From equations to ice sheets: how an interest in maths and physics led Dr Inès Otosaka to Antarctica and Greenland

Author: Nicola Bortun

From equations to ice sheets: how an interest in maths and physics led Dr Inès Otosaka to Antarctica and Greenland

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

Dr Inès Otosaka is an Assistant Professor at Northumbria University in Newcastle. Her research focuses on using satellite and airborne altimetry data over the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to detect and interpret changes in their elevation, volume, and mass and estimate their contribution to sea level rise.

She’s also had the chance to visit these incredible places, joining fieldwork expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic.

At school she has no idea that this career in polar science lay ahead of her. It all started with a French Baccalauréat and a talent for maths and physics.

Yesterday, as part of Mars Day 2026, organised by STEM Learning, ESERO-UK, The European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency, she shared her experience of building a career in polar science with young people across the UK.

After her Baccalauréat (the equivalent of British A-Levels) she went on to Engineering School, where her studies broadened to include mechanics and computer science. The interdisciplinary nature of this study, including both maths and engineering, was excellent transferable experience that would prove useful in her career in climate science.

Everyone’s journey in science looks different. Inès’ included an internship in a factory, which gave her hands-on experience of how technical knowledge gets applied in practice, and her subsequent internship placed her in a research lab working on climate data from Argentinian vineyards. By working with real climate datasets like these, she discovered the kind of work she wanted to do.

Inès continued her academic studies, pursuing a Master’s of Science in The Built Environment, during which she studied remote sensing, spatial statistics, and sustainability. She also took on an internship in sea ice detection using satellite data at the KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) which was her first real encounter with the cryosphere (the frozen parts of our planet).

From there, a PhD in Earth Observation followed, and then a CPOM Research Fellowship in land ice earth observation.

Today, Inès leads the IMBIE team, a collaboration of international scientists who have reconciled three decades of satellite measurements to provide the world’s most authoritative estimates of ice sheet mass balance and sea level rise contributions. She also leads on the ESA-funded CryoTipping project which combines satellite observations with ice sheet modelling to detect marine ice sheet instability in Antarctica.

This work helps answer some of the most pressing questions in climate science: how much are the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets contributing to rising sea levels and when might we reach tipping points in the Antarctic? These are questions which affect all of us, now and in the future.
Inès career path included engineering school, a factory floor, and a gradual move towards remote sensing and climate science. This led to her becoming a leading scientist in Earth Observation, teaching other young people with an interest in climate science through her work as an Assistant Professor. It’s a job she’s passionate about – “now I know why studying maths was so important – it’s led me to a job I love!” – she said as part of the presentation.

If you’re good at maths or physics and wondering where it might take you, the answer could be somewhere you haven’t considered yet. Ice sheets, satellites, sea level rise – it’s a long way from the classroom, but the journey can start with the subjects you enjoy at school.

Find out more about STEM UK and Mars Day 26.

The future of the Antarctic Peninsula

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

Scientists from across the world have come together to predict future scenarios for the Antarctic Peninsula, and the results are startling.

The Antarctic Peninsula is warming faster than the global average and is experiencing more extreme temperature and weather events. Sea ice is in decline, glaciers are melting , and ice shelves, which act as a “safety band” to the glaciers on land, are at risk. Land ice retreat in Antarctica will result in sea level rise and destruction of ecosystems, but what exactly are the best case and worst-case scenarios for the region and the planet?

In this new paper published today (20.02.2026) in Frontiers in Environmental Science, Antarctic scientists from across the globe have come together to review available data to produce three future projections based on carbon emission scenarios.

About the research

Led by Professor Bethan Davies (Newcastle University) with co-authors including CPOM PI of Land Ice/Ice Shelf Earth Observation Professor Alison Banwell (Northumbria University) and CPOM Associate Investigator: Ice Sheet Modelling Professor Tamsin Edwards (KCL), the study brought together data from a range of sources including fresh analysis of Earth Observation data, data from the modelling intercomparison projects CMIP6 and ISMIP6 (Eyring et al., 2016; Seroussi et al., 2020), as well as published research to produce projections for three different future emission scenarios and their impact on 8 environmental aspects of the Antarctic Peninsula including marine and terrestrial ecosystems, land ice, sea ice, ice shelves, the Southern Ocean, the atmosphere, and extreme weather events.

