In June, I was invited to give an illustrated presentation at a ‘Dinner and Talk’ evening hosted by the Mid Devon Green Party. They were keen to hear about the climate research happening at the University of Exeter – especially our recent expedition aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough, still affectionately known to many as ‘Boaty McBoatface’. 

I gave a 45-minute talk titled ‘From Poles to Planet: How Plankton Shape the Global Climate’, offering an overview of the BIOPOLE programme. This included highlights from the 2025 BIOPOLE 2 cruise to the Southern Ocean, as well as the ARCWATCH 1 expedition to the central Arctic Ocean on board the FS Polarstern – together providing a broader picture of how polar plankton research informs our understanding of climate systems. 

The audience was small but engaged, and we began the evening with a delicious home-cooked (not by me!) vegan curry. After the talk, a lively discussion followed. Questions ranged from ‘what it’s like to work in such remote regions’ to more philosophical reflections – such as whether plankton should be granted legal rights as part of nature’s protection. As a self-confessed plankton nerd, I found it a fascinating (if tricky!) question.  

The Author of this Article Kathryn Cook (University of Exeter)

On 26^th of June, Dr. Gabi Stowasser went to Buckingham Palace to receive a Polar Medal from HRH Princess Anne. The Polar Medal is awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research, and particularly for those who have worked over extended periods in harsh climates. It was instituted in 1857 as the Arctic Medal, and renamed the Polar Medal in 1904. 

Over her career in polar science, Gabi has worked on the trophic (feeding) relationships between living organisms in marine ecosystems of the polar regions and British Overseas Territories. She has provided new insights into the spatial and temporal functioning of marine food webs. Gabi applies a combination of biochemical and other analytical methods to identify key connections of energy and nutrient transfer between species in an ecosystem (known as trophic linkages).  

For BIOPOLE, Gabi participated in all three of the Southern Ocean cruises, where she focussed on the deployment and processing of net-catch samples and the filtering of particulate matter from CTDs and surface waters sampled underway. She is presently carrying out analyses on the carbon content of these samples and the trophic relationships of net-caught pelagic organisms using stable isotope tracers. 

The Author of this Article Geraint Tarling (British Antarctic Survey)

On 1^st October, Project AISIT (AI for Stable Isotope Tracers) got underway to help increase our understanding of Arctic freshwater inputs. What AISIT will undertake is the generation of a standardised, machine-readable database of Arctic freshwater tracers and related environmental data. It will bring together data on stable oxygen isotopes (e.g. δ18O), other freshwater tracers like barium, and key nutrient data. By harmonising these data, AISIT will make Arctic freshwater data easier to access, compare, and use. Furthermore, AISIT will engage with the AI community to bench-test the database for further AI research. The project will initially focus on the freshwater tracer and associated environmental data collected by BIOPOLE, before expanding to integrate datasets from the other data sources.   

AISIT is funded by a combination of the EPSRC and NERC as part of an ‘AI for science’ call. PI for AISIT, Geraint Tarling, said “AISIT is a great opportunity to bring together key datasets generated by BIOPOLE researchers and combine them with other disparate data that are out there to consolidate what presently exists on Arctic freshwater tracers”. Lead AISIT researcher, Emily Rowlands, added “What is also exciting is the involvement of the AI research community to gain further insights into the relative importance of freshwater inputs to nutrient distributions across the Arctic and beyond”.  

AISIT brings together researchers from BAS, NOC and UKCEH to work on this 6-month project. The first few months will mainly focus on data consolidation and quality control before wider interactions with AI researchers. AISIT data-manager, Charles Thorpe-Morgan said “There is a large amount of data out there, but it all needs careful processing to ensure the database meets the highest standards and is fit for purpose”. AISIT work-package leader, Petra ten Hoopen, said “We are writing to as many data holders as we can to emphasise the mutual benefit of sharing data to make the AISIT database as comprehensive as it can be. We assure all potential data providers that database will adhere to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), where the original sources will be clearly identified and all data contributors will be credited in the database DOI and further citations” 

Image: AISIT scientists Emily Rowlands and Charles Thorpe-Morgan, based at the British Antarctic Survey 

The Author of this Article Geraint Tarling (British Antarctic Survey)

To enhance coordination and impact in polar science, members of the BIOPOLE programme have spearheaded the formation of two new strategic initiatives: the UK Antarctica Insync Biological Working Group and the BIOPOLE Task Force for a Royal Society Discussion Meeting.  

The UK Antarctica Insync Biological Working Group brings together leading UK researchers focused on Antarctic biology to align scientific efforts, share data, and foster collaboration across institutions as part of the Antarctica InSync initiative. The group aims to identify synergies in ongoing fieldwork, harmonise biological monitoring approaches, and develop integrated frameworks for understanding ecosystem change in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic continent. By working “in sync,” the group hopes to amplify the UK’s contribution to international polar science and policy.   

