Pre-programme discovery projects
\nTo help guide our thinking and shape the programme’s development, we funded a series of short, exploratory research projects running from December 2025 to February 2026. These projects range from exploring aspects of Arena design, diving into topics around physical trust and AI security theory, and running community events such as a hackathon.
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TA1 + TA2 | Developing new sensing systems and pushing to rapid deployment
\nThese 16 teams will design an affordable, sustainable and just sensing system that addresses our unmet observational needs in challenging polar environments. Then, through a coordinated multi-year field campaign, they will deploy existing and new sensing systems targeted at the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Subpolar Gyre.
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","label":"Cancelled","cardId":"","mediaType":null,"modules":[]},{"title":"GAMB2LE: Greenland Automated Mass Balance and Boundary Layer Experiment","description":"","teamLead":"Ryan Reynolds Neely III, Sarah Barr, Heather Guy, University of Leeds and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science","team":"Team: Michael Ray Gallagher, the University of Colorado | Alex Fearn, Harriett Richardson| University of Leeds and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science | Menapia | Polar Field Services","text":"This team will build a next-generation, modular, scalable polar observatory capable of characterising the ice-atmosphere interface in remote and under-sampled areas of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The core of this effort, the Automated Unit for Remote Observations and Research of the Atmosphere (AURORA), will integrate advanced remote-sensing and in-situ instruments, Arctic-hardened unmanned aerial systems, and a sustainable renewable power system. Combined, this will enable continuous, high-resolution data collection in even the most challenging environments, and act as a node for other sensors in a future early warning system.
\n\n
\"Our team has over 40 years of combined experience in making polar observations. We've united together on GAMB2LE as we all have a shared vision and passion to push beyond the current standards in observational science and create a technology that will open new doors to understanding our world.\"
\nRyan Reynolds Neely III, Sarah Barr, Heather Guy
University of Leeds
This team is setting the scene for a next generation ocean and climate observing network, as they plan to convert existing undersea cables (used for telecommunications and forming the backbone of the internet) into seafloor sensors, capable of measuring ocean conditions over thousands of kilometres. The team will develop the acoustic and fingerprinting techniques needed to identify ocean processes and provide an unprecedented view of the deep North Atlantic.
","label":"","cardId":"","mediaType":null,"modules":[]},{"title":"Oshen-SWARM: Scalable Waterborne Autonomous Research Modules","description":"","teamLead":"Anahita Laverack, Oshen","team":"Team: Ciaran Dowds, Ffion Llewellyn, Jake Lewis, Marcus Thorpe, Oshen","text":"This team will deploy rugged, hand-deployable wind-propelled robots to transform understanding of the Subpolar Gyre. These autonomous \"C-Star\" platforms form adaptive constellations to collect year-round data on critical ocean-atmosphere processes (like mixing dynamics, wave interactions) and deliver continuous insights for climate models. Within two years, the team plans to scale to a 50-strong constellation, using AI algorithms to optimise the adaptive network. Designed for harsh ocean conditions, the low-power systems aim to pioneer data provision for a long-term early-warning network for Subpolar Gyre collapse.
","label":"","cardId":"","mediaType":null,"modules":[]},{"title":"GRAIL: Greenland Ice sheet to Atlantic tipping points from Ice Loss","description":"","teamLead":"Kelly Hogan, British Antarctic Survey","team":"","text":"Team: Paul Holland, Pierre Dutrieux, Peter Davis, Robert Arthern, Rosie Williams, James Byrne, Oliver Marsh, Tom Jordan, Alvaro Arenas Pingaron, British Antarctic Survey | Mark Inall, Lewis Drysdale, Alison Cook, Laura Castro De La Guardia, Scottish Association of Marine Sciences | Robin Smith, Steve George, University of Reading | Anna Hogg, Benjamin Wallis, University of Leeds | Anna Crawford, University of Stirling | John Taylor, University of Cambridge | Donald Slater, University of Edinburgh | Scott Hosking, Alan Turing Institute | Tom Cowton, University of St Andrews | Ruth Mottram, Jose Abraham Torres Alaves, Danish Meteorological Institute | Jonathan Nash, Erin Petit, Meagan Wengrove, Oregon State University | Alex Phillips, National Oceanography Centre | Alastair Graham, Cardiff University | Britney Schmidt, Peter Washam, Cornell University | Shfaqat Khan, Technical University of Denmark | Doug Benn, St Andrews University | Jan Åström, CSC-IT Centre for Science
\nThis team is focusing on the key link between the North Atlantic and Greenland Ice Sheet – melting and calving at marine glaciers. They'll capture these complex physical processes at difficult-to-access ice faces and floating ice shelves by: developing new sensors and ocean/ice/airborne platforms; deploying these in East and North West Greenland fjords; and implementing improved physics in the UK's Earth System Model. Their results will be scaled up to other fjords, then input into a prototype Early Warning System, which will be co-designed with Greenlandic stakeholders.