What do the projections say?

Highest emission scenario: 4 .4 °C global temperature rise compared to preindustrial levels by 2100.

Temperature rises at this level will result in an increased number of days when the air temperature is above 0 °C which will result in significant ocean warming and more intense extreme weather events such as ocean heat waves and atmospheric rivers.

The Peninsula will see increased melt on both beneath and on the surfaces of ice shelves, with surface melting reducing the snow’s ability to absorb meltwater, allowing more meltwater ponding.

The Larsen C and Wilkins ice shelves are likely to collapse by 2100 CE under this scenario. Collapse of George VI Ice Shelf by 2300 would substantially contribute to sea level rise, as the land ice it currently holds back would accelerate into the ocean.

Under this very high emissions scenario, the Antarctic Peninsula could contribute just under 1 centimetre to global sea-level rise by 2100, rising to more than 11 centimetres by 2300.

Lower emissions scenario: 1.8 °C global temperature rise compared to preindustrial levels by 2100.
Under this scenario the team discuss how the Antarctic Peninsula’s sea ice remains similar to present and land ice is predicted to undergo only minor grounding line recession and thinning.

Changes in sea surface temperatures and the change from snow to rain will however impact marine and terrestrial ecosystems. One example will be the reduction or migration of krill, a key food source for whales and penguins.

Under a low emissions scenario, contributions from the Antarctic Peninsula remain limited, reaching just under 1 centimetre by 2100 and around 2 centimetres by 2300 – far lower than under a high emissions pathway.

Conclusion

The report is clear. Limiting global temperature rise to below 2 °C, ideally as close as possible to 1.5 °C, and governing the region effectively, will improve outcomes for the Antarctic Peninsula with only modest changes being seen there. Higher emission scenarios will result in severe changes which will be irreversible during human timescales, resulting in sea level rise and ecosystem destruction.

Professor Alison Banwell (Northumbria University), who led the ice shelves section of this paper said:

“Antarctic ice shelves act as critical buffers against sea-level rise, yet their future remains highly uncertain. They can appear stable for decades before collapsing rapidly once key structural or climatic thresholds are crossed, making these events difficult to capture in models.”

“What this study shows is that the future of the Antarctic Peninsula – including its ice shelves – depends strongly on the emissions pathway we follow. Under lower emissions, many of these systems remain stressed but largely intact; under higher emissions, we cross thresholds that lead to irreversible change.”

“The Antarctic Peninsula is already responding to climate change, but our study shows that decisions made in the coming decades will be crucial in terms of shaping its ice, ecosystems, and contribution to sea-level rise for centuries to come.”

What is CMIP6 and IMSIP6

CMIP (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) is a framework that coordinates climate modelling efforts worldwide, bringing together modelling groups to run standardized climate simulations that can be compared and analysed collectively. ISMIP is the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP, which is a framework bringing together international ice sheet models and coupled ice sheet-climate models to fully explore the sea level rise contribution from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. CPOM incorporates their BISICLES model into the ISMIP framework of intercomparisons, and also supported analysis of the ISMIP6 model ensembles providing robust projections of potential sea level rise for the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report, published in 2021.

Paper information

Paper title – The Antarctic Peninsula under present day climate and future low, medium-high and very high emissions scenarios

Published in: Frontiers in Environmental Science

Lead author Bethan J. Davies (Newcastle University)
Co-authors – Angus Atkinson (Plymouth Marine Laboratory), Alison F. Banwell (University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Northumbria University, UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling), Mark Brandon (Open University), Thomas Caton Harrison (BAS), Peter Convey (British Antarctic Survey, University of Johannesburg/Millennium Institute, Biodiversity of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Ecosystems (BASE)/University of Birmingham), Jan De Rydt (Northumbria University), Klaus Dodds (WWF-UK/ Royal Holloway University of London/Middlesex University), Rod Downie (WWF-UK) Tamsin L. Edwards (KCL), Ella Gilbert (BAS), Bryn Hubbard (Aberystwyth University), Kevin A. Hughes (BAS), Gareth J. Marshall (BAS), Andrew Orr (BAS), Joeri Rogelj (Imperial College London/International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg), Hélène Seroussi (Dartmouth College), Martin Siegert (University of Exeter) Julienne Stroeve (University of Manitoba/Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), University College London), and Jane Rumble (Polar Regions Department, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office).