As a contribution to BIOPOLE’s Legacy initiative, a dedicated BIOPOLE Royal Society Discussion Meeting Task Force has been convened to organise a high-profile international meeting. This event will showcase cutting-edge biological research in polar regions, highlight emerging challenges, and explore the role of UK and international science in addressing global environmental change. The Task Force includes representatives from across the BIOPOLE consortium and is currently developing a compelling programme and list of speakers that will bring together scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders in early 2026. If successful, this will follow on from a recent Royal Society Discussion meeting on Global impacts of climate extremes in the polar regions: is Antarctica reaching a tipping point?  led by BIOPOLE’s Kate Hendry together with Michael Meredith, Geraint Tarling, and Alexander Brearley, and including talks by BIOPOLE’s Jen Freer and Sian Henley (see News article and Newsletter feature above).

These initiatives reflect BIOPOLE’s commitment to building a cohesive and forward-looking polar research community. They also underscore the programme’s leadership in shaping the future of UK Antarctic science through collaboration, innovation, and strategic engagement.  

Stay tuned for updates on both initiatives in future editions of the newsletter. For further information and how to contribute please contact Nadine Johnston or Geraint Tarling. 

The Author of this Article Nadine Johnston and Geraint Tarling (British Antarctic Survey)

On 23^rd October, lead scientists from the seven LTSM2 National Capability (NC) programmes and NERC Institute Science Directors met to discuss progress and the wider impacts of long-term multicentre science carried out by NERC. The hybrid meeting, hosted at the British Antarctic Survey, was organised by Jessica Richt and chaired by Geraint Tarling, on behalf of BIOPOLE. NERC understands that some environmental science challenges need long-term continuity, large infrastructure, and coordinated teams, which are too complex or costly for individual universities or short-term grants. It therefore funds NC programmes, such as LTSM2, to deliver science that is national and decadal in scale, brings together a critical mass of expertise, infrastructure, and resources, addresses strategic national needs and provides public-good services, such as advice to government and data for the wider community.  

LTSM2 NC is particularly focussed on science questions that can be best addressed through pooling expertise across a number of NERC affiliated institutes. BIOPOLE, for example, is a collaboration between BAS, NOC, UKCEH, CPOM and BGS. The other six LTSM2 programmes, called AgZero+, CANARI, CHAMFER, HydroJULES, TerraFIRMA and MOET, each bring together a number of institutes to tackle themes such as next generation agriculture, UK water resources, underground carbon storage, adaptation to sea-level rise, and medium-term mid-scale to long term global-scale climate forecasting.  

The meeting started with an update of progress from each of the seven programmes, which highlighted some impressive achievements as each programme now enters their penultimate year of funding. It then moved on to consider how these programmes can best convey their findings to both funders and wider stakeholders, including the public. Addressing this, Nadine Johnston (BIOPOLE) gave a presentation and then led a discussion on how to formulate “Impact storylines”, covering the essential elements that should be included and providing a case-study from BIOPOLE. An action that came out of the discussion was to form an LTSM2-wide group to formulate impact stories for each programme following a common approach. It was further decided that there should be an impact story covering the wider purpose of the LTSM NC programme itself. Further discussions covered cross-programme linkages and plans going forward. What was clear from the meeting was the need for greater communication and collective action across LTSM2 programmes to ensure that the case for continued NC science is made clearly and coherently to funders.  

The Author of this Article Geraint Tarling (British Antarctic Survey)

The past few years have witnessed unprecedented extremes in the Antarctic linked to climate change. There’s been exceptionally low winter sea ice and accelerated melting of ice sheets and ice shelves. Atmospheric rivers move heat and moisture poleward under becoming more frequent and are associated with extreme atmospheric warming events precipitation events over Antarctica, both impacting ice mass loss. Low sea ice and atmospheric and marine heat waves have severe knock-on effects for ecosystems. In the context of these threats and concerns, scientists from the British Antarctic survey organised a two-day meeting at The Royal Society, in the historic setting of their London headquarters, to bring together international experts to discuss the state of play in our understanding of Antarctic extreme events, future predictions, and policy and societal relevance.  

Throughout the discussions there were some key overarching themes that emerged, cutting across disciplines and other ‘silos’. Timescales as a topic came up as a frequent discussion point, emphasising the links between extreme weather, extreme climate, and abrupt climatic change: events on the timescales of hours or days can impact Antarctic regions for months or even years. It is becoming clear that different components of the Antarctic system experience preconditioning as result of climate change, upon which abrupt change can be triggered by an extreme event. Furthermore, many of these components experience complex interactions of driving and compounding mechanisms. The extent to which extreme events in Antarctica represent irreversible ‘tipping points’, where the climate system shifts into a whole new state, is still a matter of debate.  

