …

EISCAT Science Support

The UK EISCAT support group (UKESG) is a collaboration between the British Antarctic Survey and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, funded via the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) EISCAT, the …

Electron Acceleration in the Radiation Belts of Earth, Jupiter & Saturn

Radiation belts of very high energy electrons and protons can form around some planets – at the Earth these large donut shaped regions in space are often called the Van …

European Marine Biological Resource Centre

ESA IAP ArcticSat project

Situational awareness in the Arctic

EU-PolarNet

A strategic framework to connect science and society

Evaluating climate change risks to Patagonian and Antarctic toothfish

This is a Darwin Plus  project, funded by Defra, and its activities are focussed in the UK Overseas Territory (OT) of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands. The project …

Extreme Space Weather

Determining the 1 in 100 year space weather event

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 …

Fish by-catch in the Antarctic krill fishery

Fish bycatch is a global problem requiring accurate information to develop conservation and management strategies. Within the Antarctic krill fishery, fish and larval fish are regularly observed as bycatch. Improved …

Fixed wing wildlife surveys at South Georgia

At South Georgia, the climate is changing. Further, species abundances are changing with the recovery of historically depleted species of seal, whale and finfish. In addition, the eradication of introduced …

Future Air Capability

The Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation Programme (AIMP) will invest in a new aircraft and runway enhancements to provide an essential link between South America and the Falkland Islands to Rothera Research Station in Antarctica.

Gentoo Penguin Tracking

A fishery for Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) operates over the shelf breaks of the South Orkney, South Shetland and South Georgia archipelagos [8]. Krill is an important food source for …

Geological Collection

Contains over 200,000 individual rock and fossil specimens collected from Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands and thousands of meters of sediment core from the surrounding seabed.

Geological History Constraints on the Magnitude of Grounding Line Retreat in the Thwaites Glacier System

GHC (“Geological History Constraints”) will gather information about past ice sheet behaviour and relative sea level change in the Thwaites Glacier system. Determining the timing and magniture of past episodes …

Geological mapping of British Antarctic Territory

Geological maps remain the most effective method of communicating large amounts of geological information. An ongoing project to compile over 50 years of geological field data into new geological maps …

Geophysical Habitat of Subglacial Thwaites

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 …

GOCE+Antarctica

GOCE+Antarctica- Dynamic Antarctic Lithosphere -is an international project supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) that is using GOCE satellite gravity gradient data, GPS data and innovative 3D modelling to …

GRADES-IMAGE

The GRADES-IMAGE science programme was a British Antarctic Survey-funded project over the Antarctic Peninsula and Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The aim of the programme was to image englacial layering and bedrock …

Grey-headed Albatross Juvenile Tracking

The grey-headed albatross is listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because of a decline since the 1970s of the largest global breeding population, which is …

Halley Automation

Halley Automation This innovative, multi-year, project aims to provide a micro-turbine power supply and datalink to a suite of autonomous scientific instrumentation around the Halley VI Research Station and on …

Halley Research Station relocation

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

Herbarium Collection

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

The HEXPLORES project aims to explore for active hydrothermal vents in the Red Sea Rift. Although the Red Sea Rift hosts the world’s largest submarine metalliferous sulphide deposit, no active …

Higher Predators – Long-Term Science

The British Antarctic Survey carries out Long Term Science that measures changes in Antarctic ecosystems and seeks to understand the underlying drivers and processes. Marine predators are sensitive to changes …

HOTRAY Ray Tracing Model

HOTRAY is a ray tracing computer code designed to trace the path of electromagnetic waves in a hot magnetised plasma.  HOTRAY has been used to understand the generation and propagation …

Hungry Humpbacks

Whales are the largest krill predators in the UK Overseas territory of South Georgia, yet their impacts on krill stocks are poorly understood. Recently, whale surveys revealed high summer abundance …

Ice Sheet Modelling

The research of the ice sheet modelling group focuses on integrating observational data with dynamical models that describe how the ice flows in order to improve our representation of how …

physicists, chemists, biologists, economists, and sociologists from 21 institutes in 11 countries across Europe assess the rapid retreat and collapse of Arctic sea-ice cover

The international IceAGE (Icelandic marine Animals: Genetics and Ecology) project, initiated in 2008 and managed by Drs Saskia Brix and Karin Meißner from DZMB Hamburg, Germany, builds on data obtainedby …

ICED is an international multidisciplinary programme launched in response to the increasing need to develop integrated circumpolar analyses of Southern Ocean climate and ecosystem dynamics. ICED has been developed in …

The ICEGRAV project is a major international collaboration between Danish, US, UK, Norwegian and Argentinian scientists. The primary aim of the project is to carry our airborne gravity observations across …

Iceland Greenland seas Project

PI: Ian Renfrew (University of East Anglia) CO-I’s: Tom Bracegirdle, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Alexandra Weiss PDRA’s: Andrew Elvidge (University of East Anglia), James Pope NERC Grant: NE/N009924/1 Project Partners: Robert Pickart …

IceNet is a probabilistic, deep learning sea ice forecasting system developed by an international team and led by British Antarctic Survey and The Alan Turing Institute [Andersson et al., 2021]. …

Identification of glacial-time sources for Antarctic deep- and bottom-water masses

Over the past few millions of years, the Earth’s climate has switched between (cold) glacial and (warm) interglacial states many times. Although driven by long term changes in the Earth’s …

IMAGE Auroral Boundary Data

The objective of this project was to investigate whether magnetic reconnection in the space environment has a characteristic scale in space and time by characterising statistically the spatial and temporal …

IMCONet is an international Research Network that follows an interdisciplinary approach to understand the consequences of Climate Change in coastal Western Antarctica. A Network for Staff Exchange and Training, IMCONet …

Impact of global disturbances on evolution of polar life

Why does global biodiversity show such a steep increase just as climates were deteriorating?

Impact of Melt on Ice Shelf Dynamics and Stability (MIDAS)

Project MIDAS (Impact of Melt on Ice Shelf Dynamics And Stability) is a UK-based Antarctic research project, investigating the effects of a warming climate on the Larsen C ice shelf …

Impact of Plastic in the Polar Regions

An estimated 75% of all the litter in our oceans is plastic, and around 5 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the ocean annually. Scientific observations of a significant concentration …

Impact of Southern Westerly Winds and Circumpolar Deep Water on climate and marine ecology

The Antarctic Peninsula has warmed ~3°C over the last 50 years, approximately 6 times faster than the global average. Mechanisms for this accelerated rate of warming have been linked with …

Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Sea-Surface

  In order to assess the impact of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) on the oceans today we are investigating the effect of decreasing upper ocean pH on calcifying zooplankton. Pteropods, …

Improving estimates of Antarctica’s contribution to sea level

This research aims to improve estimates of Antarctica’s contribution to sea level. Sea level is currently rising at approximately 3mm/yr. If we are to understand why it is rising and …

PI: Markus M. Frey Co-I’s: X. Yang, R. Mulvaney NERC Grant: NE/N011813/1 The ozone layer shields all land-based life forms from harmful ultraviolet radiation; and indirectly influences the climate at …

iSTAR – Stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Science on the move – the mission to understand the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

iSTAR-A Ocean2Ice Processes and variability

iStar-B strives to better understand ocean and ice interaction, processes and variability

iSTAR-B Ocean circulation and melting beneath the ice shelves of the south-eastern Amundsen Sea

iStar-B studies ocean circulation and melting beneath the ice shelves of the south-eastern Amundsen Sea

iSTAR-C Dynamical control on the response of Pine Island Glacier

iStar-C – strives to understand the dynamical control and response to change of Pine Island Glacier

iStar-D The contribution to sea-level rise from the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica

iStar-D will identify the potential contribution to sea-level rise, from ice locked in the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica

Joint Airborne Study of the Peninsula Region (JASPER)

JASPER brings together two of the best equipped Polar meteorology instrumented aircraft and teams to study boundary layer meteorology in the Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea. A joint project between …

Joule Heating

Society is highly dependent on the fleet of satellites that surround our planet. We rely on them for entertainment, communication, navigation, weather forecasting, and more.  Many day-to-day activities, such as …

King Edward Point Research Station Modernisation

New mooring and boating facilities for South Georgia’s fisheries research station

Krill Hotspots

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are a key component of the food chain throughout much of the Southern Ocean. These small, shrimp-like animals occur in dense swarms, but their distribution is …

KRILLBASE is a data rescue and compilation project which aims to improve the availability of information on two of the Southern Ocean’s most important zooplankton taxa: Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) …

Larsen-C Benthos

On 12 July 2017, the Larsen-C Ice Shelf calved one of the largest iceberg originating from the Antarctic Peninsula ever recorded. As iceberg A68 moves north, it  leaves behind an …

Late Quaternary changes in the Westerly Winds over the Southern Ocean

In this NERC-funded project, we are generating Southern Hemisphere Westerlies (SHW) proxy records from each of the three major sectors of the Southern Ocean, focusing on subantarctic islands situated in …

Long term monitoring of plastics

This long-term study monitors the impact of marine plastics and other debris on breeding seabirds at Bird Island. Researchers have monitored the levels of marine plastics and other material from …

LPM Network

Access data from the Low Power Magnetometer (LPM) network

Marine Metadata Project

The Marine Metadata Project aims to enhance the availability and accessibility of BAS marine data.

Mars Analogues for Space Exploration

Mass extinction and biological responses to Cenozoic environmental change

Melting at Thwaites Grounding Zone and its Control on Sea Level

MELT is an ice-based project that will use autonomous sensors to monitor the ice column and ocean beneath the ice shelf in the critical area of the grounding line (the …

Meteorology and Ozone Monitoring

Long-term meteorological and ozone observations and data help determine the causes of climate change in the polar regions. Meteorology Meteorological observations are made regularly throughout the day at Halley and …

Methane Observations and Yearly Assessments

Methane is one of the most important greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and changes in its concentration could have major influences on the Earth’s climate. Measurements made around the world …

Microphysics of Antarctic Clouds NE

Introduction and Background The largest uncertainties in future climate predictions highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC 2007) arise from our lack of knowledge of the interaction of …

Modelling Movement of Antarctic Krill

The MMAK project is using state-of-the-art ocean-sea ice models to improve our understanding of processes that influence the distribution of krill in the South Orkney Islands region.

Monitoring climate change in action

Long term science We know that our world is changing due to human influence. But how is it changing? Some areas, such as the Antarctic Peninsula, are changing more rapidly …

National Capability for Global Challenges

Polar Expertise – Supporting Development

NERC Arctic Office

The NERC Arctic Office, at BAS, manages the UK Arctic Research Station at Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard and is closely linked to the NERC Arctic Research Programme

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 …

Ocean-driven ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica

By exploiting advances in ice sheet modelling, and new Antarctic-wide datasets, this project aims to predict how far and how fast the observed ocean-driven thinning of floating ice shelves will …

Oceanographic models for the Scotia Sea

Development of regional models to examine the detailed oceanography of island shelves and surrounding regions.

Antarctic ice-loss research capability

Understanding the Ocean Regulation of Climate by Heat, Carbon Sequestration and Transports

Orkney Passage Long Term Monitoring

The densest waters in the Atlantic overturning circulation, Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), originate in the Weddell Sea, as Weddell Sea Deep Water. A large proportion is exported northward to the …

Orographic Flows and the Climate of the Antarctic Peninsula (OFCAP)

OFCAP is an integrated programme of field observations, analysis and modelling aimed at understanding how the westerly winds in the Antarctic Peninsula interact with the mountains and influence the climate …

The ice sheets of Antarctica can be several kilometres thick, and contain precious information about the past climate. However, the bottoms of the ice sheets are melting, erasing this information. …

Recent research has demonstrated that electro-magnetic waves present in space can have a dramatic effect on the charged particles in the radiation belts. Under certain conditions the particles can resonate …

Paleogene Climate and Deep-water Evolution in the Southwest Atlantic

This project will tackle the the question of how strongly changes in ocean circulation affect global climate. The study is being carried out in collaboration with Dr Steve Bohaty and …

Krill are essential components of Antarctic ecosystems – they are important prey for fish, seals, penguins, and whales, and they influence carbon and nutrient cycling. This keystone role of krill …

Past Westerly Winds

The behaviour of the westerly wind belt (see Figure 1a) over the Southern Ocean during cold glacial periods has been debated for many years. These winds matter because explanations of …

Penguin foraging in a warming ocean

The aim of this project is to learn more about the feeding habits of penguins around the Antarctic Peninsula to understand how their behaviour may be changing as the waters …

PlanetBelt3

STFC funded research grant

The main deliverable of the Western Core Box (WCB) is a consistent unique time series of mesoscale distribution and abundance of macro-zooplankton and micronekton, and an understanding of the physical …

Polar Airborne Geophysics Data Portal

The NERC Airborne Geophysics Data Portal provides direct access to airborne survey data.

