Amy Swiggs

Our paper is out, providing alternative viewpoints to some polar geoengineering ideas covered in the media recently. Lots still to talk about but let's focus on decarbonising instead of drilling Antarctica for now? 🇦🇶
Thanks @newscientist.com @mjflepage.bsky.social for covering this important issue!

Image of an Antarctic iceberg with white text on a green background reading: We've published a report on the uk and the Antarctic environment

"It is impossible to overstate how critical this region is to our shared future." - @tobyperkinsmp.bsky.social, Chair

Read our report on the UK and the Antarctic environment: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...

⏰ New study shows ambitious mitigation (1.5°C) saves 2X as much ice globally (53% left) than our current pathway, which will destroy >75% glacier ice once it fully adjusts to a warmer climate

Every fraction of °C counts!

+0.1°C warmer = 2% more glacier mass lost

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🌊🧪

SWOT Observations Over Sea Ice: A First Look Quasi-specular leads in surface water and ocean topography (SWOT) observations are associated with high radar backscatter and low heights, especially near nadir Correlations between two near-coin...

Really nice to see this paper on first sea ice observations from the SWOT mission. Very promising results🛰️ agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

"Thanks largely to Copernicus Sentinel-1, scientists have discovered that a glacier in Antarctica is rapidly siphoning ice from neighbouring flows – at a pace never before seen."

@esaearth.esa.int @esa.int

www.esa.int/Applications...

🌍🛰️How cool is this⬇️

☂️Watch as our Biomass's antenna deploys in space!

Following liftoff, orbital injection acquisition of its first signal and satellite in-orbit checks, the successful deployment of Biomass’ mesh antenna reflector marks the final key step in the launch and early operations phase.

Potentially no updates to sea ice indices coming from the US for a while... this is horribly damaging to global climate science.

Yes, there are EU and Japanese alternatives to some of these, but multi-dataset inter-comparisons are a critical part of assessing reliability and confidence in the data.

Effective May 5, 2025, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) will decommission its snow and ice data products from the Coasts, Oceans, and Geophysics Science Division (COGS). As a result, the level of services for affected products below will be reduced to Basic—meaning they will remain accessible but may not be actively maintained, updated, or fully supported. This includes Sea Ice Index, Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) Data Products, Glacier Photograph Collection, U.S. National Ice Center Arctic Sea Ice Charts and Climatologies in Gridded Format Gridded Monthly Sea Ice Extent and Concentration, 1850 Onward World Glacier Inventory. If you rely on these products in your work, research, education, or planning, we invite you to share your story at nsidc@nsidc.org. Your input can help us demonstrate the importance of these data sets and advocate for future support.

This is horrible. I don't even know what to say. Some of our most key polar data.

"As a result, the level of services for affected products below will be reduced to Basic—meaning they will remain accessible but may not be actively maintained, updated, or fully supported."

nsidc.org/data/user-re...

Biggest commitment to a 3 second joke I've ever seen

ESA's CryoSat mission provides data to determine the precise rate of change in the thickness of the polar ice sheets and floating sea ice. It is capable of detecting changes as little as 1 cm per year. The information from CryoSat is leading to a better understanding of how the volume of ice on Earth is changing and, in turn, a better appreciation of how ice and climate are linked.

#OTD 8 April 2010, launch of #Cryosat2, Europe's first mission dedicated to studying Earth’s ice ❄️ and water 💦

Still operational 15 years later! 👏

Happy launch anniversary #CryoSat2! 🎉

🔗 earth.esa.int/eogateway/su... @esaearth.esa.int

The paper I finalised this evening looks at sea ice + glacier melange around Greenland. The sea ice often reaches around a metre thick in NW Greenland. Wild to think that we once had that round Denmark.
We still occasionally get sea ice. But never that thick and only very rarely in a few spots.

Stunning view of a #humpback #whale in the sunshine!
#BIOPOLE2 has been blessed with #wildlife encounters! @biopole.bsky.social @bas.ac.uk

A series of five satellite images showcasing diverse landscapes: an island with turquoise waters, a snowy terrain, mountainous regions with winding roads, colorful lakes, and a dry, arid area with circular features. More importantly, they spell out DAVID with their landscape images.

