The BIOPOLE researchers each gave well received oral presentations. Aidan talked about his data mining, parameterisations and modelling of the copepod Calanoides acutus at a session on the dynamics and role of diapausing copepods in marine ecosystems. Nadine spoke on knowledge gaps and research priorities in zooplankton research at a session on zooplankton in a changing Southern Ocean. In other sessions, Dan talked about stoichiometry modelling and Kathryn, some associated work with the COMICS programme on carbon budgets. Geraint gave a keynote talk considering biogeographic shifts in copepod species in the Arctic and potential impacts on the lipid pump there.
Geraint Tarling, Vicky Fowler (BAS Post-doc), Aidan Hunter and Nadine Johnston at a reception
The BIOPOLE researchers also took part in a number of satellite workshops covering zooplankton trait data and time-series. Also notable was a zooplankton art session that commenced with the reading of a poem on zooplankton vertical migration by BIOPOLE WP2 co-lead, Jen Freer, entitled “A tale of Light and Fear”.
The symposium proved useful in assessing the latest methods and findings in zooplankton research and in establishing further collaborative links for the BIOPOLE programme.
Tell us about your professional and academic career before becoming part of the BIOPOLE Community.
Like many in oceanography I have been environmentally recycled from another field. One of the great things about marine science is that it attracts so many different backgrounds. My background is more in physics and I benefitted from the open-mindedness of marine scientists who gave me a chance to apply my numerical skills to ocean ecology problems after my PhD and I’ve been at NOC ever since – longer than I choose to remember. Despite being originally being employed as a modeller and sitting in a modelling group, oceanography encourages multidisciplinarity and I was on my first cruise within the first year at NOC and have even been chief scientist on a cruise a couple of times now.
What do you do within BIOPOLE?
Within BIOPOLE I jointly lead WP3 with Andrew Meijers. This WP is focussed on the global impacts of changes at the poles. I am also lead for the NOC involvement in BIOPOLE. As a result my role is largely managing – I don’t get to do the really exciting stuff – but it does give me a great vantage point to see how the many components of BIOPOLE are slotting together to produce something truly impressive.
What have you enjoyed about BIOPOLE so far?
A highlight so far has been the Arctic work. When writing the proposal for BIOPOLE we recognised the huge amount of activity and infrastructure already present in the Arctic and approached a number of groups to suggest collaborations. They were incredibly welcoming and helpful, providing access to cruises and facilities way beyond anything we could have afforded ourselves and welcoming us to the wider Arctic scientific community. In return I hope we are adding some great complementary science to their activities. Watching this generous and inclusive example of scientific collaboration across nations develop has been wonderful.
Kate Hendry attended the Netherlands Polar Day on April 23rd in the Museon-Omniversum in The Hague. The NL Polar Day, arranged by the Dutch Research Council (NWO)’s Netherlands Polar Programme team, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), every year brings together researchers from around the Netherlands from universities, research institutes, tourism and industry who are interested in all things Arctic and Antarctic. The Netherlands have a strong history of polar research, and rely on international collaborations for infrastructure access: in the Arctic this is largely through their links with the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Germany, and in the Antarctic through their Memorandum of Understanding with BAS. For example, Rothera hosts the Dirk Gerritz lab, which was built in 2012.
This year’s NL Polar Day was ably hosted by Sietze Norder from the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, and featured a plenary talk by René van Hell, the Netherlands Ambassador for the Arctic. Kate gave a presentation in the first of the parallel sessions, updating a packed room on the new BAS Science Strategy and giving some recent highlights from Rothera including the glider operations, the atmospheric aerosols lab, and the Windracer autonomous aerial vehicle (thanks to BIOPOLE’s Hugh Venables, as well as Tom Lachlan-Cope and Tom Jordan for their input!).
The poster session featured APECS members as well as more established scientists. Kate also gave a poster on the broader aims of BIOPOLE, and was able to engage with a number of existing colleagues and new contacts on the project objectives and successes so far.
Photo: NL Polar Day 2024 by Tom Doms
The day finished with a fully immersive IMAX Arctic experience in the Omniverson, including a “close encounter” with a polar bear (thankfully virtually!), and a drinks reception in the museum.
I’m Laura Taylor, a PhD student at BAS working on Southern Ocean biogeochemistry. My work involves exploring the interactions between the carbon and silica cycles across Southern Ocean environments, particularly in relation to different sources of nutrient input to the ocean from ice. Before starting my PhD and joining BIOPOLE, I completed my undergraduate and masters degrees at UEA.