The aim of this project is to develop a next generation sea ice information service by integrating and building on a wide range of European and national funded activities which …

Polar Thematic Exploitation Platform

A Polar Thematic Exploitation Platform (Polar TEP) is being developed for the European Space Agency (ESA). Polar TEP will provide polar researchers with access to computing resources, earth observation (EO) …

Polar View delivers information about sea ice direct to ships operating in the Southern Ocean.

The polar regions have the capacity to amaze and astound, but despite the considerable progress of recent decades we still know far less about them than less remote parts of …

The Polar regions play a crucial role in balancing the global climate system – with the poles heating up much faster than the rest of the world. Yet, climate projections …

Port Lockroy Data Portal

Port Lockroy is the site of the first permanent British Antarctic base, ‘Base A’. This historic station was designated Historic Site No. 61 under the Antarctic Treaty on the 19th …

PRESCIENT (UK Polar Research Expertise for Science and Society) is a joint programme between BAS (British Antarctic Survey) and CPOM (the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling). The programme supports …

Protecting Marine Ecosystems in the South Atlantic

The food security and economies of Tristan da Cunha and St Helena, British overseas territories in the South Atlantic, are heavily reliant on marine harvestable resources and, to a lesser …

Protein Folding in the Cold

How do animals survive in the freezing seas of Antarctica? Although Antarctic fish have evolved over millions of years to keep working at such low temperatures, we still do not …

QEPPA is a joint project between the British Antarctic Survey and the Space physics group at Lancaster University. The objective of QEPPA is to work out the amount of charged …

Rad-Sat is a NERC Highlight Topic that brings together a consortium of scientists from 5 different UK research groups, stakeholders from the space industry and a network of international collaborators. …

The goal of the Radbelt-DA project is to apply data assimilation techniques used in weather forecasting to the BAS radiation belt model (BAS-RBM).  This will enable much better reconstructions of …

Ice cores take a long time to collect. The 3.4 km- ice core drilled at Dome Concordia (Antarctica) took 5 years to collect and encloses the oldest ice drilled so …

Even though the majority of measures to manage the marine environment are relatively fixed or adhere to set formulas (e.g. marine protected areas, total allowable catches and quota setting), the …

READER (REference Antarctic Data for Environmental Research) is a project of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR http://www.scar.org/) and has the goal of creating a high quality, long term dataset …

Real Projections

Predicting how the climate will change as human activities lead to emission of more greenhouse gases is a global scientific challenge for climate scientists. We use models of the climate …

Renewable Energy within AIMP

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) operates in the most remote places on earth including the Antarctic, the Southern Ocean and the Arctic.  The challenges around logistics and extreme weather conditions …

Reproduction in a changing world

Reproductive capacity and success of marine animals

Resisting temperature change in the marine environment

Can animals used to living in freezing waters cope with climate change? Will they survive in a warmer world? Marine animals around Antarctica are very used to living in water …

RIFT-TIP is a NERC-funded scientific project investigating iceberg calving and fracture growth in ice shelves.  The RIFT-TIP team will work primarily out of Halley Research Station, using seismic, radar, ApRES …

Role of oceanic forcing in West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat

Ocean temperature has been identified as a key driver of current ice sheet retreat in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), yet its long-term history …

Rothera Research Station Modernisation

Over the next decade Rothera Research Station will be upgraded to ensure its facilities keep the UK at the forefront of climate, biodiversity and ocean research.

Rothera Time Series

Earth System indicators in Antarctica

Safeguarding Antarctic krill stocks for baleen whales

This Darwin Plus funded project aims to improve our understanding of how Antarctic krill, foraging whales and the krill fishery interact in space and time, to improve krill fishery management …

Sat-Risk – Satellite Radiation Risk Forecasts – is a collaborative project between several academic institutions and stakeholders. The project is part of the Space Weather Instrumentation, Measurement, Modelling and Risk …

Scalable automated detection and tracking of icebergs in the Southern Ocean

We are developing fully automatable methods for the detection of icebergs using satellite radar data and bayesian tracking methods to monitor icebergs at the individual level and continental extent.

Science-Policy Challenges in Polar Conservation and Management

The British Antarctic Survey and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) are convening a series of half day workshops focused on the science-policy interaction within highly topical conservation and management issues. …

Scotia Sea open-ocean biological laboratories

Sustained ocean observing programme

Abrupt warming episodes punctuate Greenland ice core records throughout the last glacial period. These events were first identified in two Greenland stable water isotope records (Dansgaard et al., 1993), and …

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 …

Seismic investigation of a subglacial lake

Field Team includes: Alex Brisbourne (BAS), Andrés Rivera (CECs), Rodrigo Zamora (CECs), Field Guide (BAS). Antarctic subglacial lakes contain unique records of ice sheet history and microbial life; they may …

The polar regions are experiencing the most rapid climate change observed on Earth: temperatures are rising in some regions of the Arctic and Antarctic at more than double the global …

Signy Research Station Modernisation

Modernising the UK’s summer-only Antarctic research station

Svalbard Integrated Earth Observing System (SIOS) is an international infrastructure project. There are 26 partners from Europe and Asia involved. The essential objective is to establish better coordinated services for …

The NERC funded SIWHA_CO2 project “Sea Ice and Westerly winds during the Holocene in coastal Antarctica, to better constrain oceanic CO2 uptake” will be a breakthrough in our understanding of how …

Skeleton structure, size, predation and climate change

How do the skeletons of marine animals change with habitat and environmental conditions? External skeletons, in the form of calcium carbonate shells are found predominantly in molluscs and brachiopods (marine …

Skua monitoring at Rothera

The small population of south polar skuas (up to 25 pairs) at Rothera Point has been studied since the late 1990s. The initial intention was to monitor possible impacts of …

Snow Hill Emperor Penguin Expedition

A BAS science team has returned from Snow Hill emperor penguin colony, where they have conducted survey work, collected guano samples for DNA analysis and deployed the first tracking tags …

The South Orkney Islands is a small archipelago located in the Southern Ocean, 375 miles north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The seafloor around the South Orkney Islands …

    The Southern Ocean regulates the global climate by controlling heat and carbon exchanges between the atmosphere and the ocean.     Rates of climate change on decadal time …

The European Space Agency (ESA) Southern Ocean-Ice Shelf Interactions (SO-ICE) project is a collaborative research project bringing together the ESA Polar+ Ice Shelves and 4D Antarctica projects, and the European …

We are constructing observationally-constrained estimates of the state of the Weddell Gyre, including associated ice shelves and sea ice Introduction In the 25 years between 1992 and 2017, ocean melting …

The Southern Ocean Network of Acoustics (SONA) represents a group of scientific institutes and industrial partners who have united to measure an under-sampled component of the ecosystem – the mid-trophic …

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 …

Violent eruptions on the Sun can trigger large magnetic storms at the Earth lasting for days.  These storms can increase the number of high-energy charged particles trapped in the radiation …

South Georgia GIS

Visualise and download topographic, management and scientific data for South Georgia.

South Georgia Lost Giants

South Georgia’s Lost Giants is part of the British Antarctic Survey’s “Wild Water Whales” project studying the recovery of whales from historical exploitation in South Georgia. Antarctic blue whales (Balaena …

South Georgia Pelagic Biodiversity

The South Georgia Pelagic Biodiversity project is a Darwin-funded project, led by BAS, and in partnership with the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) and the …

South Georgia Right Whale project

Long term surveys of the recovery of whales from historical exploitation in South Georgia waters are carried out by the British Antarctic Survey’s “Wild Water Whales” project. At present the …

South Georgia seabirds from space

Globally-important populations of seabirds breed at South Georgia. However, human-induced impacts have led to the decline of many seabird populations. Four species of albatrosses and white-chinned petrels have shown persistent …

Space Weather Observatory

Assessing Space Weather impacts

SPACESTORM is a collaborative project to model space weather events and find ways to mitigate their effects on satellites. Over the last ten years the number of satellites on orbit …

Spatial Segregation of Seabirds at South Georgia

Seabirds are amongst the most globally threatened birds, often as a consequence of incidental mortality (bycatch) in fisheries [1] [2]. At South Georgia, wandering albatrosses have declined since the 1970s [3], and are listed …

SSAASI-CLIM

Stability and instability – records of external drivers and resulting behaviour of thwaites glacier.

THOR is a ship-based and ice-based project that will examine sedimentary record both offshore from the glacier and beneath the ice shelf, together with glacial landforms on the sea bed, …

The Sub-Antarctic – ice coring expedition (SubICE), part of the international Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE), successfully drilled several shallow ice cores, from five of the remote and globally significant sub-Antarctic …

The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) has been operating as an international co-operative organisation for over 25 years, and has proved to be one of the most successful tools …

Sustainability

The Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation Programme (AIMP) Sustainability Strategy comprises eight major sustainability themes.

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) provides a forecast of high energy electrons in the Earth’s radiation belts which can cause damage to satellites on orbit. These forecasts are used by …

  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 …

TEA_COSI assesses Arctic Sea-ice which has an important impact on currents and ocean circulations around the globe

Testing space flight missions at Halley

The remoteness and winter isolation of communities working in Antarctica provide an excellent environment for research into human behaviour, performance, health and well being.  Many studies of overwintering staff in Antarctica …

The effects of long-term changes in the Earth’s magnetic field

The Earth’s magnetic field plays a key role in the interaction between the solar wind and near-Earth space, which affects the upper atmosphere (~100-500 km altitude) in particular in the …

The evolution and ecology of Antarctic sea floor communities

The evolution and ecology of Antarctic sea floor communities is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, led by Dr Rowan Whittle, looking at the past, present and future of life at …

The Global Electric Circuit

Weather and climate prediction are inevitably limited by incomplete knowledge of the Earth system and its external influences. One under-explored and consequently controversial area of research is the meteorological influence …

The Heated Settlement Panels

How will life and biodiversity on Earth will respond to climate change? This information is particularly urgent for the waters along the Antarctic Peninsula, which are experiencing rapid regional climate …

The role of Antarctic sea-ice in global climate

Sea-ice is frequently cited as a likely driver and propagator of abrupt climate change because of the rapid and far-reaching impact of its feedbacks. However, numerical climate models are still …

The role of the Southern Ocean in regulating atmospheric CO2 on glacial-interglacial timescales

The cause of the variability in atmospheric CO2 over glacial-interglacial timescales has been a puzzle since its discovery in the early 1980s. It is widely believed to be related to …

The Sustainable Flag Project

Flags which are crucial in denoting safe travel, visual aids to relocate deep field scientific instruments and marking station equipment are constantly shedding polyester Microplastics across Antarctica. This is particularly …

The thermosphere is the uppermost layer of our atmosphere at the edge of space (85 to 1000 km altitude). Within this region orbit thousands of satellites worth billions of pounds …

Towards Net Zero Carbon

Our strategy and work streams to meet Net Zero goals

Transformation

Realising the benefits of the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation programme.

