National Capability (NC) funding supports research that is vital for the long-term success of UK environmental science, but whose scale and complexity means it cannot be delivered in an openly competitive way. One of the ways that NERC commissions this is through its Long-Term, Multi-Centre Science (LTSM) programme, which encourages its research centres* to work closely together to tackle the major scientific and societal challenges which no single institute has the capacity to address. Instead they need an integrated team of scientists working across institutional and disciplinary boundaries in a coherent, strategic manner.
CPOM is currently involved in three NC-LTSM initiatives: BIOPOLE, CANARI and TerraFIRMA, all of which run for five years from 2022 to 2027.
*British Antarctic Survey (BAS); British Geological Survey (BGS); Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH); CPOM; National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS); National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO); National Oceanography Centre (NOC); Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)
BIOPOLE:
Biogeochemical processes and ecosystem function in a changing polar system
Providing a step change in the knowledge and predictive capability concerning how polar ecosystems regulate the chemical balance of the world’s oceans and, through it, their effect on global fish stocks and carbon storage
CANARI:
Climate change in the Arctic-North Atlantic region and impact on the UK
Advancing the understanding of the impacts on the UK arising from climate variability and change in the Arctic-North Atlantic region
TerraFIRMA:
Future impacts risks and mitigation actions
Providing reliable guidance on the risks and impacts of future climate change