What do you do within BIOPOLE?
Within BIOPOLE, I am in work packages 1 and 2, with the majority of my PhD work being included in these areas. My main contribution to the project so far has been organising the biogeochemical cycling on the Southern Ocean BIOPOLE I cruise, where I coordinated a group of PhD students to collect samples across 12 parameters as we completed a transect from the open ocean into the sea ice.
What have you enjoyed about BIOPOLE so far?
So far, the cruise has been a massive highlight, but I have also really enjoyed being a part of the BIOPOLE community, especially the ECR Network which is a brilliant space for getting to know researchers in other areas.
Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share?
I’m not sure I have any particularly unique traits, but when I’m not doing science I love to go scuba diving as much as I can (although less in landlocked Cambridge), finding good local coffee, and gardening.
Alanna Grant, ECR, from UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology hosted a BIOPOLE special session at the Arctic Science Summit Week in Edinburgh in March 2024. The session focused on the work completed by WP1 in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, in July 2023. Presentations were given by Bryan Spears, Alanna Grant, Amy Pickard, Kate Hendry, Justyna Olszewska, and Isabelle Fournier and the session was chaired by Rebecca McKenzie. Interpreted results were presented from analysis of greenhouse gases, metals, algae process experiments, and physical and bio-optical properties of Kongsfjorden. River discharge was highlighted as a crucial knowledge gap, and ideas were discussed as to how this could be solved in the future. The session attracted a multi-national audience and provided a great opportunity to share our results with the wider arctic research community and foster new networking and collaboration opportunities.
The second part of the session saw invited speaker, Peter Nienow from the University of Edinburgh, present on his previous work in Greenland. This was the basis for a productive interactive discussion amongst session members relating to how BIOPOLE could expand its arctic efforts into Greenland whilst providing maximum scientific impact and value.
The meeting spanned through three days and was filled with fruitful discussions, great scientific talks, exciting presentations, interesting keynotes and much more. All sessions were chaired by BIOPOLE Early Career Researchers (ECRs).
The poster session followed. After the poster session, quick-fire talks took place, after which we had a discussion.
The second day started with the ECRs’ breakfast. After the breakfast, Guang Yang delivered a keynote on ‘Zooplankton mediated carbon pumps’.
Next, we learned about the major BIOPOLE fieldwork efforts in Arctic (Arctic ships), Ny Alesund, and Southern Ocean (BIOPOLE Cruise I).
Presentations on data management, the Decade Collaborative Centre for the Southern Ocean Region (DCC-SOR), and Arctic policy were delivered, along with updates from the ECRs.
We then had four breakout sessions before lunch and four afterward. After the breakout session, Katrin Linse delivered a keynote on ‘Benthic elements of BIOPOLE’. We closed the day with the Executive Board and Programme Advisory Board meeting.
The third and the last day of the meeting started with the ECR-led session on the ‘Imposter syndrome: taming your inner critic’. Following that, we heard the rapporteurs’ reports from the breakout sessions and engaged in a discussion. Further, the PAB delivered an insightful report for the project. Before we concluded the meeting, we had a couple of discussion sessions on ‘Interaction with partners and within the project to achieve key BIOPOLE objectives in Arctic and Antarctic’ as well as ‘BIOPOLE into the future and lessons learned’.
We would like to express our gratitude to every single individual for their work in BIOPOLE and for their participation in the meeting be it in-person or virtual.
British Antarctic Survey recently led the highly successful BIOPOLE Southern Ocean Cruise I (Nov-Dec 2023), which was the first ‘formal’ scientific voyage of the RRS Sir David Attenborough (SD033). Taking place over 10 days in an otherwise logistic-heavy six-week schedule, BIOPOLE I was the first funded scientific project undertaken on our new research vessel. The objectives of this cruise addressed a range of Tasks under Work Packages 1-3. It sought to understand the role that annual sea ice retreat plays in setting the conditions for the spring bloom and how this bloom acts to draw down carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it in the deep ocean. In addition, the fortuitous placement of the A23a megaberg allowed us to undertake opportunistic sampling of how the colossal chunk of the Filchner ice shelf, first calving in 1986, is modifying the physical and biogeochemical properties of the surrounding ocean as it moves northwards. This ‘encounter’ with the world’s largest iceberg and the associated drone footage also generated massive media interest across the globe.