Reliable projections of the Earth’s climate are at the heart of scientific support for international efforts to address global change. There is increasing recognition that reliable projections require that physical …

Using an Antarctic fungus as a wintertime biopesticide

Can a fungus from an Antarctic soil be used to control weevil larvae causing damage to UK soft fruits and forestry? The larvae of weevils, which overwinter in soil and …

Virtual Antarctica

Virtual Antarctica … journey beyond

WAMSISE is a three-year project starting in November 2018 and funded through a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) Global Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-GF-2017 no.: 792773 WAMSISE). The evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet …

Water isotopes in UKESM2

We will add water tracers (including stable water isotopes) to the UK Earth System Model (UKESM2) which will track through the model’s hydrological cycle. This work started under the EU …

Water Resources of the Upper Indus Basin

The Indus River Basin feeds the world’s largest system of irrigated agriculture, supporting over 300 million people across India and Pakistan. Demand on freshwater in this region is growing, and …

Weddell Sea ice sheet and climate

In the south of the Weddell Sea lies the Ronne and Filchner Ice Shelves. During the coldest part of the last glacial period about 25,000 years ago, the ice in …

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 …

White-chinned Petrel Tracking

The white-chinned petrel is the most common bird species recorded as fisheries bycatch in the Southern Ocean [1]. Although currently listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, limited population trend data …

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 …

Wildlife from Space

Many populations of wildlife are remote, inaccessible or difficult to monitor. The advent of sub-metre, Very-High-Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery may enable us study these animals in a much more efficient …

Winter Krill at South Georgia

The Winter Krill project is a Darwin Plus project, funded by Defra, and its activities are focussed on South Georgia (SG), which is part of the UK Overseas Territory (OT) …

WISE-ISODYN

The WISE-ISODYN (WISE: WIlkes Basin/Transantarctic Mountains System Exploration; ISODYN: Icehouse Earth: Stability Or DYNamism?) science programme was joint UK-Italian project between the British Antarctic Survey and the Italian Programma Nazionale …

Sub-Antarctic South Georgia island is a really important feeding ground for whales: it was at the epicentre of commercial whaling in the early 20th century, with over 170,000 whales killed …

Zavodovski Expedition

      The South Sandwich Islands are the most remote and inhospitable part of the UK Overseas Territories, which means they’re also the most data-deficient. Zavodovski Island is the …

Air Infrastructure

The Rothera Air Infrastructure project is part of the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation Programme (AIMP) future phases. The Dash 7 aircraft is due to be phased out and the British Antarctic …

Welcome to the scientific Committee on antarctic research

Initiating, developing and coordinating high quality international scientific research in the Antarctic region

The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is a thematic organisation of the  International Science Council (ISC) , and was created in 1958. SCAR is charged with initiating, developing and coordinating high quality international scientific research in the Antarctic region (including the Southern Ocean), and on the role of the Antarctic region in the Earth system.  SCAR provides objective and independent scientific advice to the  Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings    and other organizations such as the UNFCCC and IPCC on issues of science and conservation affecting the management of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and on the role of the Antarctic region in the Earth system.

Policy advice

Fellowships & awards

How we work

SCAR encourages excellence in all aspects of Antarctic research by developing transformational scientific programmes that address compelling topics and emerging frontiers in Antarctic science of regional and global importance. SCAR currently has over 30 groups addressing various aspects of Antarctic research.

Latest news

Community News |

Call for Papers – The Polar Journal Special Issue

9th September 2024

 …

ICTP’s summer school and workshop – Call for Action

Community News | SCAR News |

SCAR Welcomes new President and Vice Presidents

6th September 2024

2024 SCAR President’s Medal Recipient Announced

23rd August 2024

SCAR Open Science Conference

Join us at the 11th SCAR Open Science Conference in Pucón, Chile, from 19-23 August 2024.

Watch the livestream here.

Monthly Newsletter

Sign up to our free monthly newsletter here:

Interested in contributing to SCAR?

© Copyright 2024 SCAR | Website by Union 10 Design

Research Portal

Our policy is to freely and openly share our work with the community of dedicated scientists and other professionals as well as concerned citizens who are working to conserve Antarctica and our planet. Thanks to everyone for your commitment and we truly hope that our work will assist you. Future of Antarctica Antarctica is ‘ground zero’ for understanding how a changing climate affects Earth’s living organisms. What happens to Antarctica’s penguins, wildlife, land, ice, and ocean affects us all. Oceanites has inaugurated a major, long-term Climate Challenge research project that will help distinguish the direct and interactive effects of climate change, fishing, tourism, and national operations in the Antarctic Peninsula, which, in turn, is expected to assist improved environmental management in this vastly warming region. We’ll keep you posted on developments here. Penguin Population Data (MAPPPD) The Mapping Application for Penguin Populations and Projected Dynamics (MAPPPD) is an open access decision support tool that The Lynch Lab, Stony Brook University, and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) designed specifically for Oceanites as a one-stop shop for information on penguin abundance and distribution in the Antarctic. MAPPPD integrates citizen science, expert biological field surveys, and satellite imagery to provide data required for Antarctic decision support and conservation assessment. The Antarctic Site Inventory (ASI) The ASI is the only non-governmental science project working in Antarctica and the only project monitoring penguin and seabird population changes throughout the entirety of the vastly warming Antarctic Peninsula. Over 22 seasons, Oceanites’ Antarctic Site Inventory has made 1,713 site visits and collected data at 223 locations. The changes we’ve been tracking are significant — gentoo penguins increasing their numbers and extending their range southward, while Adélie and chinstrap numbers are in decline across the region. The 2016-17 field season, just concluded, was the ASI’s 23rd consecutive season tracking these trends. We’ll keep you posted on developments here.

Princess Elisabeth Antarctica

For decades, Antarctica has been the home of science and an example for preservation governance. The International Polar Foundation heralded the return of Belgium on the continent with the first ever “zero emission” station: Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.

Latest News

February 22, 2024

Until Next November!

Yet another successful research season has come to an end at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.

February 16, 2024

Entering the Home Stretch

Last week most of the scientists and several of the crew headed home from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, having accomplished their scientific objectives for this season. Only a core crew…

February 5, 2024

A Successful Week of Outreach from Antarctica

Last week IPF staff, scientists, and engineers were very active in outreach activities from Antarctica.

News Archive

Latest Pictures and Videos

March 1, 2024

Sibylle Boxho from ULB Discusses Sampling Work for the PASPARTOUT Project

In January 2024, researcher Sibylle Boxho from the Unviersite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) travelled to Antarctica for the PASPARTOUT project, which is seeking to understand the links between atmospheric circulation patterns,…

Videos Archives

January 28, 2024

Scientists on the Move

January 2024 saw the passage of the CHINARE research plane the Snow Dragon at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica and several resarch projecs head out into the field towards the coast.

Pictures Archive

One Project, Multiple dimensions

Concept & design.

The design of the Princess Elisabeth Station goes well beyond the package. Every aspect of the station was worked and re-worked to minimize energy and material loss while optimizing performance and space.

Engineering work

The Construction

Two seasons of building were needed for the Princess Elisabeth Station to become entirely operational and welcome its first scientists. From 2004 onwards, follow the history of the station as it unfolds.

Construction steps

Zero Emission

Princess Elisabeth Antarctica is a puzzle that took existing parts and reassembled them in an innovative way. As a prototype, the station is subjected to perpetual improvements to its efficiency, autonomy, and equipments.

Zero Emission Station

Polar Science

A new station in a vastly unexplored region of Antarctica, Princess Elisabeth Antarctica provides scientists with a wide variety of research environments and the necessary support to conduct their research in the best conditions.

Scientific projects

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Antarctic stations.

Mission Overview

• Location: Antarctica
• Environment: Isolation
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Research Updates

• Team Dynamics Research

On October 25, 2019, two Human Research Program funded studies completed their final data collection sessions for the 2019 winter-over period at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott (South Pole) stations. These two studies were integrated into a single study protocol with procedures and measures shared between the two investigations. The final sample consisted of a total of 24 subjects, with 4 subjects at South Pole station and 20 subjects at McMurdo station, participating in the period from April to October 2019.

One study, Shared Cognitive Architectures for Long-term Exploration (SCALE), explored how social relations and team cognition are affected by isolation and confinement. This research may help enable teams to maintain and improve recall of shared knowledge and have a better understanding of the consequences of poor team performance.

A companion study to SCALE is titled Crew Recommender for Effective Work in Space (CREWS). This study uses the research data for developing a computer model that can help select the best crew team.

• Two New Immunology Studies Accepted for Antarctica Winter-Over 2020

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has accepted two immunology-focused studies for this upcoming winter-over season. Winter-over in Antarctica is roughly March through October. The first, led by Dr. Brian Crucian, will examine immunological response of subjects at the Palmer coastal station, focusing on similarities to responses seen in astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The second, led Dr. Satish Mehta, will study the effectiveness of preventative measures to suppress viral reactivation in subjects at McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott (South Pole) stations. Next steps include subject recruitment, personnel training, and logistics (e.g., shipping of consumables and medications).

The United States’ Antarctic Program (USAP) maintains McMurdo. Scientists believe that Antarctica’s climate, terrain, temperature, and isolation provide an environment on Earth that most closely parallels the conditions of isolation and stress to be faced on long-duration human missions in space. This analog provides a unique and accessible test bed to develop prototype systems and technologies for use on the Moon and Mars. 

Learn More:  http://www.nsf.gov/geo/plr/sitemap.jsp

Of the three U.S. Antarctic stations, Palmer is the only one that is accessed routinely during the winter. This station has a well-equipped laboratory and provides the opportunity for study of Biological, Ornithological, Meteorological, Atmospheric, Glaciological and Marine Ecosystem science.

ANSMET is a program funded by the National Science Foundation that looks for meteorites in the Transantarctic Mountains. This geographical area serves as a collection point for meteorites that have originally fallen on the extensive high-altitude ice fields throughout Antarctica.

Learn More:  http://caslabs.case.edu/ansmet/

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• Data Descriptor
• Open access
• Published: 18 May 2023

A continent-wide detailed geological map dataset of Antarctica

• Simon C. Cox   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5899-8035 1 ,
• Belinda Smith Lyttle 1 ,
• Samuel Elkind 2 ,
• Christine Smith Siddoway   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0478-6138 2 ,
• Paul Morin 3 ,
• Giovanni Capponi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9237-3212 4 ,
• Tamer Abu-Alam   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6020-365X 5   nAff17 ,
• Matilda Ballinger   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0009-7372-7781 6 ,
• Lauren Bamber 7   nAff18 ,
• Brett Kitchener 6 ,
• Luigi Lelli 4 ,
• Jasmine Mawson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4097-6860 8 ,
• Alexie Millikin 2 ,
• Nicola Dal Seno   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3609-565X 4 ,
• Louis Whitburn 8 ,
• Tristan White 2 ,
• Alex Burton-Johnson 9 ,
• Laura Crispini   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5770-8569 4 ,
• David Elliot 10 ,
• Synnøve Elvevold   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0003-6082-1812 5 ,
• John Goodge 11 ,
• Jacqueline Halpin 6 ,
• Joachim Jacobs 12 ,
• Adam P. Martin   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4676-8344 1 ,
• Eugene Mikhalsky 13   na1 ,
• Fraser Morgan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7964-3361 14 ,
• Phil Scadden   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5290-072X 1 ,
• John Smellie 15 &
• Gary Wilson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0025-3641 16  

Scientific Data volume  10 , Article number:  250 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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• Geomorphology

A dataset to describe exposed bedrock and surficial geology of Antarctica has been constructed by the GeoMAP Action Group of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and GNS Science. Our group captured existing geological map data into a geographic information system (GIS), refined its spatial reliability, harmonised classification, and improved representation of glacial sequences and geomorphology, thereby creating a comprehensive and coherent representation of Antarctic geology. A total of 99,080 polygons were unified for depicting geology at 1:250,000 scale, but locally there are some areas with higher spatial resolution. Geological unit definition is based on a mixed chronostratigraphic- and lithostratigraphic-based classification. Description of rock and moraine polygons employs the international Geoscience Markup Language (GeoSciML) data protocols to provide attribute-rich and queryable information, including bibliographic links to 589 source maps and scientific literature. GeoMAP is the first detailed geological map dataset covering all of Antarctica. It depicts ‘known geology’ of rock exposures rather than ‘interpreted’ sub-ice features and is suitable for continent-wide perspectives and cross-discipline interrogation.

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Background & summary.

Antarctica contains minimal geologic exposure compared to the overall area of ice, but there are over 52,000 km 2 of rock and unconsolidated cover deposits that contain a rich geological, geomorphological and glaciological history of the continent. Numerous, hard-copy, regional-scale geological maps were developed last century 1 , 2 , 3 . Many have been scanned, some have been georeferenced, but few are more than raster digital information with an adjacent legend. For the most part they are geologically reliable for defining bedrock geology (‘deep time’) and construction of the continent. But the maps have poor spatial reliability in the context of modern science located by global positioning system (GPS) and other satellite sensors, and existing maps rarely contain much representation of glacial geology and cover sequences that hold information on the waxing and waning of Antarctica’s ice sheets.

A strong imperative for a comprehensive digital dataset of Antarctica’s geosphere comes from the need to understand its influence on global climate and potential contributions to sea level rise, as well as the effects of climate change on the frozen continent itself 4 , 5 . This drives interest in a geospatial resource that can pinpoint the locations of glacial deposits, indicate their mode of formation, age, and likely source. Although there are some relatively small areas represented by detailed local maps 6 , 7 , 8 there are no modern attribute-rich geographic information system (GIS) datasets to provide holistic information commensurate with the scale of the ice sheets/ice shelves. Spatial variations in geological characteristics, such as density, colour, heat-production or sub-ice structure, are also now deemed to be important as they influence ice sheet dynamics and the response of the continent to ice-removal 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 . Geological data also provide contextual information for biological and ecological analysis, studies of albedo and meltwater production, soil conservation and managing human impact 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 . Meanwhile, large quantities of satellite data are being rapidly acquired at sub-metre scale over most of the Antarctic continent, offering the opportunity to locate outcrops and derive high-resolution compositional information where data can be referenced to ground-based observations 17 , 18 , 19 .

