James Bradley

Investigating the Atmospheric Microbial Ecosystem Through Theory, Bioenergetics, and Numerical Modeling: A Breath of Fresh Air for Aeromicrobiology Aerobiology research is hindered by several technical challenges facing experimental studies, sampling, and monitoring strategies Theoretical approaches and numerical modeling tools provide power...

Expertly led by @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social at @mioceanologie.bsky.social w @greening.bsky.social @jackiegoordial.bsky.social & others

🙏 @hfspo.bsky.social aeromicrobiome project RGY0058/2022‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

@erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA @agencerecherche.bsky.social @cnrs.fr

tinyurl.com/7pdfm7uw

We outline & discuss many theoretical & model approaches 📝

We also outline how, despite many applications & insights, modelling isn't an end in itself 🔖

We also need biological physical & chemical developments in experimentation and observation 🔬

Do you think the atmosphere is a true ecosystem? 🌨️

We outline how theory & models can advance knowledge of the aeromicrobiome by exploring:
🧪 catabolism & anabolism
🦠 microbial physiology & metabolic states
⚡ thermodynamics & bioenergetics
🌩️ atmosphere & bioaerosol properties
🌪️ microbe transport & residence time
🛠️ bottom-up & top-down approaches

The atmosphere: a transport medium or an active microbial ecosystem? Abstract. The atmosphere may be Earth’s largest microbial ecosystem. It is connected to all of Earth’s surface ecosystems and plays an important role in mi

Earth's atmosphere is known to passively transport biological material through the air 🦠🌎

But does it also sustain life residing in & adapted to the air? 🌨️

Aerobiology research is hindered by several challenges including:
🧬 low biomass
⚡ low activity
😷 contamination

tinyurl.com/5epwua83

Investigating the Atmospheric Microbial Ecosystem Through Theory, Bioenergetics, and Numerical Modeling: A Breath of Fresh Air for Aeromicrobiology Aerobiology research is hindered by several technical challenges facing experimental studies, sampling, and monitoring strategies Theoretical approaches and numerical modeling tools provide power...

Does the atmosphere harbour a resident, growing microbial ecosystem? ⛅

Here in @jgrbiogeo.bsky.social we outline how theoretical tools 📝 & modelling 💻 can bring us closer to the answer

Congrats lead author @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social @mioceanologie.bsky.social

🧵 thread 👇

tinyurl.com/7pdfm7uw

Flourishing chemosynthetic life at the greatest depths of hadal trenches - Nature The discovery of chemosynthesis-based benthic communities at depths of 5,800 m to 9,533 m in the Kuril–Kamchatka and western Aleutian trenches challenges traditional perspectives on the energy sources...

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

Walking over millions of years of history, preserved in Svalbard’s rocks. Not a bad haul so far 🍃🪸
#ERC_SIESTA

Screenshot from polarportal.dk, a website that makes research on the Arctic research conducted by Danish institutions available to the public and researchers. The image shows Greenland in tan and the Greenland Ice Sheet in red and white. The red part indicates melting and covers all except about 20% in the northeast, which is roughly the area higher than 2500 m above Se level. Below the map is a chart that compares 2025 melting to the 1981-2010 average. The average melting peaks in mid-July at about 35%. For the last few days, melting has occurred over roughly 80% of the area of Greenland, with a maximum melt area of 80.6% on 24 July 2025. This is the highest value in our dataset, which starts in 1981.

Melting over 80.6% of the area of the Greenland Ice Sheet. This is the highest value in our data set, which starts in 1981.

@polarportal.bsky.social

ATP synthesis driven by atmospheric hydrogen concentrations | PNAS All cells require a continuous supply of the universal energy currency, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to drive countless cellular reactions. The un...

Our article showing energy production from air alone is in PNAS today. This paper provides an ultimate biochemical proof that microbes can survive simply by 'making' energy from air (making two ATP per molecule atmospheric H2 consumed) and has biotech applications. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Friday nights in the field lab: incubations running. #ERC_SIESTA fieldwork Svalbard
@reymourot.bsky.social @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social @mioceanologie.bsky.social

L-R: Sibylle Lebert, Rey Mourot, Eloi Martinez-Rabert & James Bradley. ERC SIESTA fieldwork, Svalbard. July 2025. Credit: Sibylle Lebert

L-R: Sibylle Lebert, Rey Mourot, Eloi Martinez-Rabert & James Bradley. ERC SIESTA fieldwork, Svalbard. July 2025. Credit: Sibylle Lebert

Scheteligfjellet, viewed from Tvillingvatnet, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

Team #ERC_SIESTA in Svalbard ❄️🧬🐻‍❄️🦠🏔️🌎🔬
@reymourot.bsky.social @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social @mioceanologie.bsky.social

I'll defend my HDR (Habilitation à diriger des recherches) on 1st September at @mioceanologie.bsky.social 🦠❄️🌊⛰️🌨️🧬🔬🌡️✨

“These are no longer future scenarios. They’re our present conditions.”

Imagens chocantes revelam o degelo acelerado de Svalbard, no "novo inverno" do Ártico "Caminhar sobre poças d'água na ponta da geleira, ou na tundra verde e nua, foi chocante e surreal", diz James Bradley. Pesquisador esteve em pleno inverno no arquipélago, que apresenta um degelo de s...

