Bethan Davies

Weatherwatch: how a warmer world and more rain could transform Antarctica Shrinking and faster-moving glaciers, weakened ice shelves and more icebergs would bring fundamental changes to landscape and wildlife

Nice little write up in the @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ma...

the_thinking_great_ape You know what WON'T get stuck in the Strait of Hormuz? Sunlight and solar panels. @nickofnz

Net zero is the answer to Middle East energy crisis, says Business Secretary

His comments came after the conflict in the Middle East sent the European gas price up 80pc and oil prices nearly 20pc as Iranian strikes on production facilities in the Gulf spooked markets.
buff.ly/K4XKbIf

Glacier Loss in Alaska

Alaskan glaciers are retreating faster than ever, threatening ecosystems, communities, and ways of life. ❄️

Join me and others for a webinar on glacier loss, tipping points, and cultural consequences in Alaska.

🗓 Monday, March 23
⏰ 18:00–19:30 CET
🔗 futureearth.confetti.events/glacier-loss...

Glacier Loss in Alaska

Please join us for a seminar hosted by the WCRP on tipping points in Alaskan glaciers, March 23rd:

futureearth.confetti.events/glacier-loss...

Two researchers in colorful winter gear work on snow-covered Antarctic terrain next to a red twin-propeller aircraft under a clear blue sky. Footprints lead through the snow toward a small equipment stand in the foreground.

Job alert! @northumbriauni.bsky.social is hiring a researcher to investigate tipping points in Antarctica's ice sheets – funded by ESA's Climate Change Initiative 🧊🌍

📍 Newcastle, UK | 14-month position
📅 Apply by 13 March 2026
🔗 work4.northumbria.ac.uk#en/sites/CX_...

It was exactly 4 years ago that we completed the work on the @ipcc.bsky.social AR6 WG 2 report. After an extended negotiations process for the Summary for Policy Makers, disrupted by the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the authors could finally exhale: new science for decision making was available.

Oooh look, a juicy new paper to settle down with and read with my morning tea.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The daffodils and crocuses are out. The greens won the by-election. Hope over hate.

Rain is coming to Antarctica – here’s how it will change the frozen continent In the Antarctic Peninsula, precipitation is increasingly falling as rain rather than snow, with consequences for glaciers, penguins and even scientists.

theconversation.com/rain-is-comi...

The hard road back from overshoot - Nature Climate Change As global temperatures move beyond 1.5 °C, overshoot now defines the landscape ahead, sharpening legal claims, exposing economic risks and revealing how far politics still trail the pace of change.

The idea that we can “overshoot now, fix later” is simplistic.

Overshoot relies on massive CDR, but temporary warming can trigger tipping points and long-lived changes: ice sheet loss, permafrost thaw, ecosystem shifts.

Cooling later doesn’t guarantee reversal.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Zambezi river flows under a road bridge

Sunset on the Zambezi

Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria falls)

Applications open for a 3-year Post Doc position in Leeds (UK) on the #UKRI funded Still Waters project. We are looking for #hydrology #geomorphology modelling skills to embed surface hydrology into #malaria models with fieldwork in Zambia. Pls contact me for more details: tinyurl.com/3356rt44

Ice Sheets of North America - AntarcticGlaciers.org During the Quaternary Period, North America was covered by three ice sheets: the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, Laurentide Ice Sheet and Innuitian Ice Sheet. During the last glacial cycle, these ice sheets we...

Delighted to announce a new section on #AntarcticGlaciers devoted to North American glaciation. Read here to find out about the Laurentide Ice Sheet and its Geomorphology, extent at the LGM and deglaciation.
www.antarcticglaciers.org/glacial-geol...

I am interested to know what the community view as the key objectives of IPY-5?

tipping points with global consequences, especially if we push above 2C. With recent attacks and roll backs globally on net zero plans, this next decade will be crucial if we are to achieve net zero by 2075 and have any hope of limiting warming to below 2C (i.e. following SSP1-2.6).

operational environment.

Training opportunities for early career scientists and a commitment to EDI are also likely to feature highly.

But what I would personally really like to see through the IPY-5 is a renewed emphasis on Net Zero, highlighting how the polar regions are vulnerable to ...

IPY-5 is approaching. And I am pondering, what is the purpose of IPY-5? Science diplomacy, and international cooperation, is of course vital, as we see renewed attacks on the autonomy of Greenland. The Antarctic Treaty is likely to come under increased stress as the climate changes, changing the ...

The Changing Antarctic Peninsula - AntarcticGlaciers.org How will climate change impact the Antarctic Peninsula? Here we investigate three futures of the Antarctic Peninsula, under three emissions scenarios

The choices we make today will set the future for the Antarctic Peninsula. We cannot afford to delay. We need to urgently implement the Net Zero pledges and pledges that will protect this unique and special environment.
www.antarcticglaciers.org/glaciers-and...

Evolving glacier landsystems during Patagonian Ice Sheet recession influenced by a changing topographic setting In mountain icefield settings, such as the southernmost Andes, topography has a strong influence on the pattern and magnitude of glacier retreat in re…

Well done to Emma Cooper - another PhD paper out! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Yep! But it is a key employability skill which they do generally understand

Diversity of assessment is good and I think if they’re used to it they can be accepting, but I think certainly at my uni we’d have to do mocks and a lot of work to prepare students. A group presentation tends to be more easily accepted and is less demanding on staff time.

A viva would need double marking with 2 academic staff - a huge workload for larger courses. I also can only imagine how stressed the students would be by this form of assessment.

Two job opportunities with the @ipcc.bsky.social WG1 TSU:

Science Officer: www.ipcc.ch/2026/02/17/s...

AI Officer (deadline passed but will consider applications until the end of the week): www.ipcc.ch/2026/01/12/a...

That’s a generic photo for the frontiers journal (for any article). Article makes predictions for 2100 and 2300.

In a new review led by Prof @iceybethan.bsky.social we outline three possible futures for the Antarctic Peninsula.

The bottom line? Decisions we make in this decade will shape the region’s climate trajectory for decades and centuries to come. 🇦🇶❄️🧪

@cires.colorado.edu @colorado.edu

The best and worst case futures for the Antarctic Peninsula- covered in the @dailymail.co.uk

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...

Scientists reveal our best- and worst-case scenarios for a warming Antarctica - British Antarctic Survey New study on the Antarctic Peninsula shows that the choices we make in the next decade will determine Antarctica’s fate for centuries

The future of the Antarctic Peninsula depends upon the choices we make today.

www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/s...

YouTube video by Dr Gilbz Time's running out in Antarctica

Time's running out in Antarctica, and we have a choice on our hands: a future that protects this unique and precious environment or one that sees it change forever.

Hats off to @iceybethan.bsky.social for leading the work this is based on (link below)

The Antarctic Peninsula faces “substantial and irreparable damage” if global warming exceeds 2°C, polar scientists have warned today 🧵

New research led by @iceybethan.bsky.social, alongside scientists from @bas.ac.uk and numerous UK universities, investigates the threats facing this biodiversity and geopolitical hotspot.