Another recurring theme was the fact that the observation record is not only too short to understand extreme events in the context of long-term variability, but also Antarctic and Southern Ocean data are scarce both in time and space. There was a call for more multidisciplinary observations, incorporation of existing technologies in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and enhanced use of emerging and novel technologies. In addition to recent observations, there was a session that explored the use of the paleoclimate record as a source of analogues to understand what is possible in terms of abrupt Antarctic climate change.  

However, we need more than observations: we need a better mechanistic of underlying processes to forecast future events robustly. Predicting the occurrence of extreme events in Antarctica is highly challenging. In addition to the scarcity of observations needed to test models, the interactions between the climate components are highly complex, exhibit non-linear ‘threshold’ behaviour, and highly dependent on choices relating to model scaling and other parameterisations. The proximity of thresholds, reversibility of climate change, and the amplification by suddenly extreme events all remain unclear. What is clear is that the drivers of extreme events will get stronger with every increment of warming.  

The final two sessions focused on the policy relevance both regionally and globally of extreme events in Antarctica. Close to home, given Antarctica is one of the dominant sources of uncertainty in sea level change projections, there’s a clear and pressing need to understand the full range of possible Antarctic melt outcomes for UK infrastructure and its population. A key message was that communication and translation of science is critical, and we all have a responsibility to make sure the science knowledge is available to the stakeholders that need it, and to work towards inclusive career development for a diverse future scientific community.  

Kate Hendry is an ocean scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, and lead organiser for the Royal Society Discussion Meeting “Global impacts of climate extremes in the polar regions: is Antarctica reaching a tipping point?”.  

The outputs from this row society meeting will be brought together in a special theme issue of the philosophical transactions of the Royal Society A. 

The author of this article Kate Hendry (British Antarctic Survey)

BIOPOLE researchers Kate Hendry, Geraint Tarling, Adrian Martin and Dan Mayor attended the UK Arctic Science Conference, held at Northumbria University in September 2025. The BIOPOLE attendees presented posters on their work on Davis Strait nutrient pathways (Adrian), glacial flour as a source of nutrients (Kate), stable isotope approaches to pelagic species interactions (Dan), and pelagic species complexes in East Greenland (Geraint). The BIOPOLE overview poster was also displayed. 

The conference itself brought together leading researchers to examine the nation’s role in Arctic science at a time of accelerating environmental change. It took a rather unique approach in focussing most of the plenary time on discussions addressing (1) Strengths of UK Arctic Science encompassing building on current & emerging strengths and reflecting on UK leadership in Arctic science agendas and (2) Challenges & Building Resilience covering personal, organisational change for more sustainable practice, building sustainable relationships and networks, and the future of Arctic field research. Discussions emphasised the global urgency of Arctic research, with climate-driven transformations—such as sea ice loss, permafrost thaw, and ecosystem shifts—posing risks to infrastructure, security, and international stability. Delegates stressed the need for robust data integration and explored the geopolitical implications of Arctic science partnerships. The BIOPOLE attendees did a good job at representing the programme within such interesting discussions.  

Overall, key recommendations from the conference included establishing a centralised Arctic hub, reforming funding models to enable equitable partnerships, and developing a proactive strategy for an ice-free Arctic. The conference concluded with a clear message: UK Arctic science must combine technological excellence with ethical responsibility to maintain leadership in a rapidly changing region – something very much endorsed by BIOPOLE.  

The Author of this Article Geraint Tarling (British Antarctic Survey)

 

As the leaves fall from the trees and jumpers come out of hibernation, the autumn months bring with them opportunities to bring our communities together, learn about each other and stand together. Autumn is a season of change — and it reminds us that embracing difference, understanding one another, and standing up for fairness are all part of what helps communities thrive. 

From October through November 2025, a series of international days and awareness months invite us to celebrate diversity, promote inclusion, and build empathy. 

October begins with Black History Month (1–31 October) — a time to honour the contributions, culture, and resilience of Black people throughout history and today. Alongside this, ADHD Awareness Month and Dyslexia Awareness Week (2–8 October) help challenge stigma around neurodiversity and champion understanding of different ways of thinking and learning. World Dyslexia Awareness Day (6 October) and International Stammering/Stuttering Awareness Day (22 October) further highlight the importance of inclusive communication and support for all. 

World Mental Health Day (10 October) reminds us that mental wellbeing is essential to equality — and that no one should feel alone in their struggles. Later in the month, World Day for Audiovisual Heritage (27 October) celebrates diverse stories and perspectives, preserving the voices of people and cultures around the world. 

As we move into November, the focus on inclusion continues. Movember (1–30 November) and International Men’s Day (19 November) raise awareness of men’s health and wellbeing, while International Stress Awareness Week (1–7 November) encourages open conversations about mental health at work and beyond. Anti-Bullying Week (11–17 November) and the International Day for Tolerance (16 November) reinforce the importance of respect and kindness in our schools, workplaces, and communities. Finally, on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women calls on us all to stand against gender-based violence and create safer spaces for everyone. 