Citation:

Davies BJ, Atkinson A, Banwell AF, Brandon M, Caton Harrison T, Convey P, De Rydt J, Dodds K, Downie R, Edwards TL, Gilbert E, Hubbard B, Hughes KA, Marshall GJ, Orr A, Rogelj J, Seroussi H, Siegert M, Stroeve J and Rumble J (2026) The Antarctic Peninsula under present day climate and future low, medium-high and very high emissions scenarios. Front. Environ. Sci. 13:1730203. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1730203

News Story Image Credit: Professor Alison Banwell (Northumbria University)

Studying the Antarctic rumple zone

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

From December 2025 to January 2026 we followed CPOM’s Ali Banwell conducting field research in Antarctica, with a team of scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Maine. In the following series of five videos you can find out more about the techniques they used during their fieldwork and see some of the stunning landscapes they were working on.

About the project

The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded this project which is studying the Ice Rumple Zone of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica – a compressive region of the ice shelf characterized by undulating ice.

The scientists

  • Alison Banwell (PI) – Northumbria University/University of Colorado Boulder
  • Ryan Cassotto (Co-PI) – University of Colorado Boulder/University of Maine
  • Michela Savignano (PhD student) – University of Colorado Boulder
  • Allie Berry (PhD student) – University of Maine

Chapter 1: Introducing the rumple zone

Chapter 2: Terrestrial Radar Interferometry

Chapter 3:  Installing Automatic Weather Stations in Antarctica

Chapter 4: Ground Penetrating Radar and snow machines

Chapter 5: Verifying GPR data with an ice core

UK Strategy Sets Net Zero Goal for Antarctic Polar Science by 2040

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

The UK Government has published its UK Antarctic Strategy to 2035, setting out the aim to achieve net zero across Antarctic scientific operations by 2040 whilst maintaining Britain’s world-leading position in polar research.

The strategy, released by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, places climate science and environmental sustainability at the heart of UK activities in Antarctica. Through the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation Programme, the UK will decarbonise Antarctic research stations by 2030, with full net zero operations by 2040.

The UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) welcomes this comprehensive approach, which demonstrates how climate research and environmental stewardship can be integrated. CPOM’s work in polar observation and ice sheet modelling directly supports the strategy’s ambition to understand changes in Antarctica as an indicator of climate change whilst minimising the environmental footprint of research activities.

Britain commits to maintaining year-round research operations through the British Antarctic Survey, with continued investment in sustainable infrastructure at stations like Rothera. UK Antarctic science will continue to inform global climate policy and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s assessments, with British scientists making internationally recognised contributions to research on ice sheet stability, sea level change, and climate tipping points.

Environmental protection features prominently, with plans to expand marine protected areas, implement biosecurity protocols against invasive species, and designate vulnerable species for protection, including emperor penguins. The strategy also strengthens the Antarctic Treaty System and develops frameworks for managing growing tourism whilst preserving Antarctic heritage.

This commitment to net zero polar science aligns with initiatives such as the Net Zero Polar Science Doctoral Training Programme, which is currently recruiting its first cohort of researchers to advance sustainable practices in polar research.

When does a career in polar science begin?

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

In this Q&A, CPOM Professor Ali Banwell discusses why she was honoured to be featured in a STEM colouring book, and why representation matters so much in science careers.

What led you into your career as a polar scientist? Was there somebody or something that initially inspired you to pursue STEM?

My mum was a huge influence. She studied engineering at Cambridge when almost no women did (<1%), and later became a maths teacher, then software engineer. Her confidence in maths and physics – subjects not always ‘cool’ for girls – helped shape mine. I also grew up climbing and hiking in the UK mountains with my aunt, who sparked my curiosity about how glaciers once shaped those landscapes. Even though glaciology wasn’t taught at my school, by the time I reached university I knew I wanted to study Earth sciences, specialising in glaciology specifically.

Can you describe what you’re doing in the image that inspired the drawing in the book? What’s the science behind it (in a nutshell)?

I’m drilling a deep hole into a floating glacier (an ‘ice shelf’) to install a long aluminium pole. We mount geophysical instruments on these poles, such as high-precision GPS units, weather stations, and time-lapse cameras, to measure how the glacier ice moves and changes over time, particularly in response to climate change. The photo was taken on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, close to the U.S. Antarctic research station, McMurdo.