Following publication of the 1:250,000 Geological Map of New Zealand 20 , 21 and release of a map sheet and GIS for southern Victoria Land 22 , GNS Science launched an ambitious project to build a similar high-quality digital geological dataset covering the entire Antarctic continent. International participation and support were sought through formation of a Geological Mapping Update of Antarctica (GeoMAP) Action Group at the 2014 Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Open Science Conference in Auckland ( https://www.scar.org/science/former-groups/geomap/ ). The aim was to capture existing geological map data, update its spatial reliability, improve representation of glacial sequences and geomorphology, then enable data delivery via web-feature services. Our broader intent is to provide a dataset describing the exposed geosphere that can be used for cross-discipline science, as well as continent-wide geological perspectives 2 , 3 , 23 .

The GeoMAP Action Group attracted principal collaborators from United States of America, Norway, Italy, United Kingdom, Australia, Russia and New Zealand, but included contributions from at least 14 nations. Many others provided advice, data and support (see Acknowledgements). Much manual work was completed in the GNS Science office in Dunedin by 11 student volunteers, who visited New Zealand on internships or worked remotely by videoconferencing in return for GIS-training and professional development. Students presented the results of their local mapping in conference abstracts, talks and posters as the dataset progressively evolved and improved. An initial beta-test version of GeoMAP (v.2019-07) was released at the 2019 XIII International Symposium of Antarctic Earth Sciences meeting in Korea. Following a period for review and further improvements by GNS Science, the first formal version has been released and is documented here.

The new GeoMAP v.2022-08 dataset of Antarctic geology (Fig.  1 ) is now freely available from the World Data Center PANGAEA ( https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.951482 ) 24 . It describes and presents the ‘known geology’ of rock and bare sediment exposures in a unified framework. As well as providing a fundamental dataset for local- to continental-scale interrogations of bedrock and glacial geology together with glaciology and other physical sciences, the nature and composition of rock substrate as defined by GeoMAP also provides a contextual base for biological and ecological research.

A geological map of Antarctica generated using the GeoMAP dataset, here draped over subglacial topography from MEaSUREs BedMachine Antarctica 11 , 55 . A rich attribute table enables data to be displayed or queried in a wide variety of ways. Here the map renders 99,080 polygons with colours reflecting rock or deposit age using MAPSYMBOL according to the legend in Fig.  2 , many of which are too small to be seen at a continent scale. Other data captured in GeoMAP, but not displayed on this map, includes a source bibliography and fault data.

Goals and context

The GeoMAP Action Group set itself a challenge to collaboratively build a modern geological dataset to classify and describe the bedrock and surficial deposits representing Antarctica’s geology. The concept was to capture existing geological observations and map data, update its spatial reliability, develop data in a GIS format and enable data delivery via web-feature services. Providing links to all original publications through a spatial bibliography was deemed paramount in creating a fair and functional product. The goal was to provide a dataset describing the exposed geosphere which would enable cross-discipline science or, for continent-wide perspectives, that captured existing geological knowledge in a manner that can be easily improved by subsequent generations. A secondary goal was to improve representation of glacial sequences and geomorphology because of their potential to contain records of ice fluctuations relevant to climate change.

Rapid development of a continent-wide dataset was achieved by adapting a tried and tested GIS methodology from mapping New Zealand (QMAP 1993–2014) 20 , 25 but adopting a distinct ‘downscaling’ work-stream from continental- to regional- to local-scale. This differs from the more-traditional and common approach of dividing a region of interest into a series of mapsheet areas that are completed sequentially at the same scale. Construction of GeoMAP started from a continent-scale, low density, attribute-poor dataset that was augmented and improved through multiple iterations. The work-flow followed a seven stage process adapted from the digital geological map of New Zealand: (1) adjusting rock and moraine polygons; (2) scanning and registering old maps to build a spatial bibliography; (3) coding polygons with attributes according to legacy map classification and source information; (4) assigning continent-wide classification and building a consistent legend (the hardest part); (5) reviewing depiction of glacial geology and cover sequences; (6) translating into the Geoscience Markup Language (GeoSciML) data standard 26 published by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) Commission for Geoscience Information ( https://cgi-iugs.org/project/geosciml/ ); and (7) constructing a seamless continent-wide dataset, with associated reviewing, checking and quality control.

A key feature was the deliberate strategy to capture ‘known geology’ of rock and bare sediment exposures rather than ‘interpreted’ sub-ice features. In practice this meant classifying and describing around 52,000 km 2 of the continent, now distinguished by 99,080 distinct polygons. These have been unified for use at approximately 1:250,000 scale, although locally there are some areas with higher spatial precision. Feature classification and description of rock and moraine polygons utilised a mixed chronostratigraphic- and lithostratigraphic-based classification, which employs the international GeoSciML 4.1 XML-based data protocols 26 to provide attribute-rich and queryable data, including bibliographic links to the source maps and literature where original field observations were published. Although there are varying degrees of interpretation within any map at a local-scale, from a continental-perspective GeoMAP is more of an ‘observational dataset’ or discontinuous ‘fact map’, rather than a more-continuous ‘interpretational dataset’.

Areas depicting rock were initially derived from the SCAR Antarctic Digital Database (ADD) v5.0 shapefile Rock_outcrop_high_res_polygon.shp 27 . Although there are known problems locally with the georeferencing, overestimation and generalisation 28 , this dataset of 68,381 polygons provided a pragmatic balance between a continent-wide dataset with enough precision and accuracy to enable regional-scale work, yet it is not so large as to be unworkable on a standard desk-top computer. Rock outcrop and lake polygons were examined against aerial photographs, the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) imagery 29 and against outputs from high-resolution satellite products and automated algorithms 18 , 28 , 30 . Those polygons that were particularly poorly georeferenced (with >250 m error), or misshaped, were manually adjusted to concur with LIMA, which has 15 m panchromatic pixels geolocated to ±54 m one-sigma accuracy 29 . Mapping of unconsolidated Neogene cover deposits involved checking a combination of previous work and the ADD shapefile Antarctic_moraines_high_res_polygon.shp 27 , then making new interpretations from aerial photographs, satellite imagery, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) elevation data and the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA) 29 , 30 , 31 .

Geological observations were compiled from 589 sources, which include a wide variety of published maps 1 , 2 , 3 and papers 6 , 8 , 17 , unpublished maps, university theses and other compiled and already available digital data 22 , 32 . Relocated and reshaped ‘rock’ and ‘moraine’ polygons were further cut and/or reshaped to represent variations and features of geology depicted in the source maps. Some areas have detailed mapping at scales of less than 1:50,000 whereas others are mapped more regionally at 1:250,000. Of the 589 maps scanned and georeferenced, 49% are local-scale (<1:250,000), 44% regional-scale (1:250,000 to 1:1,000,000), and 7% continental-scale (>1:1,000,000). In some places, older regional-scale maps 3 remain the best legacy information available. Wherever possible the geological classification used the best, highest resolution maps available. The final classification of geological unit polygons cites 234 source maps. Of the original 68,381 ADD polygons, only 7920 remain in the derived GeoMAP dataset with the same position and geometry. The positional accuracy of final polygon boundaries is strongly dependent on the quality and scale of the original legacy maps, but for the most part it is around ±250 m.

Although no new fieldwork was completed specifically for GeoMAP purposes, access to sub-metre scale satellite imagery and trimetrogon aerial (TMA) photographs was obtained through Google Earth ( https://www.google.com/earth/ ) or the U.S. Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) ( https://www.pgc.umn.edu/data/aerial/ ). These enabled some new observations and interpretations to be made at high-resolution, or for reasonable inferences to be transferred from one nearby outcrop to another. Regardless, a surprising number of places in Antarctica have had no geological observations and lack high-resolution imagery, resulting in local gaps and uncertainties in geological mapping. The question symbol ‘?’ was used for 4207 polygons in the dataset to indicate places where the exact nature of rock outcrops or their age is still unknown and future work is recommended.

Data Records

GeoMAP data are available for download directly from PANGAEA 24 , or can be accessed through webmaps and webservices delivered by GNS Science 33 . GeoMAP uses GIS methods to store, manipulate, and present bibliographic and geological information. There are four main feature classes (Table  1 ) in the archived ArcGIS geodatabase and QGIS GeoPackage. The database also contains a geological legend (feature dataset) that portrays a time-space diagram. A general overview of these data is provided here, but more-complete information, including tables of all attributes and attribute field content, is provided in metadata records 33 and some online documentation ( https://geomap.readthedocs.io/en/latest ) .

Source map bibliography

The ATA_GeoMAP_sources_poly feature class is a spatial bibliography of polygons representing the geological maps consulted or directly used in construction of GeoMAP. Each polygon defines the spatial cover of maps and has attributes describing the source’s authors, title, publication, year, program and scale of publication. The data structure complies with the GeoSciML 4.1 standard and uses the relevant Common Gateway Interface (CGI) controlled vocabularies 26 . A unique identifier SOURCE is also used to link geological polygons in ATA_GeoMAP_geological_units to the bibliographic reference used for their definition.

Geological mapping units

Delineating geological units is a fundamental part of the geological mapping process. Geological maps are typically based on lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, age, and rock types, or combinations of these. A combined chronostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic approach was adopted for GeoMAP, in which the description of areas is based on dominant age and/or rock type. To be depicted the geological unit must have sufficient thickness and/or scale, which is typically greater than 10–20 metres thick or 200 m across for GeoMAP. Any units thinner or narrower than this are likely to have been omitted, unless particular emphasis on the unit is warranted through a need to highlight features of some special scientific significance 22 .

Geological polygons have been stored in the feature class ATA_GeoMAP_geological_units, the principal output from the project. These vector data comply with the GeoSciML Lite standard for GeologicalUnitView, and fields required by that standard were populated using the CGI vocabulary (v2016.01) 26 . Polygons each have 42 populated fields holding attributes regarding stratigraphic nomenclature and hierarchy, age, lithology, and primary data source, etc. Perhaps the most important attribute fields are SOURCECODE and MAPSYMBOL.

SOURCECODE is the classification initially assigned by a legacy map author (source) pulled directly from the SOURCE publication, following whichever convention was used by the author(s) in their original publication. SOURCECODE values commonly follow conventional geological labels (1–2 characters indicating age followed by 1–2 characters indicating lithology) or they can be a number or character-number combination like a sample identifier. Question marks (?) have been placed in the symbol to indicate where there is uncertainty in the original author’s identification, or that an area has yet to be mapped beyond reconnaissance level, and geology inferred. SOURCECODE provides a bibliographic link that enables initial hard-copy maps to be retrieved or reproduced locally in a digital format. The 993 distinct values in SOURCECODE, however, are not a useful way to classify the entire continent.

By way of contrast, the MAPSYMBOL code provides GeoMAP’s main classification of the geological identity of the polygon, with values restricted by a formatting convention defined by the GeoMAP chrono-lithostratigraphic legend (Fig.  2 ). GeoMAP has adopted a convention that is very similar to the 1:1 million geological map of Australia 34 . CAPITAL letters are used to represent age (Chronostratigraphic subdivision, also used for the AGECODE field) and small letters representing lithology (rock-type as a lithostratigraphic classification, also provided in a LITHCODE field). The MAPSYMBOL unifies the original SOURCECODE and classifies polygons consistently across the entire GeoMAP dataset into 186 different units (Fig.  2 ). A cartographic layer file symbolised according to this chrono-lithostratigraphic subdivision is provided for a spatially projected legend layer in the GeoMAP data download package.

The chronostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic convention adopted within the GeoMAP ATA_geological_units layer by the attribute MAPSYMBOL to unify all the different geological studies across the continent. Coloured boxes on this chrono-lithostratigraphic legend show symbols present in the dataset, as used in Fig.  1 , whereas clear boxes are not present (or have yet to be assigned). Note that geological units which span multiple time periods have symbols showing the oldest and youngest time periods. e.g. Cambrian to Ordovician sedimentary rocks = EOs; Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic high-grade metamorphic rocks = LMn.

The attribute field NAME provides either a textual name of the rock unit, or simplified type of rock. Where possible the formally defined and published stratigraphic name is assigned to the polygon, for example, as per the lexicon in the geologic map of southern Victoria Land 22 . However, many units have been named informally or only classified by lithology. For the most part, NAME has generally been derived from the SOURCE publication and follows whichever convention was established in the legacy work by the original authors. There are 789 unique NAME values.

