BAS Research - Launching a weather balloon
Home » BAS Research » Our Research Programmes » Current Research » Long Term Monitoring and Survey (LTMS) »
We need long-term, quality-controlled and uninterrupted data records to measure change and variability in the Earth System. Data collected through a programme of long-term monitoring and survey can give us valuable insight into the nature of changes in the Earth System, that may be missed by shorter term studies and experiments.
We also need data to check and improve the reliability of models used to simulate and predict the behaviour of the Earth system.
Over the past 50 years, long-term environmental monitoring in the Antarctic has resulted in many important discoveries, such as the hole in the ozone layer and the rapid melting of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Research undertaken by BAS is supported by Long Term Monitoring and Survey (LTMS) activities including:
We collect data from our Antarctic research stations, from autonomous instrument platforms deployed on and from our research ships, from our aircraft and from field parties. We also use remote-controlled or autonomous vehicles in the air, in the sea and in remote land areas; and satellite remote sensing.
We coordinate field activities and exchange data with national and international partners to maximise the scientific return.
© NERC-BAS 2007