Can you tell us a little more about your research?

Broadly, my research focusses on investigating the impact of Earth’s past and future climate on the cryosphere – so all of Earth’s icy regions – with a current focus on the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, including their floating ice shelves.

Specifically, I specialise in integrating satellite Earth Observation techniques, including optical, microwave, and altimetry data, with field observations to investigate ice sheet and ice shelf surface melt and hydrology, and implications of these processes for ice dynamics. I also work closely with numerical modellers to integrate our new observations and process understanding of ice dynamics into models, ultimately to help provide better forecasts of future glacier ice loss and sea level rise.

I am fortunate to have been to Antarctica six times previously, and I’ve just arrived back there now. I’m at McMurdo, the U.S. station at the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Unfortunately, however, I’m a glaciologist who really hates being cold… But I do love penguins!

Where do you see the biggest uncertainties or knowledge gaps in our current understanding of polar ice dynamics, and what will it take to close them?

One of the biggest uncertainties in polar ice dynamics is how quickly ice sheets and ice shelves will respond as the climate continues to warm, including the potential ‘feedbacks’ and ‘tipping points’ that could accelerate change. To reduce these uncertainties, and better constrain future sea-level rise, we need sustained, high-quality Earth Observation records from new satellite missions, supported by targeted fieldwork and modelling. We also need to rethink how we do polar science so that it is more carbon-efficient, whether through using more computationally efficient AI-based models, lower-emission fieldwork logistics, or greater international coordination to minimise our environmental footprint. Closing these knowledge gaps will require long-term investment, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a commitment to monitoring and understanding the polar regions in more sustainable ways.

What is your role at CPOM?

I have joined CPOM as a PI in Land Ice/Ice Shelf Earth Observation, and more broadly as a Professor in Glaciology within Northumbria’s School of Geography and Natural Sciences. After 7.5 years in the U.S. at the University of Colorado Boulder, I’m excited to build new collaborations and expand my research horizons within CPOM and the wider UK glaciological and environmental science communities. Working closely with CPOM’s experts in Earth Observation and modelling, across both land ice and sea ice, will strengthen my research and open up new opportunities for interdisciplinary polar science.

What does being featured in a STEM colouring book mean to you, and what advice would you give to early career researchers considering a career in this field?

I was excited to be part of this because I think one of the most meaningful ways to encourage girls of all backgrounds to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) is by providing visible role models. In Antarctic field research in particular, female leadership is still rare, so it’s important for girls to see that women can and do lead world-class field science in these and other environments. Research shows that girls’ engagement in STEM subjects, and later women’s participation in STEM careers, often declines with age/career stage. I hope that being part of this book helps to spark that curiosity and confidence in the next generation!

You can find out more and purchase the book from the link below.

Image Credits: From STEM Super Stars: Women of Today Changing the World (KN Storycraft Press, 2025)

Climate tipping points in the news

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

What are tipping points?

Climate tipping occurs when warming temperatures push parts of the Earth system past critical thresholds, triggering self-reinforcing changes that become difficult or impossible to reverse. Crossing these thresholds will lead to major changes in sea level, ocean circulation, and weather patterns, changes that governments and international agencies need to anticipate and plan for. That’s why monitoring for early warning signs of tipping is crucial.

Tipping points in the news

Recent headlines have focused on the first major climate system to tip into irreversible decline– coral reefs. Scientists confirmed in research published this year that warm-water coral reefs have crossed their thermal tipping point and are experiencing unprecedented, widespread decline.

Other tipping points currently making headlines include:

  • AMOC/Gulf Stream collapse – a shutdown of this ocean circulation system would cause changes to global weather patterns, potentially causing northwest Europe to experience more severe winters while disrupting monsoons and food security worldwide.
  • Weakening carbon sinks – forests and oceans that normally absorb some of the human-made CO2 emissions are becoming less effective, accelerating atmospheric warming.
  • Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet collapse – an irreversible retreat, which, when initiated, would cause metres of additional sea level rise

Focus on the ice sheets

The collapse of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets presents a serious threat. Their collapse would commit us to metres of sea level rise affecting hundreds of millions globally.

But what are the key instabilities scientists are concerned about?