A POLYGTYPE attribute with restricted fields of ‘rock’, ‘moraine’, and ‘ice’ is the simplest possible classification of the geological unit polygons. There are occurrences of water, or ice that have re-frozen from meltwater, throughout Antarctica. Seasonal accumulations of supraglacial water, small ponds, and lakes are commonly re-frozen into clear dark ice that can be distinguished from blue ablation ice in remotely-sensed imagery and digital surface models by their darker/clear colour and/or a flat surface. Many are defined in the ADD lakes dataset 27 , but lots of new occurrences are added in GeoMAP, since quantification of surface meltwater is likely to be a feature of importance for understanding Antarctica’s future 5 , 15 . There are 3383 ‘seasonal water’ polygons in the dataset within the POLYGTYPE = ice. For GeoMAP they were manually mapped, using either the ADD_lakes_high_res_polygon.shp or satellite-based observations, predominantly from LIMA. Other projects are now working towards automated machine learning approaches 15 , 35 , 36 to ensure that future changes and variations in seasonal water are tracked.

A more basic geological classification can also be achieved using the LITHCODE attribute field derived from the lowercase letter of MAPSYMBOL (Table  2 ). A GIS layer file ‘Simple Lithology’ provided in the GeoMAP data download package classifies the geological unit feature into 8 classes. Alternatively, there is an attribute field SIMPLECODE to provide a generalised chronological and lithological subdivision into 21 classes (Table  3 ). These are expected to provide a more-useful definition of the variation in age, rock strength, and chemistry without going to the full 186 unit chronostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic classification provided by MAPSYMBOL.

The feature class ATA_GeoMAP_faults contains a series of lines that mark places where faults or shear zones have been observed to cross-cut geological units, forming boundaries between adjacent polygons, or interpreted as concealed sub-ice discontinuities based on otherwise unexplained changes in geology. Antarctica appears relatively unique in that there seem to be very few outcrops with fault or fault-rock exposures compared with ice-free continents, though examples do occur 37 , 38 . Perhaps this is because fractured-rock is more easily eroded than unfractured-rock, the crushed rock in fault-zones tends to coincide with gulleys and topographic low-points, and these preferentially fill with, and become obscured by, wind-blown snow and ice. Most legacy maps depict some form of faults beneath snowfields and glaciers, many of which are interpreted from changes in geology or geophysical characteristics. There are few studies, however, with accompanying documentation that rationalises the basis for interpreting such structures, fault-type, sense of motion, or scale of displacement. Many may simply reflect a geological paradigm applied at the time or were used to rationalise lack of information for understanding local geological relationships and structure.

The compiled faults feature class contains 1784 lines (arcs) each with 32 attribute fields to describe the locational accuracy, exposure, activity, type of fault, orientation, and the sense of movement, where this is known. It complies with the GeoSciML Lite standard for ShearDisplacementStructureView with fields required by that standard populated using the CGI vocabulary (v2016.01) 26 . As it contains many interpreted structures, and some that may be speculative and debatable features, all lines within the ATA_GeoMAP_faults feature class are linked to the original bibliographic reference where they were first defined using the unique SOURCE identifier in the ATA_GeoMAP_sources_poly spatial bibliography. The faults feature class includes some uncertain ‘tectonic province boundaries’, concealed beneath the ice, that have been inferred at a continental-scale 23 .

Chrono-spatial legend

An innovative feature of GeoMAP v.2022-08 is a geological legend portrayed as a time-space diagram (Fig.  3 ). The GIS feature dataset ATA_GeoMAP_legend was created to show geological map units by age in the approximate longitude at which exposures occur around Antarctica. Each polygon in the chrono-spatial legend has attributes derived from ATA_GeoMAP_geological_units enabling it to be coloured by MAPSYMBOL or SIMPLECODE. Alternatively, they can be queried and selected by any of the eleven attribute fields. Legend polygons also record the code used on the original published source map or dataset using the SOURCECODE attribute.

A unique chrono-spatial legend is provided as a feature dataset in GeoMAP v.2022-08 that can be displayed with different projections shown here with ‘thumbnails’. ( a ) The geological units on a time versus longitude graph using the EPSG:4978 (WGS 84) coordinate system. ( b ) The exact same data using EPSG:3031 (WGS 84/Antarctic Polar Stereographic) projection. Both follow the chrono-lithostratigraphic colour scheme used in Fig.  2 to colour the ATA_GeoMAP_geological_units dataset. This feature class has eleven geological fields that can be explored with the same attribute queries as used to select and find geological map unit polygons. Although it is impossible to show the detail of these diagrams in a journal-sized figure, they serve to indicate functionality provided by these data in a GIS program.

As the name implies, the chrono-spatial legend is a time-space graph showing the spatial location of objects as a function of time. Similar to most conventional geological legends, it shows time running up the diagram equivalent to a Y-axis, so the bottom is the past, or older times, and the top is the present, or more recent times. Lines of longitude form an X-axis and provide the geographic context to anchor features in the legend data layer. The chrono-spatial legend was constructed using EPSG:4978 (WGS 84) coordinate system but is suitable for projection in other coordinate systems. Popular GIS software packages, such as ArcGIS and QGIS allow a user to project geospatial layers “on the fly”. Once the geological legend is loaded in a map project, by changing the coordinate system in the map properties, it is possible to see the spatial context of different rock ages from a different perspective. A user might switch between EPSG:4978 (WGS 84) or EPSG:3031 (WGS 84/Antarctic Polar Stereographic) or EPSG:3832 (WGS 84/PDC Mercator) coordinate systems to gain an appreciation of the geological age variation around the continent.

Technical Validation

With positional accuracy of final polygons predominantly ±250 m, GeoMAP v.2022-08 reliably represents geology at 1:250,000 scale. However as well as the precision and accuracy of the polygons there are spatial variations in both the internal quality of interpretative information available for compilation of the dataset, as well as the degree of attention an area may have received by the GeoMAP team. One of the hardest tasks was, and still is, building consistency and capturing the local nuances of different interpretations available. There will undoubtedly be debate as to how well this has been achieved, but there has always been full expectation that GeoMAP should be a ‘live’ dataset that continues to evolve and improve over time.

As GeoMAP was being constructed from continental- to regional- and to local-scales, it evolved in both the positional accuracy and level of detail of geology represented. The feature class ATA_GeoMAP_quality was generated across 1 degree longitude and 15 minute latitude intervals to provide a subjective rating of ‘quality’ and used to track GeoMAP progress. It subjectively rates availability of geological mapping, availability of other legacy information, the attention various areas have received by the GeoMAP team and regions where there is data yet to be captured (Fig.  4 ; Table  4 ). It is inevitable that some degree of geological complexity and variety of scientific approach and interpretations will have also inadvertently been included in the ranking, although this was not the primary intent of this feature class. As well as tracking progress for project management as the dataset evolved, the final published v.2022-08 quality feature class can be used to indicate confidence for future cross-discipline work and an impetus for GeoMAP improvements. A number of areas for improvement are also listed in the Usage Notes below.

Bibliographic source and data quality for GeoMAP v.2022-08. ( a ) The distribution of bibliographic source maps used in the compilation of GeoMAP, with map area outlines coloured by scale. ( b ) The subjective ranking of the relative quality of the geological data, where different colours represent a subjective raking on a scale of 1 to 5 where there are rock outcrops. For a detailed description of the quality ranking see Table  4 .

Usage Notes

GeoMAP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and available for download through a data repository 24 . Acknowledgement of the source of data from both GNS Science and the SCAR GeoMAP Action Group is requested. It may be appropriate to cite both the data repository and this manuscript separately, depending on whether the data themselves are being used.

A goal of the GeoMAP Action Group has been to capture a digital dataset to first enable ‘cross-discipline science’, with a secondary intent to support ‘geological science’. But as the dataset evolved, there has been a natural tendency to add in and improve the geological information it contains, and shift focus towards the more-specialised geological end user. Although it was not originally conceived as a specialist reference dataset for geologists undertaking detailed research, it clearly provides context for local research. GeoMAP may well become a useful first port of call for introductory overviews and bibliographic links to original work, acting like a spatial ‘Wikipedia’ of Antarctic geology. During construction of GeoMAP v.2022-08 there were several areas specifically identified where the dataset can be improved in future versions, particularly for geology. Some are listed in detail below, while other suggestions for localised improvement are recorded in the COMMENTS attribute field in the ATA_GeoMAP_quality feature class.

Cross-discipline application

The definition of rock and substrate composition has potential to inform ecological, environmental, biological, heat flow, and meltwater modelling, as well as many other cross-discipline studies. Of the ‘Priorities for Antarctic Research’ identified by the Antarctic Roadmap Challenges Project 39 we have identified at least 22 of the 80 questions that can be informed by GeoMAP data, including: Ice sheet & sea level: Q27, 29, 32–34; Dynamic Earth: Q35–42; Life on the precipice: Q46, 48, 49, 54, 55, 68; Human presence: Q74, 75, 79). Future improvements in both the detail (scale) of mapping and bedrock, cover, and ice margin interpretation will help GeoMAP become more specifically useful for a wider range of scientists.

Classification can improve categorical reduction of chronostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic variability, and greatly simplify the use of geological data in cross-discipline interrogation. The most basic geological classification can be achieved using LITHCODE (Table  2 ) and the simple geology attribute fields (SIMPCODE, SIMPCLASS, SIMPDESC) group geological units into 21 age and rock type classes (Table  3 ). Alternatively, the ATA_GeoMAP_geological_units attribute TECTPROV provides a different break-down of polygons into more-interpretative tectonic provinces 23 , 40 . It is just one of many possible interpretations of cratonic blocks and tectonic belts 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , which tend to be strongly reliant on available geochronology, geophysics, and correlation to neighboring continents. The functionality of GeoMAP and other digital geological data might well be improved if a high-level stratigraphic/structural classification scheme were able to be collectively agreed upon for Antarctic Geology, similar to that developed for New Zealand 48 .

Geological context and high-level classification

There are many ways by which Antarctica can be subdivided into high-level geological units. Areas of outcropping geology are commonly classified into ‘crustal blocks’, ‘tectonic provinces’, ‘cratons’ or ‘orogenic belts’. These define parts of the continent based on age and orogenic history and group the rock’s unique modification by accretionary and collisional additions, or rift-driven subtractions. By combining field geology with geochronology, geochemistry, geophysics and knowledge of geological history of neighbouring continents, such subdivision can be projected beneath ice-covered areas. Major tectonic boundaries can also be constrained by geophysical interpretation and the relative location of different rock outcrops. However, classification of outcrop geology then becomes strongly dependent on this interpretative process and the availability and scale of geophysical data to do so. As a consequence, a plethora of continental-scale subdivisions 23 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 have evolved as rapidly as the available science.

A deliberate feature of GeoMAP has been to focus on the capture of ‘known geology’ of rock and bare sediment exposures, rather than interpreted sub-ice features, in part because it is scientifically conservative and enables the observational dataset to become a longer-lived product. GeoMAP v.2022-08 does, however, provide the attribute field TECTPROV which contains one version 23 , 40 of a high-level subdivision. There are clearly a number of other possible high-level subdivisions or more-detailed groupings. The Dronning Maud Land sector of East Antarctica, for example, has been subdivided into at least five other distinct units (Grunehogna Craton, Natal Belt, Maud Belt, Tonian Oceanic Arc Super Terrane and Lutzow Holm Complex) 32 , 41 , 44 , 46 . What could be really informative would be to capture different interpretations for a future GeoMAP, with the spatial resolution afforded in the GIS, using new attribute fields (e.g. TECTPROV.v1, TECTPROV.v2 etc.) in the ATA_GeoMAP_geological_units and ATA_GeoMAP_faults feature classes. Together with the latest geochronological and geophysical data, it may help scientific debate on the continent’s history and construction.

Local geological detail

There are places where local detail might be easily improved with some basic geological mapping. Throughout northern and southern Victoria Land the flat-lying sequences of Beacon Supergroup have been subdivided from the Ferrar Dolerite sills that intrude them. Individual units within the Beacon Supergroup have also been distinguished in much of the dataset. However there remain some large areas in the central Transantarctic Mountains where the Beacon and Ferrar rocks are yet to be distinguished, despite being clearly visible in high-resolution satellite imagery or aerial photographs. It would be desirable to subdivide these in future iterations of GeoMAP as their distinction reflects important local variations in rock colour, albedo, substrate chemistry, rock competence and fracture density.

