Svalbard is thawing in April, and it’s not supposed to. 2026 ground temperatures at 0.2m depth in Svalbard spiking to 0°C in April, far exceeding the 1998-2025 median and maximum

Wow ! Where?

Bravo Sibylle Lebert who did a fantastic job presenting her #ERC_SIESTA research on bacterial ice nucleation in glacier environments at the 33e congrès de l’École doctorale Sciences de l’environnement (ED251) at @mioceanologie.bsky.social @univ-amu.fr @erc.europa.eu ❄️🧬🦠🔬🇪🇺

Laura Molares Moncayo sampling gasses in the snowpack on Austre Brøggerbreen glacier, Svalbard. Credit: James Bradley

(L-R) James Bradley & Laura Molares Moncayo sampling sea ice in George VI Sound, Antarctica. Credit: James Bradley

(L-R) Laura Molares Moncayo, Mailyn Gonzalez & James Bradley sampling bioaerosols in the Iguaque Paramo, Colombia. Credit: James Bradley

HFSP-funded atmosphere research team sampling bioaerosols above the Amazon rainforest, at the ATTO (Amazon Tall Tower Observatory) in Brazil. Credit: James Bradley

Welcome to bluesky @lauramolares.bsky.social 👋
Laura is a polar geomicrobiolist & PhD student
@mioceanologie.bsky.social @univ-amu.fr @qmul.bsky.social @nhm.org whose research spans across
❄️ glaciers
🌨️ atmosphere
🧬 metagenomics
🧪 incubations
⚡ bioenergetics
& even the Andes 🏔️ & Amazon 🐛

Laura Molares Moncayo sampling gasses in the snowpack on Austre Brøggerbreen glacier, Svalbard. Credit: James Bradley

(L-R) James Bradley & Laura Molares Moncayo sampling sea ice in George VI Sound, Antarctica. Credit: James Bradley

(L-R) Laura Molares Moncayo, Mailyn Gonzalez & James Bradley sampling bioaerosols in the Iguaque Paramo, Colombia. Credit: James Bradley

HFSP-funded atmosphere research team sampling bioaerosols above the Amazon rainforest, at the ATTO (Amazon Tall Tower Observatory) in Brazil. Credit: James Bradley

Welcome to bluesky @lauramolares.bsky.social 👋
Laura is a polar geomicrobiolist & PhD student
@mioceanologie.bsky.social @univ-amu.fr @qmul.bsky.social @nhm.org whose research spans across
❄️ glaciers
🌨️ atmosphere
🧬 metagenomics
🧪 incubations
⚡ bioenergetics
& even the Andes 🏔️ & Amazon 🐛

. @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social @ctambu.bsky.social @cnrsecologie.bsky.social @cnrs-dr12.bsky.social @cnrs-insu.bsky.social @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social @hfspo.bsky.social @mioceanologie.bsky.social @univ-amu.fr

Kongsvegen glacier margin, Svalbard. Credit: James Bradley

L-R: James Bradley, Sibylle Lebert, Eloi Martinez-Rabert, Christian Tamburini. Credit: James Bradley

Returning to Ny-Ålesund after sampling on Midtre Lovénbreen glacier, Svalbard. Credit: James Bradley

Sibylle Lebert, Christian Tamburini & Eloi Martinez-Rabert sampling snow on Austre Brøggerbreen glacier, Svalbard. Credit: James Bradley

❄️ SVALBARD 78°N ❄️

#ERC_SIESTA fieldwork underway in Svalbard, as we search for the survival, dormancy and ice nucleation strategies of microbes in Earth's extremes 🦠 🧬 🔬 ❄️ 🐻‍❄️

@cnrs.fr @erc.europa.eu @mioceanologie.bsky.social @cnrsecologie.bsky.social @univ-amu.fr

. @mioceanologie.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @hfspo.bsky.social @cnrs.fr @cnrs-dr12.bsky.social @cnrs-insu.bsky.social @cnrsecologie.bsky.social @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Antarctica isn’t owned by anyone and has no official flag, so when I travelled south for the #ERC_SIESTA #POLARIN project, I brought flags designed by schoolchildren, to send them photos of their amazing creations flying in Antarctica. Here are a few of their brilliant designs #AntarcticFlags 🤩🐧❄️🐋🇦🇶

The Department of Earth Sciences and St Peter's College are recruiting an Associate Professor (or Professor) in Earth Surface Processes to join our thriving academic community!

earth.web.ox.ac.uk/vacancies

Previously discovered large RNA polymerase ribozyme structure (grey, based on pdb: 8T2P) vs. newly discovered small RNA polymerase ribozyme QT45 (blue, AlphaFold3 prediction). Credit: Edoardo Gianni

Independently self-replicating RNA!
The key to transitioning from a soup of organic molecules to something resembling life was self-replication. This RNA molecule might be one of many that can do that and would have been the basis for the first cellular machinery. 🧪

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Laura @lauramolares.bsky.social presenting her prize winning (!!) @hfspo.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA PhD research on the catabolic strategies of glacial microbiomes at the Polar & Alpine Microbiology Conference, thanks to support from @eageo.bsky.social ❄️🔬🦠🧬🏆 @mioceanologie.bsky.social

🚨3 Lectureships in Biology 🚨

Come join us in Bristol @bristolbiosci.bsky.social!