BIOPOLE I was undertaken by an 11-person science team, including BIOPOLE scientists Andrew Meijers (Principal Scientific Officer, physics), Nadine Johnston (ecosystems), Gabi Stowasser (ecosystems), Alex Brearley (gliders), Petra ten Hoopen (data manager), and BIOPOLE PhD student Laura Taylor (biogeochemistry), brilliantly supported by BAS Antarctic Marine Engineering, IT, data and lab management personnel, during an intense 10-day period in early December. The small team was ably backed up by significant shore-based support, both for glider piloting but also troubleshooting, sample and data processing. The survey section stretched across the rapidly retreating ice edge from the northwest of the Powell Basin to well into the Weddell Sea and 100% pack ice; and back out again. Over 1640 individual water samples were taken from the more than 30 CTDs, along with 10 Mammoth and almost 30 Bongo net deployments. The voyage also deployed three autonomous gliders, including two capable of novel under-ice navigation. These presently remain in the water following the development of the spring bloom and further retreat of the ice, and are providing greater spatio-temporal context to the ship-based process study. Additionally, personnel were craned onto the sea ice to collect sea ice cores in support of BAS PhD projects, and a mooring rescued at short notice from the path of A23a.
SD033 crew and science party at one of the sea ice stations
BIOPOLE I’s objectives were to determine the dynamics, biogeochemical composition and structural change in the upper water column as the ocean moves seasonally from being fully ice covered to fully exposed, as well as determine the structure and composition of the spring phytoplankton bloom and associated mesozooplankton community, particularly the copepod Calanoides acutus. The emphasis on copepods is part of the core BIOPOLE objective of quantifying the lipid component of the biological carbon pump. Over the course of their development, C. acutus develop a large carbon-rich lipid sac, primarily to fuel their metabolism and aid buoyancy during their winter diapause (a form of hibernation used to survive low food levels and avoid predation) at depths of (potentially) up to 2500 m. This deep diapause acts to transport carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean, but this transport has never been quantified despite the vast biomass that copepods represent.
Using a combination of respiration experiments together with investigations of their lipid sac concentration and size, population structure, distribution, and abundance, we can determine how much carbon this species is capable of transporting to the deep ocean, and its influence on nutrient recycling in the upper water column. The results of this cruise will be complemented by work carried out in the austral summer of 2022/23 onboard RRS Discovery (DY158) and a further BIOPOLE cruise in the austral autumn of Feb/Mar 2025 onboard RRS Sir David Attenborough where the late season condition of copepods will be assessed.
Despite fears of ‘first cruise’ teething issues the ship and personnel performed near perfectly. The SDA demonstrated its great capabilities; switching speedily between logistics and science, and easily handling challenging ice conditions, all whilst providing an unprecedented level of comfort for expeditioners! As ever a massive thank you must go to the officers and crew of the SDA, for delivering successful science with enthusiasm and skill, as well as to the science and support party who pulled together and supported one another at all times to produce some excellent and exciting new data.
BIOPOLE also attracted extensive media coverage during this cruise. The opportunistic science carried out at megaberg A23a had a high media profile, with the article initially in BBC News online leading to a number of further interviews by the global press of a number of scientists on board. These included lengthy interviews with Andrew on the BBC news channel and news hour as well as CBS streaming news, Laura on CBC News Canada, and Alex on CNN’s Tik Tok channel! Nadine gave interviews on the BIOPOLE 1 cruise and A23a on BBC Science in Action, BBC Inside Science, and BBC’s World tonight. Nadine also participated in STEM learning’s 2023 Protecting Our Planet Day Protecting Our Ice Session which was led by BAS PhD student Rosanne Smith and broadcast live from the RRS SDA and Rothera Research Station, and viewed by 54, 696 people (51,600 young people and 3, 096 adults).
Cruise track of SD033, with the inset showing the location of BIOPOLE I science across the sea ice edge
I am a Marine Ecologist working within the Ecosystems team at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge. Over the last 15 years I have mainly worked on the trophic relationships in polar marine ecosystems and the marine ecosystems of the British Overseas Territories. I am interested in the spatial and temporal functioning of marine food webs and use a combination of biochemical analytical methods to identify key trophic linkages in the pelagic and benthic realms of the ocean. In recent years I have also been involved in work investigating the role of zooplankton and fish in the carbon cycling of the ocean. I divide most of my time between participating in cruises and analysing samples in the laboratory here in Cambridge.