There has also been some local-scale geological mapping yet to be captured by GeoMAP v.2022-08. The Japanese National Institute of Polar Research, for example, have produced a series of 39 beautiful, detailed, hard-copy map sheets at between ≤1:25,000 to 1:250,000 scale from Japanese Antarctic Research Expeditions (JARE) to Dronning Maud Land. Some of their map units have been grouped and/or simplified for subsequent digital data 32 and GeoMAP v.2022-08. Numerous small-scale geological maps at ≤1:50,000 scale have also been published locally within the South Shetland Islands 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 . However, these maps are discontinuous and recent works appear to contain some marked interpretational differences. The next version of GeoMAP may need a concerted effort and a collaborative approach to rationalise detailed geological observations into a simplified syntheses of these regions.

Perhaps most importantly, the design and data structure of GeoMAP easily enables local maps, or new mapping, to be captured to future versions and linked back to the original work through the bibliographic ATA_GeoMAP_sources feature class (Fig.  4a ). It is hoped sufficient time can be invested for the spatial resolution of GeoMAP to be improved in future versions. There are also a number of areas where we have yet to find any legacy data or observations of geology at all, which are distinguished in the geological_units layer with a ‘?’ symbol and ‘unknown’ attribute. These are clearly places to target searches through unpublished archives, acquisition of satellite data, and/or future expeditions.

Glacial processes and deposits

With strong polarity between onshore and offshore geological records of the Neogene in Antarctica, there is potential to greatly improve our understanding of the source of glacial deposits, cover sequences and past behaviour of ice. Although continuous records of climate exist offshore and have been a focus for two or three decades, they are expensive to collect and are spatially limited (total Antarctic drilling to date ~5 m 2 in plan view). By way of contrast, onshore records are discontinuous but commonly visible and accessible, with 10 orders of magnitude greater spatial extent (outcrops = 5 × 10 10  m 2 ) than drilling. A logical next step for mapping of these glacial deposits will be to use GeoMAP to help classify high-resolution imagery and multispectral datasets 17 , 18 , 19 , then generate compositional maps at metre-scale resolution from which source areas can be inferred.

A specific focus of GeoMAP was to capture information on glacial sequences, which appear to be under-utilised in contemporary science related to climate change. To date, the mapping of glacial deposits and landforms has been mostly localised, and continent-wide geospatial data for glacial-geologic and meltwater features are lacking. Regional-scale maps have limited depiction of post-Miocene surficial geology and geomorphology, and have highly variable spatial reliability, but the joint use of maps and satellite imagery can provide a wealth of information for data mining. The second edition geological map of southern Victoria Land 22 that was subsumed in GeoMAP, for example, recognises c. 70 units pinpointing the locations of deposits and indicating their mode of formation, age, and likely source, compared with two units (till and scree) mapped in the first edition 1 .

To exemplify an application of regional data, maps of the Ellsworth Mountains have been generated with coloured polygons and dots depicting glacial till localities (Fig.  5 ). The higher-resolution inset map (Fig.  5b ) has red and orange polygons showing location of tills from local glaciers, whereas blue and green dots represent tills left behind by the waxing and waning of ice-sheets during larger climatic events. Polygon centroids were used to generate simplified dot points (Fig.  5c ). The Ellsworth Mountains have an impressive gradient in the distribution of these glacial deposits and landforms, with a complete absence in the higher central part of the range – where there is greater snowfall and katabatic winds are less extreme. In the search for ecological domains or places for life at the extremes, or hot-spots that will be first affected by climate change, GeoMAP has potential to elucidate regional-scale gradients and might be a useful first port of call.

Extract of GeoMAP data from the 350 km-long Ellsworth Mountains. ( a ) Location diagram and overview of the distribution of cover deposits as centroid points. ( b ) An enlarged frame for part of the Heritage Range to exemplify the degree of detail of glacial deposit polygons recorded as tills in the ATA_geological_units layer. The polygons are depicted over the LIMA satellite imagery 29 , with bedrock geological polygons removed. ( c ) A wider regional-scale map in which geological unit polygons have been converted to centroid points, then displayed on the basis of geological NAME using the same colours as polygons in ( b ). It exemplifies one way in which data can be rendered to provide new perspectives of climatic processes on the glaciers.

Detailed investigations in southern Victoria Land 8 enabled the regional geological maps to evolve from having just two cover sequence units 1 to >70 units related to either the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, West Antarctic Ice Sheet, or a local alpine glacier source. Where possible, GeoMAP v.2022-08 has also classified or interpreted glacial deposits elsewhere, depending on whether they pertain to either local glaciers, or more major trunk glaciers and ice sheets. The intent was to distinguish features that might potentially relate to local fluctuations in precipitation from those related to major climatic events. Similarly, some interpretations have been made of the relative age of cover sequence units, based on elevation and position relative to the waxing and waning of nearby glaciers and ice. This classification work should be considered preliminary. It is hoped it will enable hypotheses to be developed and tested, or underpin work on the source of deposits 18 , 19 and exposure dating. The age and source of glacial deposits is an area where focussed work can be expected to change and improve future versions of the GeoMAP dataset.

Structural measurements

There are an infinite number of directions for true north from the South Pole, or 360 if measured in one-degree increments. Elsewhere in Antarctica, the direction of true north at a site is dependent on the longitude at that site. This can present a problem for the collection of dip and strike observations, or dip and dip-direction, that are the foundation of structural geology. Over 7500 structural observations of features such as bedding, foliation, faults, joints etc were collected from legacy data for GeoMAP. These features form discontinuities in the rock and tend to have an influence on the geomorphology of peaks, ridges and valleys forming the landscape or present in sub-ice topography. It was initially hoped to be able to display the azimuth, or dip direction relative to true north. However, we subsequently discovered there are major difficulties in rotating data relative to true north at a continental scale using the EPSG:3031 (WGS 84/Antarctic Polar Stereographic) projection. Different rotations applied in capturing the structural data in ArcGIS also meant that many azimuths have been found to be locally incorrect. These structural data need dedicated checking and editing before they will be of sufficient quality to be supplied routinely with GeoMAP, but are available (with caveats) on request to the corresponding author.

Code availability

GeoMAP v.2022-08 has been generated for ArcGIS (10.8.1) and QGIS (3.4) as geodatabase and geopackage material, using a GCS WGS 1984 geographic coordinate reference and WGS 1984 Antarctic Polar Stereographic projection. Data were developed manually, then stored in a GIS database developed, web-delivered and maintained by GNS Science in New Zealand. Software ArcGIS® has been used to create the GIS database 24 , but data can be exported in a variety of formats and compatible with most other GIS software. ArcGIS data are available from the PANGAEA data archive 24 , an ArcGIS REST service ( https://gis.gns.cri.nz/server/rest/services/SCAR_GeoMAP/ATA_SCAR_GeoMAP_Geology/MapServer ), or viewed through a webmap ( https://data.gns.cri.nz/ata_geomap/index.html ). A series of QGIS and Google Earth KMZ files, exported from the ArcGIS geodatabase layers, are also available from the archive 24 . The original data have been segmented into ten regions to keep KMZ files at a reasonable (<25 Mb) and useable size. GeoMAP documentation ( https://geomap.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ ) has been generated using code deposited on GitHub ( https://github.com/selkind/GeoMap ).

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Acknowledgements

The main contribution of GNS Science for GeoMAP was funded as part of the Regional Geological Map Archive and Datafile, one of the Nationally Significant Collections and Databases supported by the New Zealand Government’s Strategic Science Investment Fund (contract C05X1701). A subcontract to the Ross Sea Region Terrestrial Data Analysis programme (MBIE CO9X1413 to Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research) promoted the completion of data in Victoria Land and Transantarctic Mountains. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute (NZARI) and the Witter Family Fund (Colorado College, USA) provided additional funding which enabled student support, travel scholarships and conference attendance. Scientific and technical advice, or other critical support, was provided by: Jo Whittaker, Matthew Cracknell, Oliver Raymond and Chris Carson (Australia); Andreas Läufer (Germany); Naresh Pant and Shridhar Jawak (India); Carlo Alberto Ricci and Carlo Baroni (Italy); Hosung Chung and Jusun Woo (South Korea); Bryan Storey, Cliff Atkins, Richard Levy, Pierre Roudier, David Heron, Mark Rattenbury and Luke Easterbrook-Clarke (New Zealand); Kenichi Matsuoka (Norway); Geoffrey Grantham (South Africa); Jesús Galindo-Zaldívar and Jerónimo López-Martínez (Spain); Rosemary Nash and Eoghan Griffin (United Kingdom); W. Berry Lyons and Claire Porter (USA).

Author information

Tamer Abu-Alam

Present address: Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, P O Box 6050 Langnes, N-9037, Tromsø, Norway

Lauren Bamber

Present address: Great Boulder Resources, 51 Colin Street, West Perth, WA, 6005, Australia

Deceased: Eugene Mikhalsky.

Authors and Affiliations

GNS Science, Private Bag 1930, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand

Simon C. Cox, Belinda Smith Lyttle, Adam P. Martin & Phil Scadden

Department of Geology, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, USA

Samuel Elkind, Christine Smith Siddoway, Alexie Millikin & Tristan White

Polar Geospatial Center, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA

DISTAV, Università degli Studi di Genova, Corso Europa 26-16132, Genova, Italy

Giovanni Capponi, Luigi Lelli, Nicola Dal Seno & Laura Crispini

Norwegian Polar Institute, P O Box 6606 Stakkevollan, N-9296, Tromsø, Norway

Tamer Abu-Alam & Synnøve Elvevold

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 129, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia

Matilda Ballinger, Brett Kitchener & Jacqueline Halpin

University of Edinburgh, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL, UK

University of Otago, P O Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand

Jasmine Mawson & Louis Whitburn

British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK

Alex Burton-Johnson

Ohio State University, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

David Elliot

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, 55812, USA

John Goodge

University of Bergen, PO Box 7803, NO-5020, Bergen, Norway

Joachim Jacobs

Gramberg Institute for Geology and Mineral Resources of the World Ocean (VNIIOkeangeologia), Angliiskii pr. 1, St Petersburg, 190121, Russia

Eugene Mikhalsky

Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Private Bag 92170, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

Fraser Morgan

University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE17RH, UK

John Smellie

GNS Science, P O Box 30368, Lower Hutt, 5040, New Zealand

Gary Wilson

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Contributions

Simon C. Cox: Led data compilation, undertook extensive mapping, writing of manuscript, designed and managed project, SCAR action group co-chair. Belinda Smith Lyttle: Led data capture, data management, harmonization and quality control, design and creation of chrono-spatial legend, manuscript preparation. Samuel Elkind: Compiled data for Marie Byrd Land and Queen Elizabeth Land, wrote Python scripts to compile user documentation. Christine Smith Siddoway: Provided source data, quality control, and manuscript writing. Paul Morin: SCAR action group co-chair, provided terrain models and other source data. Giovanni Capponi: Provided source data and quality control, northern Victoria Land. Tamer Abu-Alam: Compiled Dronning Maud Land bedrock geology. Matilda Ballinger: Data compilation from Wilkes Land to Princess Elizabeth Land. Lauren Bamber: Compiled data for Queen Elizabeth Land. Brett Kitchener: Data compilation Princess Elizabeth Land. Luigi Lelli: Data compilation Antarctic Peninsula and northern Victoria Land. Jasmine Mawson: Data compilation Transantarctic Mountains and northern Victoria Land. Alexie Millikin: Data compilation central Marie Byrd Land and Ellsworth Mountains. Nicola Dal Seno: Data compilation Antarctic Peninsula and northern Victoria Land. Louis Whitburn: Data compilation Antarctic Peninsula and northern Victoria Land. Tristan White: Data compilation central and eastern Marie Byrd Land. Alex Burton-Johnson: Outcrop polygons. Provided source data and quality control, Antarctic Peninsula. Laura Crispini: Provided source data, interpretation and quality control, northern Victoria Land. David Elliot: Provided legacy maps, fieldsheets and revised mapping, central Transantarctic Mountains. Synnøve Elvevold: Provided source data, quality control Dronning Maud Land. John Goodge: Provided source data, help with classification and quality control, central Transantarctic Mountains. Jacqueline Halpin: Provided source datasets and information, Princess Elizabeth Land. Eugene Mikhalsky: Provided mapping from Mac Robertson Land to Princess Elizabeth Land. Adam P. Martin: Mapping of Cenozoic igneous rocks, data review, preparation of manuscript. Fraser Morgan: Contributed to database design and optimization for end-users. Phil Scadden: Built webmaps and feature services, data and metadata delivery. John Smellie: Provided local source data and synthesis of Antarctic Peninsula. Gary Wilson: Project design, politics and governance.