One event with particular interest to the BIOPOLE community focusses on LGBTQIA+ people connected to the polar regions. Polar Pride Day (18 November) is much more than a symbolic “flag-flying” event. It’s a powerful statement that inclusion matters – even (or especially) in the world’s most remote and extreme research settings. It offers a chance for colleagues and friends, no matter what their sexual orientation to recognise and celebrate the contributions made by members of the LGBTQIA+ community. By celebrating LGBTQIA+ contributions in polar science, it helps build stronger, more innovative, and more equitable scientific communities. 

The authors of the article – Huw Griffiths British Antarctic Survey 

Ezra Kitson

• Please introduce yourself.   

Ezra Kitson – Environmental Data Scientist. 

• Tell us about your professional and academic career before becoming part of the BIOPOLE Community.  

I did a PhD in environmental chemistry at the University of Edinburgh before I started working as an Environmental Data Scientist at UKCEH. During my PhD I specialised in high-resolution mass spectrometry and metataxonomic sequencing of peatland soils. I developed a strong interest in programming and working with in-situ sensor data. Working at UKCEH I have taken on a wide range of projects, from building a web portal which monitors sewage spills in the River Thames catchment, to conducting machine learning analysis on water chemistry data from Loch Leven. I am part of UKCEH’s Aquatic Ecosystems group, and I am based at the UKCEH Edinburgh site. 

• What do you do within BIOPOLE?   

I am part of Work Package 1 where I am conducting statistical analysis to look at the relationship between Arctic Oscillation and freshwater discharge from six major Arctic rivers. This involves combining gridded climate data from NOAA with freshwater discharge data from gauging stations monitored by the Arctic GRO initiative in statistical analysis pipelines. The overall aim of the work is to understand how future changes in Arctic Oscillation are likely to manifest in changes to Arctic freshwater discharge, and thus the nutrient input from rivers into the Arctic Ocean. I am currently writing the results of this work up as a scientific manuscript which I hope to submit this year! 

• What have you enjoyed about BIOPOLE so far?  

It has been great to be meet researchers from other institutions who are interested in solving similar data science problems to me. It’s also been an opportunity to learn more about Arctic and Antarctic research – it’s fascinating to see how fieldwork is done in these inhospitable environments. It makes me reflect that the long walks across Scottish peat bogs during my PhD weren’t so bad after all. 

• Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share?  

I am fluent in a few different programming languages: Python, C++, R, JavaScript and MATLAB. This comes in handy when contributing to work done by colleagues in different institutes with their own programming language preferences. 

Dave Munday

• Please introduce yourself.   

I’m Dave Munday, a physical oceanographer and numerical modeller. 

• Tell us about your professional and academic career before becoming part of the BIOPOLE Community.  

I previously worked at the University of Reading and University of Oxford before moving to BAS in December 2014. I started off working on western boundary current separation and flow past small islands, before specialising in Southern Ocean circulation and dynamics as part of the QUEST-DESIRE project. I’ve always specialised in using idealised models to isolate important dynamics/processes and understand their impact on ocean circulation. QUEST-DESIRE enabled me to branch out into carbon cycling and ocean biogeochemistry, which is a way to link those dynamics to large-scale climate. I’m particularly interested in the development of ocean circulation from the Cretaceous and Eocene epochs to the present day. 

• What do you do within BIOPOLE?   

As part of WP3 I’m using an idealised two-sector model of the Atlantic/Pacific to look at the import and export of carbon and nutrients from the Weddell Sea. I’m able to run the model to thermodynamic and biochemical equilibrium, which can take ~20 000 model years, which allows me to separate quite small changes because there’s no model drift to obscure them. I’m using a range of perturbation experiments and carbon/nutrient budgets to understand what forcing causes the import/export of carbon to change and what processes control its decomposition into different terms. It’s becoming clear that everything is strongly dependent on the ice cover and the expert of ice/freshwater from the Weddell Basin. High ice cover can influence the transport of carbon/nutrients due to the Weddell gyre by preventing it from responding to wind stress and other forcing changes. By warming the atmosphere I can reduce the winter ice cover and this allows other processes to play a more prominent role. 

• What have you enjoyed about BIOPOLE so far?  

The opportunity to return to carbon cycle modelling after a hiatus and delve into the details of how it influences the large scale climate. 

• Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share?  

To figure out how to turn a complex ocean with detailed bathymetry and forcing into a box with very simple surface forcing! And then make my tiny world dance to the tune in my head by altering everything (but not all at once). It took a long time to figure out the way to force my sector model, but now it’s very flexible and can be used to test a lot of ideas relatively cheaply.