In this article in The Conversation, CPOM Co-Director for Science Dr Inès Otosaka (Northumbria University) explores the three ice sheet instabilities that could trigger collapse and rapid melting:

  • Marine Ice Sheet Instability (MISI)
  • Marine Ice Cliff Instability (MICI)
  • Surface Elevation Melt Instability (SEMI)

Inès leads the ESA CryoTipping project with Earth Observation experts from ESA’s Antarctic CCI+ Project and ice sheet modelling experts from Northumbria’s Future of Ice on Earth Peak of Research Excellence, PIK (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) and MPI-GEA (Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology) combining satellite observations with ice sheet modelling to detect marine ice sheet instability at Thwaites glacier in Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea Sector. By feeding satellite data on grounding line location, ice velocity, and surface elevation into ice sheet models, the team aims to detect early warning signs of tipping points and investigate potential irreversibility of the retreat of the Thwaites glacier.

How to create a lesson in ice sheets on a medieval castle!

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

In early November 2025, CPOM Researcher Diego Moral Pombo (Lancaster University) collaborated with artist James Hooton to create “Still Waters Run Deep”, a beautiful light installation, that transformed Lancaster Castle, and brought the Earth’s ice sheets and glaciers to life, as part of the Light Up Lancaster festival 2025.

In this video we take you behind the scenes, from the initial inspiration to the technological innovation that went into translating polar science into an immersive experience using art, light and music. The case study features insights from Diego, James and CPOM Co-Director for Science, Professor Mal McMillan.

Mal explains more about the GLOBE project (Greenland Subglacial Lake Observatory) which uses high resolution satellite imaging and technology to detect, monitor and predict how hidden (subglacial) lakes interact with the ice sheet above. This project, funded via the European Research Council and UK Research and Innovation, formed some of the inspiration for Diego’s concept, alongside other research into ice dynamics at Lancaster University and CPOM.

Diego said when asked why using art to communicate science is important: “Ice loss from the polar regions may feel like something very far away and something that doesn’t really affect us, but it does have a very local impact and it will end up affecting all of us. Just getting more people interested in the science is obviously great and if we get to spark some vocations and motivation in the youngest ones seeing the piece (installation) that would be great.”

Also included in the video is a clip of the illustration by faith-to.design in action, and beautiful original music from Amber Hooton. We have also included a clip of the stunning final installation.

The installation was supported by Lancaster City Council’s climate change team, UKRI’s Arts and Humanities Council, the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and Lancaster University Impact Acceleration Account Programme. It was also part of Lancaster University’s ‘Campus in the City’ event 2025.

UK Scientists warn of glacier ice loss in UNESCO Report

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

This week, scientists joined the UK National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC) to launch the ‘Glaciers and Ice Sheets in a Warming World: Impacts and Outcomes’ report, edited by Professor David J. Drewry, which shares crucial UK-led scientific research on ice loss from Earth’s glaciers.

Key Findings

The report presents critical statistics on global glacier decline including:

  • Glaciers have lost 6,542 billion tonnes of ice since 2000, threatening the water supply of more than a billion people
  • Ice loss has accelerated by 36% over the past ten years, with glacier melt now accounting for approximately one-third of global sea level rise
  • Fifteen million people are at risk from glacier lake outburst floods, whilst up to two billion depend on water from glaciers for energy, water and food

The full report is available on the UK National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC) website.

Monitoring Glaciers from Space

Chapter three of the report, authored by CPOM Associate Investigator in Land Ice Earth Observation Noel Gourmelen (University of Edinburgh and Earthwave Ltd) with Livia Jakob (Earthwave Ltd), explores how satellite missions monitor glacier decline from space. Using data from missions including the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2, their chapter incorporates key findings from the Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (GLAMBIE) Report released earlier this year, which confirmed that since 2000, glaciers have lost 6,542 billion tonnes of ice. Their study also showed that there has been a 36% increase in loss during the second half of the time period (2012-2023) in comparison to the first half of the record (2000-2011).

About CryoSat-2

Launched in 2010, CryoSat-2 transformed our ability to monitor glacier ice from space by offering improved spatial resolution and accuracy, almost-complete polar coverage, and increased measurement density.

What is GLAMBIE?