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Cox, S.C., Smith Lyttle, B., Elkind, S. et al. A continent-wide detailed geological map dataset of Antarctica. Sci Data 10 , 250 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02152-9

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April 1, 2024

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Polar Programs (OPP) recognizes that the Antarctic community is looking for promised updates on the infrastructure and logistics support to be provided by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) for funded researchers during the 2024-2025 field season, and the status of the solicitation for proposals requesting USAP support in future seasons.   

In response to the FY 2024 appropriations, NSF is developing a budget plan that will establish the OPP budget for the remainder of FY 2024. Concurrently, OPP and USAP staff and contractors are working to develop the science and logistics plans for the next Antarctic summer field season. Once these plans are finalized, the PIs of those projects with fieldwork scheduled for 2024-2025 will be contacted and the Support Information Package (SIP) submission process initiated.  

In the June 2023 Dear Colleague Letter   NSF 23-117 , NSF announced that logistics capabilities for new and funded projects continued to be severely limited due to enduring impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, including delays to the major infrastructure upgrade work at NSF   McMurdo Station. While much progress has been made during the current field season, there remains a significant backlog of funded projects that need logistics resources between 2024 and 2026 to achieve their research objectives. For the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 field seasons, NSF will therefore focus on supporting those projects already funded.

To reduce the project backlog and achieve greater resilience for subsequent seasons, NSF will institute a hiatus in new USAP-supported fieldwork proposals in 2024. The previous solicitation NSF 23-509 has been archived and no new USAP fieldwork proposals will be solicited in Fiscal Year 2024. For the small number of projects being considered for renewal in 2024, Program Officers will contact the Principal Investigators to discuss the options available.  

OPP continues to strongly encourage   proposals   for research projects that do not require USAP resources to support fieldwork, such as projects focused on the development of theoretical tools and/or the reuse of existing data, research conducted at other locations that sheds light upon Antarctic processes, ship-borne research, and projects for which the logistics are provided by other national programs or other organizations. Projects that support early career researchers and promote diversity in the polar science workforce are particularly welcome.   

NSF remains steadfast in our commitment to supporting cutting-edge research that enhances and expands our fundamental understanding of this unique region and its interaction with other components of the Earth system. OPP will continue to provide regular updates about the challenges and opportunities associated with building a more resilient USAP through   OPP Announcements ,   the   OPP quarterly newsletter , community office hours, and the   GEO Advisory Committee .  

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Antarctic research supports healthy space for astronauts

Astronauts and Australian Antarctic expeditioners are working together to advance human health in space, and on Earth.

Today, four astronauts are orbiting Earth on the Polaris Dawn mission , undertaking a range of research projects to better understand the effects of long-duration spaceflight on human health.

At the same time, expeditioners and doctors at Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic stations are collecting data for two of the projects, involving ultrasound and body scanning technology.

Australian Antarctic Division Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jeff Ayton, said the two projects were part of a collaboration with the US-based Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH)*.

“Antarctic expeditioners and astronauts are both isolated, confined populations in extreme environments, doing hazardous work, dependant on technology for survival, and with limited scope for evacuation,” he said.

“This makes Australia’s Antarctic Program an excellent analogue for understanding the risks to humans in space, and for testing and developing technologies and methodologies to reduce these risks.

“Our collaborative work with TRISH will help inform how to monitor, diagnose and optimise astronaut health during long-duration space missions to the Moon and Mars.

“It will also inform healthcare technologies and practices used in other remote and regional environments here on Earth.”

Useful ultrasound

Australian Antarctic Division Medical Practitioner, Dr John Cherry, said the first project involved developing and trialling protocols for non-specialists to use portable ultrasound technology to produce “clinically useful” images.

Expeditioners follow the step-by-step protocols to scan the internal structure of the eyes, jugular vein, heart, kidneys and bladder. Some also practice on a medical-grade gel containing fake blood vessels, called a ‘phantom’.

The resulting scans are sent to US-based researchers for assessment.

“Our colleagues are assessing the quality of the images and whether a diagnosis could be made from them,” Dr Cherry said.

“But we also look at whether the people who practice with the phantom produce better scans than those who don’t.

“This will allow us to determine whether astronauts need to train on a phantom during their flight, to maintain their competence for the real thing.”

Dr Ayton said that in space, the images could be reviewed by a practiced flight surgeon on the spacecraft, or sent back to Earth for review by a specialist.

In remote communities on Earth, the images can be reviewed by specialists in larger cities.

“This technology has come such a long way in recent years that it’s enabling bedside, or ‘point of care’, testing,” Dr Ayton said.

“It doesn’t replace formal ultrasonography, but it can be used to assist decision making to improve outcomes for patients in isolated or extreme environments.”

Body double

The second project being undertaken simultaneously in space and Antarctica, uses a 3D optical (3DO) body scanner to look at changes in body shape and composition (fat, muscle and potentially bone) and its impact on metabolic health.

Most people experience muscle loss and metabolic health changes when their ability to exercise is restricted, often after injury or illness.

In Antarctica, expeditioners can experience fluctuations in weight between winter and summer, and changes in muscle mass, depending on their exercise regime, which can affect their metabolic health.

Astronauts rapidly experience muscle and bone mass loss in microgravity, which increases the risk of osteoporosis and subsequent fractures. They also experience a redistribution of fluid from other parts of the body to the face.

“Astronauts do several hours of exercise every day to maintain their strength and conditioning, but after a six-month mission to the International Space Station, they still need to be supported to walk again when they return to Earth because they’ve lost the muscle bulk in their legs,” Dr Cherry said.

“As we look towards missions to Mars, astronauts will need to be able to get up and walk by themselves when they land.”

The 3DO body scanner project will help doctors and researchers understand how to support astronauts and Antarctic expeditioners to be as healthy as they can during their deployments.

“We’re using an app that turns the facial recognition cameras on a smart phone into a laser scanner,” Dr Cherry said.

“In Antarctica, participants stand with their arms and legs apart, and as the station doctor walks around them with the phone, the scanner creates a 3D avatar of them.

“It takes about 40 seconds and we do the scans every two months to monitor changes in body shape and composition. We also take physical measurements, such as grip strength, and ask expeditioners to keep diet diaries and answer activity questionnaires.”

The team recently published the positive results of a 3DO evaluation involving expeditioners at Davis and Mawson, which is now being extended to include Casey and Macquarie Island.

“This is a really exciting area of research because no one has looked at these sort of metabolic changes in such a way, for deployed teams in extreme environments,” Dr Ayton said.

“The use of these portable, easy-to-use and publicly available technologies is helping revolutionise healthcare in remote and extreme environments and design strategies to address the unique challenges each presents.”

Propelling healthcare from the frozen reaches at the bottom of the Earth, to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

*The  Translational Research Institute for Space Health  (TRISH) is a United States-based institute led by Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Space Medicine, in partnership with the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. TRISH is empowered by  NASA’s Human Research Program  and is funded through a cooperative agreement.

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Te Puna Pātiotio

Antarctic research centre, research projects.

Find a list of ice core research projects that the Centre is actively involved with.

We are involved in the following collaborative ice-core research projects:

RICE (Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution) Project seeks to understand past, present, and future changes of the Ross Ice Shelf, a major drainage pathway of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. To determine the rate of change, RICE aims to provide an annually resolved ice core record for the past 20,000 years and beyond, when global temperatures increased by 6 o C to preindustrial temperatures, global sea level rose by ~120 m, and the Ross Ice Shelf grounding line retreated over 1,000 km.

Most of the Ross Ice Shelf retreat occurred when global sea level had already reached modern levels. For this reason, the precise correlation between increasing air and ocean temperatures, and the velocity and characteristics of the ice shelf retreat, provides a unique opportunity to determine accurately the sensitivity of the Ross Ice Shelf to warming.

Read more about RICE

ANZICE (Antarctica-New Zealand Interglacial Climate Extremes) seeks to understand the likely response of the New Zealand-Antarctic region to a warmer world. To help achieve this, the project uses new and existing records from ice cores to determine how Antarctica’s climate and ocean behaved during past warm phases such as occurred around 7,000-9,000 years ago (Holocene Climatic Optimum) and 125,000 years ago (Last Interglacial Period or Stage 5e).

Read more about ANZICE

ANDRILL—Ice Core Correlation

ANDRILL (Antarctic geological Drilling) is a& multinational research collaboration. Two of our ice core locations (Mt Erebus and Evans Piedmont) are in the immediate vicinity of ANDRILL coring locations (Windless Bight and Granite Harbour). The ice core records will provide a terrestrial high-resolution climate dataset for the younger part of marine record recovered through ANDRILL. This will provide the unique opportunity to compare contemporary on- and off-shore records.

Read more about ANDRILL

Global Change Through Time is a FRST-funded GNS Science programme and examines past analogues for future global change at a wide range of geographic and temporal scales - from variation in local catchments over thousands of years, to the evolution of Antarctic-sourced ocean currents over tens of millions of year.

This range of scale reflects the wide spectra over which climatic and oceanographic systems evolve. Data are drawn from onshore New Zealand, the Southwest Pacific and Southern Ocean, and Antarctica.

Current research aims to improve understanding of the effects of anthropogenic, greenhouse gas-induced, global warming.

Read more about Global Change through Time

ITASE (International Trans Antarctic Scientific Expedition) is a SCAR (Scientific Committee of Antarctic Research) approved programme and has as its primary aim “the collection and interpretation of a continent-wide array of environmental parameters, assembled through the coordinated efforts of scientists from 20 nations” (Mayewski 2006, PAGES, vol.14, no.1,26-28).

The NZ contribution to ITASE concentrates on coastal sites, predominantly from low elevation, local ice domes.

Mid-latitude Southern Hemisphere climate is particularly sensitive to changes in the position and strength of the circumpolar westerlies, which are dependent on the relative input of Antarctic air masses. Antarctic atmospheric circulation on inter-annual to decadal timescales is dominated by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Southern Annular Mode or Antarctic Oscillation (SAM) and Antarctic Circumpolar Wave (ACW), but their hierarchy of importance is controversial.

While some researchers suggest SAM as the driving forcing of the regions climate, others argue that the ACW is dominating the continent’s climatic regime. In contrast, we demonstrated from coastal ice cores in McMurdo Sound that ENSO governs temperature variability in the Ross Sea region.

Meteorological observations are too short and sparse to resolve this uncertainty. In order to quantify the relative importance of each of these oscillations on the climate of the mid to high latitudes and their tele-connections, high-resolution climate proxies are required. We study intermediate length (<500m) ice cores from the Ross Sea region.

The sites have been chosen on their basis of their sensitivity to different climate drivers and the synthesis of all records will help to examine their individual influence and variability.

Ground penetrating radar is used to map bedrock topography, ice thickness, and internal flow structures. Then ~4m deep snow pits are sampled with high resolution (1cm) and intermediate depth ice cores are recovered.

Read more about ITASE

Latitudinal Gradient Project

Latitudinal Gradient Project (LGP) is an international effort between New Zealand, USA, and Italy. We contribute to LGP by providing a history of temperature, humidity, sea ice cover, precipitation source, atmospheric circulation, and ocean productivity along the Victoria Coast for the last 1000 to 10,000 years depending on the site.

This will help to determine whether the current ecological system found has evolved under prevailing climate, or how much time the ecological system had to adjust to potential climate change in the recent past.

Read more about LGP

Antarctica in the global climate system

Antarctica in the Global Climate System (AGCS) is a multinational, SCAR approved programme investigating atmospheric and oceanic linkages between Antarctica and the rest of the Earth system for the last 10,000 years and 100 years into the future.

The programme integrates existing and new ice core records, satellite data, fully coupled climate models and meteorological and oceanic data.

The scientific aims of AGCS are grouped into the four themes. The New Zealand ice core programme aims to contribute to themes 1, 2, and 4:

• Theme 1 - Decadal time scale variability in the Antarctic climate system
• Theme 2 - Global and regional climate signals in ice cores
• Theme 4 - The export of Antarctic climate signals

Read more about AGCS

Holocene greenhouse gas concentration and isotopic signatures

In collaboration with Dr Dominic Ferretti and Dr Katja Riedel at NIWA, we are analysing a new ice core recovered from a high snow accumulation zone on Mt Erebus, Antarctica. The use of rapid air bubble closure allows us to construct a greenhouse gas record of similar or potentially even higher resolution than the Australian Law Dome record for the last millennium.

In addition, we are analysing the carbon isotopic composition of the greenhouse gas to fingerprint the sources of the carbon, to better understand the role of the ocean, atmosphere, and the terrestrial biosphere sources and sinks. This will improve understanding of pathways and processes that determine variations in atmospheric greenhouse gases in the recent past, and help us gauge their influence in the future.

