Arctic Ocean

A new £10 Million research programme to investigate how the Arctic Ocean is changing kicks off today with its first research expedition to the Barents Sea. Over 20 researchers from 16 UK research institutes join forces to understand the knock on effects of rapid warming and sea ice loss in the Arctic region.

A new project will investigate how climate-driven changes affect two top Arctic predators, the Harp and Ringed seals, as well as the base of the Arctic food web.

Using recently released Royal Navy submarine data, researchers at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) have investigated the nature of turbulence in the ocean beneath the Arctic sea-ice.

Research led by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), in collaboration with the University of Bangor, have identified how warm Atlantic water that is flowing deep into the Arctic Ocean is mixing with colder waters above to contribute to sea-ice loss in the Arctic.

Next week there will be two meetings entitled ‘Arctic sea ice reduction: the evidence, models, and global impacts’, held under the auspices of the Royal Society, organised by Prof Daniel Feltham (U Reading), with Dr Sheldon Bacon (NOC), Dr Mark Brandon (Open University) and Professor (Emeritus) Julian Hunt FRS.

A leading scientist at the National Oceanography Centre, Dr Sheldon Bacon, gave evidence at a special House of Lords inquiry looking into changes in the Arctic.

The House of Lords Select Committee, appointed last month, took evidence from senior academics specialising in climate change and sea ice.

A team of UK scientists have embarked on a shipboard expedition to the Labrador Sea aboard the research vessel CCGS Hudson, to further understanding of how carbon dioxide is locked away from the atmosphere by ocean processes.

The first study of its kind to calculate the amount of nutrients entering and leaving the Arctic Ocean has been carried out by scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.

The threat posed to the United Kingdom by tsunamis that are triggered by colossal – but extremely rare – underwater landslides will be assessed in a National Oceanography Centre-led research project that has won £2.3 million in funding from the Natural Environment Research Council.

As the UK approaches summer with high hopes of good weather, a team of adventurous scientists will be setting sail for far chillier climes. Thirty researchers from eight laboratories will leave the UK on 1st June 2012 to study the effect of ocean acidification on the Norwegian, Barents and Greenland Seas