Log in
This case study details the impact of current glaciological research at the University of Aberdeen on the Earth's polar ice sheets on practitioners and services in the non-academic science community, specifically the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and European Space Agency (ESA). In addition, the research has informed public understanding of the stability of the polar ice caps under the influence of climate change. The beneficiaries of our research are professional scientists in Environmental and Earth Sciences working at BAS and ESA who have used our findings to constrain computer modelling of ice sheet dynamics and to calibrate and validate measurements of ice sheet mass change. We have been involved in major international collaborative field research on the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets to better define the current basal and surface boundaries of the ice sheets and to improve the understanding of the sensitivity of the ice sheets' boundaries to climate change over a range of timescales.
Polar research at SPRI has been made accessible to wider audiences through the Polar Museum, which is unique as Britain's only museum dedicated to the Arctic and Antarctic. The Museum's formal plan has at its core the use of displays to communicate SPRI's research findings to a general, non-specialist audience; for example, showing the public how this research is deepening the understanding of environmental problems such as sea-level rise. A complete redesign in 2009- 10 utilised SPRI research in polar science and humanities to underpin museum displays (which had previously related only to polar exploration) and to project the significance of the rapidly changing polar environment — climatic, social and cultural — to a diverse audience (c. 50,000 in 2012) with international reach. Research is communicated through captioned museum exhibits, interactive screens and audio-guides, talks and tours, and Internet resources. Wide secondary reach includes substantial media coverage in newspapers, TV and radio. The Polar Museum was shortlisted for the Art Fund's prestigious Museum of the Year Award in 2011 and for European Museum of the Year in 2012.
As research led by Professor Martin Siegert at the University of Bristol between 2001 and 2006 has shown, a complex, dynamic and living world exists beneath the thick ice sheets of Antarctica. These pristine aquatic environments are likely to be subject to international exploration and study for decades to come. Siegert and his team not only furthered scientific understanding of subglacial lake systems but also highlighted the potential damage to these environments during direct exploration and demonstrated the need for a formal code of conduct to protect them from contamination or undue disturbance during such work. The research was instrumental in achieving the adoption by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in 2011 of a code of conduct presented by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. The code, which is binding on the 50 nations that are signatories to the Treaty, identifies subglacial environments as being of special scientific interest and provides clear guidance to scientists on accessing these fragile ecosystems responsibly. Prior to this agreement, given that traditional deep-ice drilling techniques involve kerosene-based antifreezes, the ecosystems within subglacial lakes and their downstream catchments were in danger of being seriously compromised.
As a consequence of his research on subglacial lakes and in recognition of the impact of his work, Siegert was awarded the 2013 Martha T. Muse Prize by the Tinker Foundation (value $100,000).
Research based on unique marine-geophysical, bathymetric and geological data from the previously little-known polar shelf seas, collected and analysed by Dowdeswell and colleagues, has had significant impacts on the work of British and international charting agencies and on the activities of multi-national hydrocarbons companies. In terms of hazards in polar seas, these high-resolution water-depth data from offshore of Greenland and Antarctica have proved invaluable for use by the UK Hydrographic Office and international sea-floor mapping agencies in formal navigational charts that have wide international reach. Industry has also used Dowdeswell's satellite-derived measurements of iceberg dimensions and drift tracks, together with evidence on iceberg-keel ploughing of the sea floor, to assess hazards of operating ships and sea-floor structures in Arctic waters. Dowdeswell and colleagues' interpretation of seismic data has generated understanding of Quaternary sedimentary geometry and architecture on glacier-influenced shelves. This has been used in collaborative projects with hydrocarbons companies in applications to identify sorted sandy sediments (significant as oil and gas traps) in hydrocarbon-bearing ancient glacial rocks, for example in North Africa.
The Open University (OU) co-produced the highest rating television natural history science programme in the UK since 2001. Input from Dr Mark Brandon's research over the last 15 years shaped the subjects to be filmed, the science portrayed, and the narrative used in the series. The impact had reach and significance: 263,000 A0 polar maps containing research-level science were requested by the UK public, and the series provided a focal point that changed the public debate on polar climate change. This debate influenced the passage of the UK Antarctic Bill through the Houses of Parliament.
Researchers in the Earth Surface Processes and Environmental Change (ESPEC) Research Group have communicated Quaternary geology to user communities explicitly guiding the location of sites for mineral extraction and infrastructure (airports / wind turbines) in terrestrial and offshore environments. This ranges from contract investigations in Wales, English Heritage Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) research in Kent, Sussex and Lancashire to the current NERC BRITICE-CHRONO Consortium. The understanding provided has informed infrastructural and mineral resource planning, aiding mitigation for heritage and environmental assets. Data are embedded in National and Regional Planning (e.g. Welsh Assembly, Lancashire County Council, Natural England, English Heritage).
3DU researchers have used innovative techniques for reconstructing past sea levels to compile a comprehensive database of evidence on recent and current UK sea-level change, and have developed an improved model of vertical land movement which is consistent with the historical data on sea-level change. The model and database underpin the sea-level component of the UK Climate Projections 09 (UKCP09) climate modelling tool, and thereby inform a wide range of coastal planning and management activities around the UK. DU researchers have also applied these methodological advances in detailed work on coastal stability at existing and proposed sites for nuclear power stations and nuclear waste repositories in England and Sweden.
The consultancy company AeroTex makes use of UCL research findings to design new and improved ice protection systems for fixed wing or rotor aircraft. These new designs enable AeroTex's customers (aircraft manufacturers and Tier 1 equipment suppliers) to comply with upcoming changes that are raising aircraft certification standards and to operate aircraft more safely in icing conditions. The increase in income to AeroTex resulting from this work was approximately [text removed for publication] per year between 2010 and 2013, representing around 15% of AeroTex's annual turnover.
The Arctic is undergoing faster rates of climate change than most other regions of the world, with major global consequences. Since the 1990s, Professor Callaghan and co-workers at Sheffield have been at the forefront of determining climate change impacts on Arctic ecosystems. This research has directly led to, and fed into, invited authorship and major co-ordination roles in the authoritative international synthesis reports on climate change impacts commissioned by the Arctic Council and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Through these reports our findings have been widely communicated to international policymakers, the media and society. Callaghan and colleagues have provided policy advice directly to ministers, ambassadors, climate negotiators, and other leaders through face-to-face meetings and presentations, and influenced policy debates at regional to international levels. They have actively engaged in knowledge- exchange activities with Arctic indigenous societies, which are improving those societies' strategies for adaptation to climate change. Through public lectures, the media and authorship of a commissioned textbook, the Sheffield research findings have increased public understanding and influenced the A-level Geography curriculum.
University of Southampton research has been crucial in informing and stimulating worldwide debate on geoengineering — the possible large-scale intervention in the Earth's climate system in order to avoid dangerous climate change. Climate modellers at Southampton helped to reveal the potential extent of the fossil fuel "hangover" — the long-term damaging effects expected from anthropogenic CO2 emissions centuries or even millennia after they end. This work led Professor John Shepherd FRS to initiate and chair a Royal Society study, whose 2009 report, Geoengineering the Climate: Science, government and uncertainty, is the global benchmark document on geoengineering strategies, influencing UK and foreign government policy.