Antarctica and its ice sheets have played, and continue to play, a major role in the global ocean-atmosphere system, hence, it is critical that we have a sound understanding of the past behaviour of Antarctica and it's ice sheets with a view to understanding their potential future variability under a warming climate. The Southern Ocean is a key component of the thermohaline circulation of the world's oceans and the re-distribution of heat and salt around the oceans is integral to processes that regulate rapid climate transitions. Computer modelling results have shown that sufficient melt water input to the Antarctic continental shelf area is capable of shutting down the formation of cold, salty deep water in Antarctica hence upsetting the balance of the thermohaline circulation and the ocean-climate system of the Northern Hemisphere. In order to further investigate these processes that originate in Antarctica, it is necessary to understand the transfer mechanisms of ocean-climate signals from the Antarctic ice sheets, across the continental margin seas, into the Southern Ocean. Exceptionally well-preserved Antarctic margin sediment cores, recovered during the last decade, contain an excellent archive of these ice-ocean-climate interactions, often on seasonal timescales, from the end of the last ice age and throughout the recent warm interglacial (the Holocene). The cores are seasonally layered through the deglaication, intermittently layered through the Holocene, and the layers are dominated by fossil planktonic diatoms (algae); individual species of which are sensitive to sea surface conditions including sea ice concentration, fresh water influx, and open ocean influence upon the margin. Following the last ice age, these Holocene Antarctic sediments record climate fluctuations of tens to thousands of years long and whatever environmental forcing mechanism is responsible for these fluctuations, the changes are likely to be felt in the Antarctic coastal regions first, and the cores proposed for this research are located in prime positions to record these changes. Diatom oxygen isotope measurements represent an under-utilised technique that provides a means of obtaining oxygen isotope records in high latitude environments. The measurement of oxygen isotopes in diatoms is a widely used proxy in the study of the history of lakes, however, to date there have been many fewer attempts to use records of diatom oxygen isotopes in the oceans. Studies that have taken place have demonstrated the sensitivity of diatom oxyegn isotope measurements in polar and sub-polar waters to changes in surface ocean environmental parameters such as salinity, freshwater input and sea surface temperature. The research proposed here will be the first attempt to produce diatom oxygen isotope records from the Antarctic margin, a region sensitive to the waxing and waning of the Antarctic ice sheets in terms of melt water through-put to the Southern Ocean. We propose to investigate the evolution of seasonality along the Antarctic margin since the last ice age, and also the processes involved in producing the sediment record, by relating diatom oxygen isotope measurements on season-specific diatom taxa (i.e. diatom species that thrived particularly in spring or autumn) to relative freshwater influx to the coast, from either melted terrestrial ice or sea ice. We also hope to show that the diatom oxygen isotope measurements will be low at the end of the last ice age, as a large quantity of old ice sheets were melting, and will be higher during warmer time periods of the Holocene when ice sheets were at a minimum.

The ground surface in the UK is far from stable. For example, there are more that 15,000 recorded landslides in the UK, and the average annual cost of ground movement to the insurance industry is £250M. Landslides affecting critical infrastructure, such as mainline railways or dams, can be associated with multi-million pound remediation costs even for a single slope failure event. Furthermore, there are tens of thousands of kilometres of engineered slopes in our transportation, utilities and flood defence infrastructure networks - many of which were built in Victorian times and are in poor condition. Satellite technology, specifically ESA's Sentinel-1 constellation, has the potential to produce a dynamic, high resolution map of ground motion which can be used for monitoring and planning. The proposed feasibility study will explore whether UK expertise can be used to integrate Sentinel-1 data with sensors on the ground and embedded in the built environment to contribute to the Digital Environment. The study will leverage existing RCUK investments, map the requirements of potential stakeholders and explore cutting edge approaches to data handling, analysis, fusion and decision making. In addition to the core of InSAR experts, our team comprises a) specialists in image processing and machine learning, b) specialists in landslides, subsidence and onshore energy production and c) two knowledge exchange fellows. A wide-ranging network of potential stakeholders has already been identified, and our selected project partners (Environment Agency, Network Rail, TerraDat, Bridgeway Consulting) represent the needs of key governmental and commercial beneficiaries. The output of the feasibility study will be a peer-reviewed white paper detailing the requirements for a Sentinel-1 based UK ground motion map to be incorporated into a Digital Environment.

The NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility provides access to high-level genomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics provision through its five nodes. NBAF offers the very latest, class-leading technologies, including next-generation sequencing (Roche 454, Illumina and SOLiD), Sanger sequencing, microarray- and sequencing-based genotyping and expression profiling including the in silico design of oligoarrays (Agilent, Nimblegen). NBAF also supports metabolomics, medium-scale genotyping, bioinformatics and advanced data analysis techniques (genome and transcriptome assembly and annotation, expression analysis, etc.). The Facility consists of five nodes: a) NBAF-Sheffield - molecular genetics generation and analyses of molecular markers for population and evolutionary genetics; b) NBAF-Liverpool - high-throughput sequencing and microarray analysis technologies used for gene expression analysis, sequence capture, next-generation sequencing using Roche 454, AB SOLiD4 & IonTorrent technology, and bioinformatic support for analyses of these data; c) NBAF-Edinburgh - high-throughput sequencing and genomic analysis using Sanger, Roche 454 and Illumina technology, and bioinformatic support for analyses of these data; d) NBAF-Birmingham - metabolomics training, assay and analysis; e) NBAF-Wallingford - bioinformatics core training, bespoke analyses, and integrative analyses.

Iodine is an essential element for human health, with insufficient intake resulting in a range of iodine deficiency diseases (IDDs) including mental retardation and goitre. The World Health Organisation estimate that 2 billion people are affected by IDDs, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The primary dietary sources of iodine are seafood, milk and milk-derived products. Levels are typically low in plants where iodine has no known biological role. There are two separate applications of our proposed research. First it is important to understand the factors controlling iodine bioavailability in soils if we are to understand the movement of iodine through the food chain, predict deficiency and target possible plant/animal biofertilization. If we understand the mechanisms controlling iodine bioavailability we can utilize this knowledge to manage soils to preserve iodine and promote its uptake into dietary sources helping to prevent IDDs. Second it will also enable us to better predict the movement of radioiodine through the environment. Long-lived isotopes of iodine are a component of intermediate level nuclear waste (ILW) and it is essential that we understand the mechanisms of iodine migration to, and its reactions in, the biosphere if a convincing safety case for underground disposal of ILW is to be made. Our current understanding of the mechanisms controlling iodine bioavailability is relatively poor because the system is complex - iodine can exist in soil as aqueous and sorbed species including iodide, iodate, molecular iodine and as organic-I complexes. The form of the adsorbed iodine, and its biovailability, are highly dependent upon soil mineralogy, organic matter content and pH, with iodine retained strongly in organic soils, and in alkaline soils where iodide is stabilized by transformation to iodate. In acidic soils iodate may be reduced to iodide and possibly molecular iodine and volatilized, with the iron and aluminium oxide content of the soil being more important than organic matter as pH decreases. Iron and aluminium oxides adsorb greater amounts of iodate than iodide but retention of iodine is normally dominated by interaction with soil organic matter where iodine must be reduced to iodide or molecular iodine. Iodine speciation will also change if soils flood, with iodate and strongly bound iodine being reduced to iodide and released into solution. Until recently it has not been possible to follow the reactions of iodine in soils at environmentally realistic iodine concentrations together with determination of iodine speciation in both the soild and aqueous phases - necessary to understand the mechanisms controlling bioavailability. By using 129-I as a tracer, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) with High performance Liquid Chromatorgaphy (HPLC) to follow aqueous phase speciation, and a combination of solid phase extraction supported by Extended X-ray Adsorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) and X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy to establish solid phase speciation, this is now possible.

The BGS Climate Change Programme is addressing climate change issues through a variety of focused efforts. We at the heart of community efforts to: observe past and present climate, understand those observations, and predict future climates and the environmental responses to those climates. Our partners include many of the UK's finest universities and the research centres and facilities of the Natural Environment Research Council. Objectives include: a) to assess stocks of carbon in the soil and understand future emissions to the atmosphere as temperatures rise and microbial activity increases; b) to undertake organic chemistry research into pollution and climate in several UK and international estuaries; c) to assess environmental change in response to climate ; d) paleoclimate e) studies on peat ; f) sustainable soils .