Antarctica is changing faster than expected – why you should care

Professor Dame Jane Francis DCMG FRS

Honorary Fellows Lecture

• Wednesday 10 February 2027, 17:30 – 18:30
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre, Cambridge

Upcoming event Booking Recommended In-person Lecture Lent Term

• Event cost: Free
• Disabled access?: Yes
• Booking required: No

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Overview

The Antarctic environment is changing more rapidly than expected. Over the past few years we have observed warming of the Southern Ocean, melting of ice shelves from below, reduction in sea ice, intense heat waves over the continent and storms that have devastated penguin colonies.

The sea ice that forms around Antarctica as the sea freezes during the winter has been shrinking in extent and has decreased so much around the western Antarctic Peninsula that the UK’s icebreaker, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, has remained south near Rothera station until mid-winter, supporting science in the cold dark conditions for the first time.

These changes impact not only local Antarctic environments and its animals but also affect the whole planet. The loss of ice mass has contributed to global sea level rise and the fresh water entering the ocean will affect global ocean circulation. Antarctica may be remote but change there impacts the rest of the planet, its ecosystems its and people. 

Speaker Biographies

Professor Dame Jane Elizabeth Francis, DCMG FRS is a British paleoclimatologist who is the Director of the British Antarctic Survey.

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