What do you do within BIOPOLE and what have you enjoyed about BIOPOLE so far?
In BIOPOLE I am part of WP2 which focuses on biological processes that contribute to the carbon transport into the deep ocean. In November last year I had the good fortune to be part of the first BIOPOLE cruise. With a fantastic team on board, we set out to determine the dynamics, biochemical composition and structural change in the upper water column in the northern part of the Weddell Sea as the ocean moves seasonally from being fully ice covered to fully exposed. My part of the cruise was managing the deployment of our fishing nets to sample the meso-zooplankton community associated with the spring phytoplankton bloom.
Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share?
When I am not at sea or in the office I like to go hiking and enjoy the music and theatre that Cambridge and London have to offer.
The Modelling-Observations Working Group (WG) was established following the first BIOPOLE annual meeting to enhance the links between the modelling work and observational campaigns. Regular meetings between modellers at NOC and BAS had been taking place since the start of the project to ensure a synergy in modelling effort across the institutes. However, there was a clear need for an equivalent forum for the exchange of ideas and information between modellers and observationalists in the BIOPOLE community, hence the Modelling-Observations WG was formed. The WG now involves 19 members from all four work packages with representatives from NOC, BAS, CEH, and Exeter University. Meetings of the full WG currently take place approximately every 6 months, with more focussed monthly meetings targeting specific work packages or work streams.
The main aims of the WG are as follows:
Identify links between modelling efforts and encourage collaboration.
Discuss data needs of modelling efforts and identify sources (databases or field campaigns).
Identify data gaps to inform targeted data collection and fieldwork planning.
Identify opportunities for integrating modelling efforts with observational data to inform interpretation of key processes.
Contributing to the last of these aims, collaborative work involving NOC modellers and biological oceanographers is ongoing to understand the processes involved in generating regions of de-oxygenation in the Chukchi Sea, which were identified in the recent Chukchi Sea cruise. Such regions may impact the regional ecosystem and dependent fisheries and it is important to understand the underlying physical and biogeochemical processes.
One of the key outputs of the WG so far has been the development of new BIOPOLE infographics that capture the range of modelling activities being undertaken and how they link to the observational campaigns. Drawing on Jen Freer’s creativity and mastery of PowerPoint, two draft designs have been developed; the first is targeted at a general audience (Figure 1) whilst the second provides a more detailed picture of the modelling work and is suitable for a more specialist audience. The draft designs may be found on the BIOPOLE shared drive in the Modelling-Observations WG directory, and we would welcome feedback from the BIOPOLE community. The intention is to produce infographics that broadly follow the design of the BIOPOLE concept graphic. The designs will be professionally produced and will be available for use in posters, talks, and other promotional activities.
Figure 1: Draft infographic illustrating the range of modelling and observational activities being undertaken through BIOPOLE.
Following on from our successful first event in January 2023, in November the BIOPOLE ECR network hosted the second event in our Careers Pathway Series, which provide an opportunity for mid- to late-career BIOPOLE members to share their career journeys and for ECRs to ask questions and advice about how they got to their current position.
We had three excellent panellists from across different BIOPOLE work packages: Prof Kate Hendry (BAS), Dr Andrew Yool (NOC), and Dr Huw Griffiths (BAS). The panellists shared their different pathways and experiences from undergraduate to postgraduate study, PhD and post docs, fellowships and on to permanent positions. The session was very rewarding and generated great discussions about proposal writing, the importance of mentorship, and the process of writing fellowship applications as well as the transition from ECR to mid-career scientist.
Amy Swiggs, a PhD student in Work Package 1, said of the session: “It was fantastic to see such a variety of career paths and the different ways that you can achieve your goals. There can be a lot of challenges in progressing your career, and it was great to demystify some of the key stages, including proposal writing and fellowship applications”.
A huge thanks to the panellists for their time, candour and willingness to engage with us – it was a really interesting and useful discussion. The session also developed a new mentor-mentee pairing following discussions about the parallels between Huw’s career pathway and the pathway that Alanna is hoping to take, which was a great outcome of the session. We hope to run similar meetings in our Careers Pathway Series, and we are always looking for panellists to share their experience, so please do get in touch with the ECR representative if you would like to be involved. In addition, our BIOPOLE Mentoring Scheme is well underway, and if you are interested in becoming a mentor or mentee, please get in touch, or see the BIOPOLE SharePoint for further information.