Pesquisador James Bradley - @drbradbrad.bsky.social - esteve em pleno #inverno no arquipélago, que apresenta um #degelo de seis a sete vezes maior do que a média global, e escancara o #impacto assustador das #mudançasclimáticas no #Ártico

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point - Nature Communications The Arctic winters are changing fast. In February 2025, Svalbard endured rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The Comment by Bradley and coauthors describes how winter warming is reshapin...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Arctic winter is changing fast. In February 2025, #Svalbard saw rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The comment by Bradley and co-authors shows how winter #warming is reshaping #polar ecosystems—and why this is the new #Arctic.

"If we remove nodules from the seabed, we do not know what we lose, only that it's lost forever”

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point - Nature Communications The Arctic winters are changing fast. In February 2025, Svalbard endured rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The Comment by Bradley and coauthors describes how winter warming is reshapin...

🌡️ Svalbard’s melting winters

A new study shows February 2025 brought record warmth & rain to Svalbard, melting snow in the heart of winter.

Once rare, winter thaws like this are becoming common, reshaping the Arctic & warning the world.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#SciComm #ClimateCrisis 🧪

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point - Nature Communications The Arctic winters are changing fast. In February 2025, Svalbard endured rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The Comment by Bradley and coauthors describes how winter warming is reshapin...

A plangent comment by @drbradbrad.bsky.social & co on the impacts of a winter warmer.

It can rain in any month in Svalbard, but these happen more and more, and as more start studying winter ecology, their impacts become more noticeable.

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

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point Ny-Ålesund has been a hub for scientific research in the high Arctic for the last five decades7. Researchers worldwide come to the remote Arctic outpost to study and monitor terrestrial and marine ecosystems, glaciers, and atmospheric processes, collecting vital information...

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point
->Nature | More info from EcoSearch

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point - Nature Communications The Arctic winters are changing fast. In February 2025, Svalbard endured rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The Comment by Bradley and coauthors describes how winter warming is reshapin...

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

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point - Nature Communications The Arctic winters are changing fast. In February 2025, Svalbard endured rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The Comment by Bradley and coauthors describes how winter warming is reshapin...

Winter temps in Svalbard above freezing for half of Feb.; new @nature.com paper shows the impacts. “When winter warming crosses the 0 °C threshold, it marks more than just a warm anomaly — it signals a fundamental shift in Arctic winter dynamics.” 🧪❄️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point - Nature Communications The Arctic winters are changing fast. In February 2025, Svalbard endured rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The Comment by Bradley and coauthors describes how winter warming is reshapin...

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point

...with February 2025 seeing record-high temperatures and rainfall that caused widespread snowmelt. More frequent winter thaws are transforming the landscape, signalling a dramatic shift towards a new Arctic.

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

"The gear I packed felt like a relic from another climate." – @drbradbrad.bsky.social‬, on a shocking February in #Svalbard. The new Nature Comms commentary reveals the #Arctic winter reaching its melting point, with widespread thaw & vegetation bloom. Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Important thread from scientists on the ground in Svalbard: “We came ready to dig snowpits & drill frozen soils. But we sampled thawed ground, bare-handed, with a spoon 💦
We came for snow sampling. But we got rain 🌧️
It felt like we’d prepared for the Arctic of the past.”

tagging @mioceanologie.bsky.social @cnrs.fr @cnrs-insu.bsky.social @cnrsecologie.bsky.social @qmulsbbs.bsky.social ‬

Authors Laura Molares Moncayo (left) and James Bradley (right) on Austre Brøggerbreen glacier, Svalbard, in February 2025. Credit: James Bradley

And thanks to our funders including @erc.europa.eu projects #ERC_SIESTA and CoEvolve, Italy’s MUR/PRA Melting-ICE, Winter-CZ, NERC SUN SPEARS & Arctic Research Station Access Scheme, France’s @agencerecherche.bsky.social ANR23-CPJ1-0172-01 & @hfspo.bsky.social RGY0058/2022‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

An aerial view of the snout of Kronebreen, Svalbard, in March 2025. Credit: James Bradley

I'm grateful to my brilliant collaborator, friend & co-lead @donatogiovannelli.bsky.social & our fantastic team Laura Molares Moncayo, Gabriella Gallo, Jacopo Brusca, Tessa Viglezio & @jacopaso.bsky.social. Thanks to CNR, Dirigibile Italia, @ukarcticstation.bsky.social NPI Sverdrup & Kings Bay 🙏

Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point - Nature Communications The Arctic winters are changing fast. In February 2025, Svalbard endured rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The Comment by Bradley and coauthors describes how winter warming is reshapin...

We’re grateful to @NatureComms for recognising the urgency of these changes, and for allowing us a platform to share our experience 📃
We hope it resonates beyond the Arctic — because what’s happening here has global implications 🌎
tinyurl.com/r85d3bpf

Snowmelt and ice in Ny-Ålesund, February 2025. Credit: James Bradley

Laura Molares-Moncayo in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, preparing to sample in the field, and surrounded by melting snow, on an exceptionally warm day in February 2025. Credit: James Bradley

We wrote this piece while still in Svalbard — maybe to process the weight of what we were witnessing.
The mood in Ny-Ålesund was somber.
Writing was a way to reflect, respond & speak from a place few get to see in winter 🌚
We want our experience on the front line of Arctic change to be heard widely

Snow-free tundra in the moraines of Midtre Lovénbreen glacier during February 2025. Credit: James Bradley

Climate policy must catch up to the reality that the Arctic is changing much faster than expected, with winter at the heart ❄️
There's a gap between climate findings and on-the-ground preparedness ⛏️
Arctic systems, communities & infrastructure remain highly vulnerable to new conditions & extremes 🌡️