The GLAMBIE exercise is a collaborative community effort that reconciles 233 estimates from 35 international research teams of ice mass balance from glaciers across all 19 glacierised regions worldwide. By integrating altimetry, gravimetry and DEM (Digital Elevation Model) -based approaches, the GLAMBIE team produces comprehensive and robust estimates for ice loss, which can be used by policymakers and government agencies when planning for future climate scenarios, including IPCC assessments.

Why Monitoring Glaciers Matters

Tracking glacier changes is essential for several reasons:

  • When glaciers melt, they contribute significantly to global sea levels, impacting millions of people worldwide
  • Increased glacier melting can cause glacial lakes to collapse, resulting in devastating floods
  • Many millions of people rely on glacier water for energy, water supplies, crops and livestock

Professor David J Drewry has written about the threats posed by melting glaciers on the UK UNESCO website: https://unesco.org.uk/news/glaciers-shrink-water-is-scarce-lives-are-at-risk

Looking Ahead

The CRISTAL mission, part of the Copernicus Space Programme and scheduled for launch in 2027, aims to continue CryoSat-2’s legacy. As Noel Gourmelen and Livia Jakob emphasize in the report, it is vital to secure future Earth Observation missions like CRISTAL to ensure ongoing and uninterrupted accurate monitoring of Earth’s ice. Such observations and modelling of future scenarios are essential to inform decision-making around glacier preservation and to support strategies for protecting people and infrastructure from the risks posed by melting ice.

The International Year of Glacier Preservation

This report is timely! The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Glacier Preservation to highlight the importance of glaciers and to ensure that populations who rely on them, as well as those affected by glacier changes, receive the hydrological, meteorological and climate services they need.

For more information, visit www.un-glaciers.org/en.

Image credit: Professor Andrew Shepherd

Using Creativity to Connect People with Space-Based Climate Science

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

Earth is losing more than a trillion tonnes of ice each year – enough to create an ice cube more than 10km high.

How do we know this?

Satellites like ESA’s CryoSat-2 mission collect crucial climate data from hundreds of miles above Earth.

Once of the challenges we face is how do we make data from space feel real for people on the ground.

Climate change and the research behind it can often feel distant and abstract, but the impacts are immediate and global.

That’s why researchers, space agencies and climate change organisations are getting creative, transforming complex information into experiences that resonate with people outside the scientific community and inspire action from Governments and government agencies.

This International Day of Climate Action, we’re sharing some of the ways that creativity has been used to share environmental science stories in 2025.

Visual storytelling from space

ESA, with Planetary Visions, have partnered to create videos that visualise the research carried out by the UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling and other research groups.

Here are some examples:

This animation, featuring research led by CPOM PhD Researcher Nitin Ravinder, shows the thinning of the Greenland ice sheet between 2010 and 2023.

Video Credit: ESA / Planetary Visions / CPOM

And this animation shows something surprising discovered by CPOM Researchers from Lancaster University this year – a subglacial flood bursting through the ice sheet.

Video Credit: ESA/CPOM/Planetary Visions

Stepping inside a year’s worth of ice loss: The Giant Ice Cube

How much ice is a trillion tonnes? CPOM created a 3D, explorable model to help answer this question.

Dr Tom Slater’s research has been transformed into an interactive experience that has travelled across the country, letting school children ‘step into’ a year’s worth of ice loss.

Of those surveyed at our outreach events 85% said they learned something new and 56% said they would consider becoming polar scientists.

Watch this video about why science outreach work is inspiring the next generation of environmental scientists.

Video: CPOM

Using poetry and art to bring science to life

ESA collaborated with artist Jamie Perera to create a multi-sensory installation that transforms satellite data into art. Using poetry penned by ESA’s Peter Bickerton and sonification (turning data into sound) the installation at this year’s Living Planet Symposium shares the science behind the EarthCARE Earth Explorer satellite mission, which gathers data on clouds and aerosols.

Video: ESA

Hear more from Peter Bickerton on how ESA uses creativity to share their science and why this is important

In this short interview, Peter Bickerton, talks about how he uses creativity to tap into people’s imaginations while sharing crucial climate and environmental data derived from earth explorer satellites.

Video credit: CPOM

Bonus: We also have a video of Peter’s 15-year anniversary poem about one of our favourite satellites CryoSat-2!

Video credit: CPOM

Behind the scenes on scientific fieldwork

Some of the most compelling climate science happens in the world’s most remote places where most people will never visit.

