ptfretwell.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

We are currently at the time of year when Antarctic sea ice reaches minimum extent. This year ice in Antarctica is 740,00 km2 below normal (27% of the total). The lowest four years on record have been 2022,2023,2024 and 2025. This is the new normal, but how long until it reduces further?

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Sea ice in the Arctic and around Antarctica cool our climate, drive ocean circulation across the planet, and provide a unique habitat for polar ecosystems. Sea ice amounts have now fallen to their lowest since we started measuring them. This is not good. 🌊🥼❄️🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 17 days ago • 2 comments

Just finished at the ESA Biospace conference, the first ESA conference on remote sensing of the Biosphere.

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

Sometimes you just need a ✨refresh✨ We've released a new map of the South Orkney Islands, made by @magic.bas.ac.uk. It's the first UK published, topographic map of the the South Orkney Islands in almost 40 years! What differences can you see in this snapshot? 🔗 www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/n...

submitted 18 days ago • 2 comments

Last night we were on The One Show! We were so excited to see this short film about South Georgia, seals and penguins by Robert Fuller - featuring some of the team from King Edward Point Research Station. 🐧 Jump to 20:00 on iPlayer to watch the clip: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

Mum, we're on the telly! 📺 Tune into The One Show at 7pm tonight to catch a segment about surveying elephant seals and penguins on South Georgia Island, featuring the BAS team at King Edward Point Research Station! 🎥 Connor Bamford

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

I've been working on automated penguin counting from some fantastic UAV imagery of chinstrap and Macaroni penguins on Zavadovski Island. Here is one of the original image mosaics.

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

Really proud to have some of our Wildlife from Space projects featured in the AGE OF AI exhibition at Bletchley Park.

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

A new iceberg, ~30x14 km in size, recently calved from the southern end of the George VI Ice Shelf. It's called A84 and is already making quite an impact, bumping into the Stange Ice Shelf over the weekend! These Copernicus Sentinel-1 images from Polar View show the new berg over the last few days.

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

Did you know that MAGIC support the BAS Air Unit with mapping, imagery and also 3D visualisations? Check out Rothera runway, made using the latest drone imagery draped over a digital elevation model! Visualising the runway & obstacle surfaces in 3D helps pilots better understand these remote areas ✈️

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

Summer over South Georgia. The glaciers pump millions of tonnes of sediments into the ocean which fuels a huge phytoplankton bloom sustaining one of the richest marine ecosystems on Earth. But as the glaciers recede and stop eroding, how long will this bounty last?

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

We thought we knew emperor penguins – robots are proving us wrong www.newscientist.com/article/mg26... @whoi.bsky.social @mars-lab-whoi.bsky.social 8 January 2025 @newscientist.bsky.social

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

To celebrate #PenguinAwarenessDay 🐧 here is a UAV image of emperor penguins at Snow Hill Island taken by our team! We use UAV, aircraft and satellites to monitor penguin numbers around Antarctica, using machine learning, AI and citizen science applications to aid scientists estimate populations.

submitted 43 days ago • 0 comments

from X's post x.com/bas_news/sta... by BAS BAS staff advised on #OurOceans - Netflix's new ocean nature documentary netflix.com/title/81139969 2024: The Year from Space - featuring BAS' Peter Fretwell and some penguins in peril www.channel4.com/programmes/2... @bas.ac.uk @ptfretwell.bsky.social

submitted 47 days ago • 1 comment

Today is Penguin Awareness Day. Are you aware that most of the world's 40 million penguins don't live in the Antarctic? Most live north of Antarctica (but still in the Southern Hemisphere) around the Southern Ocean, like these Magellanic penguins in the Falkland Islands.

submitted 43 days ago • 0 comments

You know what, it may not be perfect but the fact I’ve got an AI model detecting Antarctic seals from satellite images is pretty good considering it’s my 1st time coding in Python. Being able to apply AI to a real world problem for conservation feels great. #phd #AI #academia #conservation

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

As I scientist, I am not allowed to use the term "cute", but.....

submitted 45 days ago • 1 comment

Gentoos in the sun. Showing that even for a penguin, it always pays to look before you leap.

submitted 46 days ago • 0 comments

Work onboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough continues as numerous icebergs drift past to our north. Using a combination of optical and radar satellite imagery, plus regular RPAS flights, we keep watch on any icebergs that might get close enough to interrupt us. Credit Pete Bucktrout & Jamie Oliver.

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

The Channel 4 documentary "2024- A year from Space", which aired on 30th December, had a great piece about our satellite tracking of the Halley penguin colony. I did some recording for them in December and put in a cameo voice over half way through. www.channel4.com/programmes/2...

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

'This Christmas I'll be counting penguins' BBC News bbc.com/news/article... @bas.ac.uk

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

We work with a range of satellite imagery in MAGIC, allowing us to look at some beautiful areas of Antarctica! Here's a few recent Sentinel and Landsat images (acquired Nov and Dec 2024, courtesy of Copernicus and USGS). Can anyone name all of the locations or features? 🧊🎄

submitted 71 days ago • 1 comment

🎧 Iceworld podcast here ✨🐧 Penguin passion at the poles with Derren Fox and Peter Fretwell @ptfretwell.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/0e18... @bas.ac.uk

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments

🗺️❄️New mapping blog alert ❄️🗺️ Discover our blog post to explore the latest topographic datasets released in the @scar-antarctic.bsky.social Antarctic Digital Database. We've also got exciting news on the release of versions 1-5 of the Antarctic coastlines from 1993-2010! www.bas.ac.uk/blogpost/ant...

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

Our new Darwin+ project to count elephant seals on South Georgia has had a fantastic first season. Multiple ellie haul outs counted by drone and most of the rest of the coast imaged by satellite. The initial results will by out in 2025. Thanks to Connor, Nathan and MAXAR images.

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

Penguins Field Report AUTUMN 2024 has arrived from @wwf.org.uk 📬 Adopt a Penguin 💙🐧 👉🏻 support.wwf.org.uk/adopt-a-penguin #ペンギン #エンペラーペンギン #コウテイペンギン #Antarctica #emperorpenguin @bendps.bsky.social @ptfretwell.bsky.social

submitted 76 days ago • 1 comment

www.bas.ac.uk/blogpost/7-t...

submitted 78 days ago • 0 comments

Image taken from USGS 1:250,000 1964 Antarctic Reconnaissance Series, Mount Nares sheet

submitted 78 days ago • 0 comments

What is the World's most southerly island? Google says its Ross Island, but this is untrue. The most southerly true island (not an ice rise) is Deverall Island in the Ross Ice Shelf. At 81.48° South it's 400 km south of Ross Island and half a degree further south than the bottom of Berkner Island.

submitted 78 days ago • 1 comment

Proud and v lucky to have these people at @bas.ac.uk to help with my work! @elenafield.bsky.social made 25 maps for my last #Antarctic 🇦🇶 field season 🙊 Fabulous effort and I didn't get lost 🤣 👏

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

🐧 Do you love the polar regions? 🗺️ Do you love maps? 🛰️ Do you love beautiful aerial pictures? 🧮 Do you love well-presented data? We heartily recommend you follow the BAS Mapping and Geographic Information Centre, who are known internally (and appropriately) as ✨ MAGIC ✨

submitted 82 days ago • 2 comments