Psst…You want to know about the NASA website that spells out your name in Landsat imagery. 🧪

landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/apps/YourNam...

"A critical lens into how, when, and why changes are occurring in the Arctic and Antarctic..."

EOCIS led by @nceoscience.bsky.social have published this blog on the EOCIS Land Ice and Sea Ice Datasets, by CPOM's Jennifer Maddalena, @amyswiggs.bsky.social and Kate Briggs 👇

eocis.org/2025/02/06/a...

Today is the 10th UN International celebration of #WomenandGirlsinScienceDay.

To mark the day we've written this blog about some of our women scientists leading on, and taking part in, field campaigns across the #Arctic and #Antarctic.

cpom.org.uk/women-scient...

This is truly astonishing, especially considering that the last few years represent the so-called new #Arctic. 🌊⚒️🧪🥼❄️

Today’s biggest visitor so far is a wandering albatross! #BIOPOLE2 @biopole.bsky.social

Climate change in the polar regions of our warming world is threatening to transform many of its features, such as this icy tableau in the Fish Islands off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. There is still much to learn about these places before we know better what those changes may be.

A new special issue of Science highlights research on Earth’s frozen places—from the Arctic to the Antarctic—and how it’s changing due to climate change and the geopolitical challenges this important work faces.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4jPYRID

Please add my name, thank you Bethan!

My favourite #penguin video for #PenguinAwarenessDay!

We had the first sunset at Rothera in weeks a few days back, meaning the evening/night light is perfect for stunning Antarctic photos! @bas.ac.uk

Small red chested robin resting on snow boots surrounded by a frosty path in the countryside

Another view of the small red chested robin, this time landing on the shoes with one wing outstretched, again surrounded by frosty path in the countryside

Woman crouched down with the robin resting on the outstretched shoe.

Had a particularly lovely walk at the weekend because of a friendly robin warming its feet on my shoes🐥

With all the cold weather recently this friendly guy was following us as our footsteps broke up some of the frosty top soil, & seemed to take a particular liking to my boots before flying off❄️

It was a pleasure discussing my recent paper with @jugglingdoctor.bsky.social❄️

We discuss how the narrow channels of the Arctic’s Northwest Passage make it the perfect home for hazardous sea ice, & despite the challenges for satellite observations here, CryoSat-2 can help 🛰️

Image of the Moon, on a background of the blackness of space, and foreground at right of Earth's atmosphere in shades of blue, taken by ESA astronaut André Kuipers from the ISS in 2012.

Hello @bsky.app, here's to looking into more #bluesky and beyond... 😉

Smoother sea ice with fewer pressure ridges in a more dynamic Arctic - Nature Climate Change Pressure ridges, a characteristic feature of Arctic sea ice, play an important role in the ecosystem but pose challenges to shipping. Here the authors use aircraft measurements to document a decline i...

New #Arctic & #ClimateChange sea-ice paper
While thinner and less frequent ridges of Arctic sea ice will benefit industries such as shipping, these changes are likely to have profound impacts on the energy & mass balance & the ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean

open access www.nature.com/articles/s41...

+++NEW ANALYSIS+++

UK electricity was the cleanest ever in 2024, with emissions per unit falling by more than two-thirds in a decade

Highlights:
🏭end of coal power after 142yrs
🔥fossil fuels at record-low 29% share
🌄renewables at record-high 45%

www.carbonbrief.org/...
1/9

In a new 🧪 study out today in #GRL we show that the Greenland ice sheet lost 2347 km3 of ice since 2010 using CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2.

The satellites agree to within 3%, pretty impressive.

tinyurl.com/2dtzb558

Preparing for Christmas in the wilds of Antarctica A few hundred people get ready for Christmas in the snowy continent thousands of miles from home.

This will be how I spend my Christmas! Heading South to work on polar biogeochemistry in a changing climate as part of NERC projects BIOPOLE and SiCLING, out of Rothera Research Station @bas.ac.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4zqkqg61xo.amp

Fantastic to see CPOM PhD Researcher @amyswiggs.bsky.social (@northumbriauni.bsky.social) featured in this blog from ESA Earth Observation about her research into Canada's Northwest Passage using CryoSat-2 and NASA Landsat data...

earth.esa.int/eogateway/su...