That’s why CPOM and programmes like BIOPOLE, led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) bring the Arctic and Antarctic to audiences through video content.

In this video filmed aboard RSS Sir David Attenborough, viewers get to see the science in action.

National Capability science like this spans decades of monitoring and measuring, but these glimpses behind the scenes remind us that climate data comes from real people doing remarkable work in extreme conditions.

Video: CPOM

A castle becomes a canvas

This November, CPOM PhD researcher Diego Moral Pombo in partnership with photographer and media specialist James Hooton, will transform Lancaster Castle into a stunning polar science showcase.

Their light installation projected onto Lancaster Castle’s historic John O’Gaunt Gate will bring ice sheets and glaciers to life, visualizing the hidden dynamics happening deep beneath the ice.

By placing climate science in a public place, the installation will invite visitors to the Light Up Lancaster festival to consider how the Earth’s ice sheets are changing, and why.

From research to action

The satellite data shows that Earth’s ice is melting, but data alone rarely inspires action. By transforming complex satellite observations into giant ice cubes, poetry, art installations, and visual stories help people understand that climate change is happening now, is measurable from space, and is affecting communities worldwide.

This International Day of Climate Action, we’re reminded that inspiring climate action requires both science and imaginative communication.

When the science community makes space-based climate data tangible, accessible and engaging, we empower everyone, from schoolchildren to policymakers to understand the challenge, and be part of the solution.

Spotlight on Space: Inspiring the next generation of polar scientists with CPOM

Posted on by Nicola Bortun

Video: CPOM

On Saturday 4 October 2025, the UK Centre for Polar Observation (CPOM) joined teams from other companies, universities and science centres at the International Centre for Life, in Newcastle upon Tyne, for their ‘Spotlight on…’ Day.

This year the focus was ‘Space’, one of our favourite topics.

Introducing polar science to young people

During the day we got the chance to meet more than 100 children and their families, all fascinated with space science and wanting to learn more. We had an array of activities ready for them, including polar science inspired puzzles and colouring activities to introduce them to the sort of animals that live in the Arctic and Antarctica. You can find these, and links to other educational resources, on this webpage.

We also introduced them to ESA’s CryoSat-2 and ESA’s ‘Paxi’ mascot, explaining how we use satellites like CryoSat-2 and NASA’s ICESat-2 to monitor the polar regions from space to see what’s happening there. We took along our ice cube tent, an incarnation of the giant ESA ice cube you can see in this video, to help the children understand how much of the ice is melting each year.

About the cube

The cube is a scale model of how much ice is lost on Earth every year if you put it all in one giant ice cube. In real life this cube of ice would be 10 cubic km in size and 1 trillion tonnes in weight! This version of the cube is only 1 cubic meter, so children can interact with it, climbing inside to meet some of the polar animals. We explained to them that the ‘real’ ice cube would be a billion times bigger than our model. The sides of the cube show exactly where the ice is melting and the volume in gigatonnes.

About the science behind the cube

CPOM is a lead partner on ESA’s Antarctic CCI (Climate Change Initiative) project which develops methods for producing long-term and reliable climate data records of Antarctica from satellite observations. CPOM also provides scientific leadership for the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE), a community effort to reconcile satellite estimates of sea level contribution due to ice loss from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. You can read more about these, and other CPOM projects, on our Projects page.

The importance of sharing our science

As Ben Rutherford-Orrock, Contemporary Science Manager, mentions in our case study video:

“Science is all about asking questions and trying to work out the answers. That could be in solving some of the biggest problems we have in the world. Some of these questions are going to take time. If we are looking at how to answer some of these questions we are going to need the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and maths professionals. By making science accessible we can encourage young people to think about science as a potential career for the future.”

CPOM Director for Knowledge Exchange Dr Sammie Buzzard (Northumbria University) continues:

“It’s really important for everyone to know about the science we do here at CPOM because it has implications for the whole planet. We are looking at how our polar regions are changing and where the ice is melting. This can have implications for sea level rise which is going to affect everywhere with a coast and beyond.”

This year we have met around 500 children through outreach events like this.

Of those surveyed at all of these events in 2025:

85% reported learning something new about polar science.

56% said they would consider becoming a polar scientist in the future.

We look forward to continuing to inspire the next generation of polar scientists in 2026 and beyond.