\n\n
\"Greenland is the fastest melting place on Earth, but this ice loss has knock-on effects for both North Atlantic ocean currents and fisheries. This crucial research will help us to understand how much freshwater the ice sheet is releasing, and what the subsequent effects will be on the ocean currents that bring warm waters and weather to the UK.\"
\nKelly Hogan
British Antarctic Survey
This team is focused on observing fine-scale atmosphere-ocean-cryosphere exchanges in the Greenland sea ice margins. They aim to develop and test a new high-resolution ocean current and wind imager. They'll demonstrate year-round monitoring of currents, winds, ocean colour, salinity, and sea surface temperature using airborne platforms – including airships, High-Altitude Pseudo Satellites, and drones. Their vision is to use these cost-effective, long-term monitoring capabilities to support the development of an Early Warning System for potential Subpolar Gyre convection shutdowns.
","label":"","cardId":"","mediaType":null,"modules":[]},{"title":"OTTER: Exploiting optical turbulence as part of a climate tipping point early warning system","description":"","teamLead":"Ollie Farley, Durham University","team":"Team: Perrine Lognoné, James Osborn, Durham University | Paul Williams, University of Reading | Menapia","text":"The team is developing a new instrument, OTTER (Optical Turbulence for Tracing Energy in the atmosphere), which will employ a low SWaP-C drone-based laser transmitter and ground-based receiver unit to measure path-resolved properties of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. This turbulence is associated with surface to atmosphere heat fluxes that are crucial to the accurate modelling of ice sheet melt rates and subsurface ocean currents. Using OTTER, the team will look to unlock a step-change in our understanding of this turbulent environment, and greatly improve both the quality and quantity of data available to model climate tipping points.
\n\n
\"My background is in optical turbulence measurement for astronomy and satellite communications. This work represents a exciting new direction for me and the group, applying my knowledge of optical turbulence in a new and important domain.\"
\nOllie Farley
Durham University
This team will develop and deploy a proof-of-concept observing system using autonomous profiling floats to continuously monitor turbulence and mixing across the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre. By integrating these novel mixing data into ocean and climate models through advanced state estimation and digital twin frameworks, this team will enhance our mechanistic understanding of freshwater mixing, deep convection, and allow for more accurate predictions of the Gyre's tipping point.
","label":"","cardId":"","mediaType":null,"modules":[]},{"title":"TUNU","description":"","teamLead":"Anders Læsøe, ASIAQ","team":"Team: Angunnguaq Boassen, Roman Ackle, Anders Ginnerup, Arno Hammann, ASIAQ","text":"This team will deploy new climate monitoring stations in the largely inaccessible eastern coast of Greenland, providing in-situ climate data from the borderline between the Greenlandic ice cap and the Subpolar Gyre.
\n\n
\"This programme offers the opportunity of monitoring the climate in areas of high importance to understanding the climate – both scientifically and commercially – where there is no in-situ monitoring done today.\"
\nAnders Læsøe
ASIAQ
This team is developing a novel hybrid communication and sensing platform called the Optical Reconnaissance and Communication Antenna (ORCA) that leverages structured light to sense the underwater environment and provide cable-free communications between autonomous networks of underwater sensors. Through coordination with satellite imaging, the \"pod\" of ORCAs will travel the oceans, mapping hydrography in space and time. This high-resolution underwater mapping of oceanic currents, depth-resolved temperature, particulate content, and salinity will be critical for monitoring emerging geophysical and biogeochemical reactions of our oceans to climate change.
\nThe team will progress the development of affordable, solar-powered, ultra-persistent, High Altitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS), stationed in the stratosphere. The team's vision is to make HAPS, which are currently too expensive for many researchers, available to the scientific community to use when monitoring remote regions.
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