The cryosphere is changing faster than anywhere else on earth
CPOM’s research enhances understanding of how the polar regions, oceans and climate have, and are, changing and how they might continue to change in the future. This knowledge and understanding is crucial in predicting, and planning for, the effects of climate change and sea level rise, in the UK and internationally. CPOM plays an important role in building the UK’s national capability in this area, through their research and their participation in various national and international research projects and programmes.
Using data from satellite missions including CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2
CPOM’s area of expertise is in using historical and present-day datasets derived from satellite missions, such as ESA’s Cryostat mission, to quantify and predict changes in the cryosphere. This combined with field research in the Antarctic and Arctic, CPOM is continually adapting and improving our ability to accurate evaluate these changes, and project future changes, using computational numerical modelling.
Planning for a changing climate
In particular, the ability to accurately quantify and predict sea level contributions from polar ice sheets is vital for UK planning. This knowledge and understanding helps inform future planning and mitigation strategies for climate changes and sea level rise in a variety of ways. For example, CPOM regular contribute to Environmental Audit Sub-Committee on Polar Research, bringing the science to the policy makers. By contributing to projects such as UKESM (UK Earth System Model), integrating ice sheet model and advanced sea ice physics into the system, we can produce robust projects of ice sheet instability and Arctic sea ice loss.
25 years of monitoring the polar regions
CPOM have been monitoring the polar regions for almost quarter of a century, and the longevity of our datasets, and the accuracy of our models mean we have a broader view of past and possible future changes. For instance, our IMBIE Project (Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Project) provides a long-term satellite record of polar ice sheet melting in Greenland and Antarctica. Taking advantage of satellite missions, IMBIE has made it possible to chart polar ice sheet losses every year ensuring the scientific community has the very latest estimates of polar ice losses. These projections (UKESM, CMIP6 and IMBIE) contributed significantly to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), informing international thinking on the challenges which face us, and how we can plan for them.