Ross Ice Shelf stability

The timing and velocity of the Ross Ice Shelf retreat some 9 to 5 ka years ago is still discussed controversially. Coastal ice core records are very sensitive to the change from an ice shelf environment to seasonally open water, which manifests itself in a shift in the chemical signature of snow and aerosol precipitation.

By dating the occurrence of the characteristic chemistry shift in the proposed ice core locations, the average retreat velocity can be calculated and its dependency on air temperature tested. Our sites are located along the retreat line at the Victoria Land Coast and Marie Byrd Land. Together with additional cores from our international collaboration partners, we aim to reconstruct the velocity of the ice shelf retreat as well as contemporary environmental conditions.

The Antarctic–New Zealand connection

New Zealand’s future economic and social development, environmental sustainability, and infrastructural planning relies critically upon the accurate assessment of the impact of global warming in our sector of the planet.

A joint programme between GNS Science and the University of Maine led by Dr Uwe Morgenstern is investigating ice core records from New Zealand (Tasman Glacier and Mt Ruapehu ice field).

The comparison between our Antarctic ice core records and Dr Morgenstern’s New Zealand ice core records will provide much needed data for the development of realistic regional climate models to predict New Zealand climate in the 21st Century.

Read more about the Tasman ice core project

Longer-term mass balance objective

During the 1999/2000 season, mass balance measurement devices (the submerged velocity method) were installed in Victoria Lower Glacier, and also at the Evans Piedmont Glacier in 2004/05. The measurements at Victoria Lower Glacier show that the glacier has a slightly negative mass balance, losing around 12 cm thickness per year. A continuation of the measurements will allow monitoring changes in the ablation intensity of the McMurdo Sound Region.

• News Releases

Exceptional warm air intrusions and omnipresent aerosol layers in the stratosphere.

First results of one year of cloud research at the German polar station Neumayer III published.

Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS)

Clouds in Antarctica. Midnight sun at Christmas 2022 looking south "towards the South Pole".

Credit: Martin Radenz, TROPOS

Leipzig/Bremerhaven. Extremely clean air on the ground, warm air intrusions and sulphate aerosol at high altitudes - a Leipzig research project has gained new insights into clouds in Antarctica. From January to December 2023, the vertical distribution of aerosol particles and clouds in the atmosphere above the German Neumayer Station III of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) was investigated from the ground for the first time. The height-resolved measurements were the first of their kind in Queen Maud Land, the area of the Antarctic that borders the Atlantic and covers an area larger than Greenland.

The observations were performed with the OCEANET-Atmosphere platform from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS). OCEANET-Atmosphere demonstrated its robustness already while it was drifting in the Arctic for a whole year on the RV Polarstern during the international MOSAiC expedition 2019/20. During the 12 months of operation in Antarctica, the platform was supervised on-site by TROPOS scientist Martin Radenz. Initial results have now been published in the renowned journal Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS). The measurements were funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and carried out in close co-operation with the AWI.

The Antarctic continent and the Southern Ocean are important components of the global climate system. While Antarctica's climate was considered relatively stable in the last century, significant changes are now being observed. Climate projections indicate that the interior of the Antarctic will warm by more than 3 Kelvin, the sea ice extent will decrease by around 30 per cent and precipitation will increase in the 21st century. However, such projections are subject to major uncertainties and the global atmospheric circulation models are not yet able to correctly reproduce the cloud cover and radiative forcing over the Southern Ocean. This incorrect representation of clouds leads to distorted estimates of thermal radiation and sea surface temperature, which are a prerequisite for estimating the energy fluxes between the ocean and atmosphere. In addition, in order to be able to document any change in an environment, such as Antarctica, also its current state needs to be documented as good as possible.

Gaining knowledge about cloud formation in Antarctica is an essential need, as this takes place differently in the clean air of the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere with more abundant land surfaces. A second major source of uncertainty is the transport of moisture and particles from the mid-latitudes and subtropics to the pole. The relatively flat surface between the Weddell Sea and the South Pole might be a kind of highway for warm and humid air masses.

In order to learn more about the clouds in Antarctica, the instrumentation at the German research station Neumayer III of the AWI were supplemented by remote-sensing measurements such as an atmospheric lidar and a cloud radar for around a full year in the framework of the project COALA (Continuous Observations of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions in the Antarctic). The importance of the project was well recognized by the priority program ‘Antarctic Research’ of the German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), which provided the funding for the endeavour. Carrier of the instrumentation was the TROPOS OCEANET-Atmosphere container. The platform had previously drifted through the Arctic for a year on RV Polarstern during the MOSAiC expedition led by AWI in 2019/20. " The MOSAiC observations allowed us to show for the first time that the atmosphere at the North Pole is more polluted than previously assumed. But what about over the Antarctic? Fortunately, we had the opportunity to operate our OCEANET container there for a year," explains Dr Ronny Engelmann from TROPOS. OCEANET was installed 300 meters south of the German Antarctic Neumayer Station III at the beginning of 2023. OCEANET-Atmosphere is an autonomous, polar-tested, specially equipped 20-foot container packed with state-of-the-art atmospheric observation equipment. It is currently the only polar-capable single container platform that combines multiwavelength lidar, a cloud radar, a microwave radiometer, and a Doppler lidar to observe clouds and aerosols, including turbulent air motions.

OCEANET was supplied with power from the research station, where the researcher from Leipzig also lived and spent a year making sure that all the devices measured without interruption: Dr Martin Radenz from TROPOS joined the station's core team. He was one of the 10 people who spent the winter in the dark polar night at Neumayer Station III. "Being able to spend a year in Antarctica with the community of our small team, the fascinating nature, snowstorms and isolation was a unique experience," reports Martin Radenz. The green laser beam of the multiwavelength lidar, which scanned the atmosphere above Neumayer Station III, was a novelty in this part of Antarctica. A lidar, also known as a "light radar", sends short laser pulses from the ground into the atmosphere and receives the backscattered light with a special receiver. Information about the height, quantity and type of suspended particles (aerosols) in the atmosphere can be derived from the travel time, intensity and polarisation of the backscattered signals. To date, related measurements with cloud radar and aerosol lidar have only been carried out at McMurdo station on the other side of Antarctica, 3500 kilometres away, bordering the Pacific Ocean. Contrary to Neumayer III on the ice shelf, the US McMurdo station there is built on rock. The researchers also hope that the measurements taken at Neumayer Station III over ice shelves will provide them with new insights into cloud formation over the vast expanses of ice in the Antarctic. "It is particularly pleasing that, following COALA, the AWI now permanently deploys similar remote sensing devices at Neumayer Station III in cooperation with TROPOS. This will make an important contribution to recording the short-lived climate components aerosols and clouds in the Antarctic," says Prof Andreas Macke, Director of TROPOS and Head of the "Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Processes" department.

In January 2024, the OCEANET container was dismantled, transported to the edge of the ice shelf and loaded onto the resupply vessel. The devices arrived in Leipzig in March, the DFG COALA project was completed and the researchers took stock: "All the devices held out and recorded valuable data. We are particularly pleased about this because it would have taken months for a replacement part to arrive during the polar night. Our experience from the MOSAiC expedition three years earlier in the Arctic was a great help. Nevertheless, it was a real challenge to make the devices storm-proof and clean them of snow almost every day," reports Martin Radenz. For Radenz and his team, however, the effort was worth it. The measurements provided three new insights into the Antarctic under climate change:

Atmosphere only clean close to the surface The lidar measurements provided an insight into how many particles are floating above this part of Antarctica and at which altitudes. The lower part of the atmosphere (troposphere) with pristine conditions was mostly comparatively clean. In contrast, the team observed an unexpectedly large number of particles between an altitude of around 9 km and 17 km (stratosphere). "The optical properties of the aerosol derived from the lidar clearly indicate sulphate aerosol, which is mainly caused by volcanic eruptions. These aerosols were observed in the stratosphere since January 2023 and are therefore most likely related to the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai in January 2022," says Martin Radenz. "The fact that volcanic dust can persist for a very long time over the south polar region surprised us just as much as the forest fire smoke over the north polar region, which we were able to observe for the first time during the MOSAiC expedition in 2020," reports Ronny Engelmann. The lidar measurements from the ground are particularly important, as the volcanic aerosol over Antarctica has apparently not been observed sufficiently from space before. At least no aerosol was detectable in the standard products of NASA's CALIOP satellite lidar. Aerosol in the stratosphere has an influence on the occurrence of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), where complex chemical processes take place and which are suspected of contributing to the hole in the ozone layer over the polar regions.

Aerosol-cloud interaction in shallow mixed-phase clouds While more aerosol was observed in the upper layers of the atmosphere than expected, the lower layers proved to be about as clean as assumed. The continuous measurements enabled the team to "watch" the clouds grow. For example, a stable mixed-phase cloud consisting of ice crystals and water droplets embedded in a layer of marine aerosol was observed for a period of 10 hours. "Our measurements confirm that practically all particles serve as cloud nuclei, to either form cloud droplets or ice crystals. Cloud growth is therefore limited by the amount of particles. If there were more particles, for example because more polluted air flows into the Antarctic, then there would also be more droplets and ice crystals in the clouds, which would change their lifespan and lead to yet unknown effects on weather and climate," explains Dr Patric Seifert from TROPOS.

Unusual warm air intrusions Warm air from lower latitudes could intensify climate change in Antarctica. It was therefore important to be able to analyse two extreme warm air intrusions in detail: One with intense snowfall in April, which brought 10 per cent of the snowfall of an entire year, and a second with record-breaking maximum temperatures and heavy ground icing due to supercooled drizzle in July. During this warm spell, the temperature rose to -2.3 degrees Celsius on 6 July 2023. "This is the highest temperature recorded in July at the German Antarctic Neumayer Station since continuous observations began in 1982. This means that it has never been so warm there in the middle of the polar night, the peak of the Antarctic winter," explains Martin Radenz. These unusually high temperatures led to supercooled drizzle. On the surface, a layer of clear ice of around 2 millimetres formed on top of the snow from the previous day. "What often happens here in Central Europe in winter is very unusual for the Antarctic during the dark polar night. Normally, temperatures at Neumayer Station III are below -30 degrees Celsius in July. Our observations over ice shelves are the first of their kind," emphasizes Radenz.

It took not long until the value of the remote sensing measurements was also recognized by the Alfred Wegener Institute that operates the Neumayer station. The deployment of OCEANET-Atmosphere was only the start of a long-term time series of profile measurements in this part of Antarctica: at the beginning of 2024, the Alfred Wegener Institute expanded the permanent observation capacities with a lidar and radar, thus ensuring that the unique OCEANET data set is continued. “The long-term climatology of aerosol and cloud parameters for the Neumayer station will thus be permanently extended to the vertical dimension," explains Dr Holger Schmithüsen from AWI.

The provision of an overview of the obtained results in the BAMS journal demonstrates the potential of the 1-year dataset for shedding light on the still barely characterized properties of clouds and aerosols above Antarctica. “But the BAMS article only provides a first glimpse into the highlights obtained during the measurements. Detailed statistics and process studies will follow in a subsequent step,” says Radenz. Over the next few months, the extensive data from Antarctica will be further analysed and compared with existing data sets from southern Chile, Cyprus, Germany and the Arctic. The researchers hope to gain new insights into why the clouds in the far south differ so much from those in the northern hemisphere. Plenty of datasets from key-regions of climate research are available for a comparison. As part of the DFG Transregio "Arctic Amplification" (AC3-TR), TROPOS has been investigating clouds in the Arctic together with the University of Leipzig since 2016. In addition, processes in the southern hemisphere have also become the focus of attention in recent years: in 2016/17, cloud researchers from Leipzig took part in the international Antarctic circumnavigation ACE. In 2018-2021, extensive measurements took place in southern Chile. Two major measurement campaigns in and around New Zealand are currently being prepared for 2025 and 2026: goSouth at the southern tip of the South Island, accompanied by HALO-South with the German research aircraft HALO and an expedition around New Zealand with the research vessel Sonne are the placemarks of the next series of experiments under the lead of TROPOS. "TROPOS is about to contribute important novel insights for improving the understanding of aerosol-cloud-climate processes in the clean and maritime southern hemisphere," concludes Prof Andreas Macke.

Tilo Arnhold

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0285.1

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Ground-Based Remote Sensing of Aerosol, Clouds, Dynamics, and Precipitation in Antarctica: First Results from the 1-Year COALA Campaign at Neumayer Station III in 2023

Article Publication Date

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