We are looking for new collegues working across a broad spectum of topics in biology, including ecology & environmental change. Get in touch if you have Qs!

Apply here by 8 March: www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

Thanks for sharing! Really nice. Interesting to see how methane is frequently present in these systems, yet methanotrophic oxidation appears surprisingly weak

#MicroSky: ENVIRON BIOTECH: Vidal et al discuss that deep beneath Earth’s surface, life thrives in extremes. Subsurface microbiology reveals the limits and origins of life, and guides the search for biosignatures on Mars, icy moons, and distant exoplanets. Do not miss doi.org/10.1111/1751...

This is a fantastic piece! Thanks for sharing :)

Glacier biogeochemical cycling and downstream impacts - Nature Reviews Earth & Environment Far from frozen and sterile environments, glaciers are biogeochemical reactors and regulators. This Review outlines key biogeochemical and associated physical processes occurring in glacierized enviro...

How do glaciers drive and interact with Earth's regional and global biogeochemical cycles? ❄️🏔️🦠🪨🌊🌎🧪⚒️

@natrevearthenviron.nature.com

Expertly led by Jon Hawkings & many collaborators

@mioceanologie.bsky.social @cnrs.fr @cnrs-dr12.bsky.social @cnrs-insu.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Melting glaciers as symbols of tourism paradoxes - Nature Climate Change Visitors are increasingly drawn to disappearing glacier landscapes for their beauty and scientific value. This Comment examines the paradoxes reshaping relationships among glaciers, people and communi...

Retreating glaciers have become focal points for climate awareness and for tourism.

This dual role exposes a paradox:

Tourism can amplify climate awareness, yet risks reinforcing maladaptive responses in the very landscapes it seeks to showcase.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

UK to cut climate finance to poor countries by a fifth despite promising more help Exclusive: Campaigners say proposed cut from £11.9bn over past five years to £9bn over next five years will cost lives and livelihoods

UK to cut climate finance to poor countries by a fifth despite promising more help

- Campaigners say proposed cut from £11.9bn over past five years to £9bn over next five years will cost lives and livelihoods

#climatecrisis
Story by @fionaharvey.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Hydrostatic pressure induces strong leakage of dissolved organic matter from “marine snow” particles Particles sinking into the deep ocean come under pressure and leak dissolved organic matter, which affects marine carbon cycling.

Hydrostatic pressure induces strong leakage of dissolved organic matter from “marine snow” particles www.science.org/doi/full/10.... #jcampubs 🌊

High-efficiency methane consumption by atmospheric methanotrophs in subsurface karst caves: The irrefutable methane sink Microbes in subsurface caves consume trace amount of methane from the air.

High-efficiency methane consumption by atmospheric methanotrophs in subsurface karst caves: The irrefutable methane sink www.science.org/doi/full/10.... #jcampubs

South Pacific carbon uptake controlled by West Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics - Nature Geoscience Iron derived from debris eroded by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet rather than from dust deposition drove variations in carbon export in the South Pacific Antarctic region over the past 500,000 years, ac...

⚒️ Article: South Pacific carbon uptake controlled by West Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics

@icbm-uol.bsky.social @awi.de @climate.columbia.edu @lamont.columbia.edu @gisela-winckler.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lecturer in Physical Oceanography (ATR1734) in University of East Anglia | UEA View details and apply for this Lecturer in Physical Oceanography (ATR1734) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Science School of Environmental Sciences Lecturer in Physical Oceano...

We are advertising for a Lecturer in Physical Oceanography, closing date 31 March.

If you have research interests in the shelf seas, estuarine and coastal oceans then this could be for you!

And you could do research using UEA's fleet of ocean gliders

vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/20...

The Tug of War at the Top of the World

A deeper than usual dive into Svalbard's evolving geopolitical landscape, as the power grab in Arctic territories intensifies
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/w...

I'm happy to share that this work - a part of my PhD - has been published.

We simulated H2 and CO2 injection on a model methanogen 🦠 & developped a fully transparent high pressure reactor for microbial cultures 🔧

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

. @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social & Roberta Pirazzini in action ❄️🔬🧬

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Strandline Glacier ❄️
Tethys Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica 🇦🇶

#ERC_SIESTA #POLARIN @erc.europa.eu @hfspo.bsky.social @mioceanologie.bsky.social @cnrs.fr

Sibylle Lebert and Laura Molares Moncayo being awarded prizes for best poster and oral presentation by Liane Benning, at the Polar and Alpine Microbiology Conference 2026 in Copenhagen, Denmark

Sibylle Lebert presenting her ERC SIESTA PhD research at the Polar and Alpine Microbiology Conference 2026 in Copenhagen, Denmark

Laura Molares Moncayo presenting her HFSP and ERC SIESTA PhD research at the Polar and Alpine Microbiology Conference 2026 in Copenhagen, Denmark

Sad that Antarctic fieldwork overlapped with Polar & Alpine Microbiology conference 🥲
but DAMN did #ERC_SIESTA @erc.europa.eu @hfspo.bsky.social @mioceanologie.bsky.social PhD students Sibylle Lebert & Laura Molares Moncayo do a superb job presenting & winning awards for best poster and talk! 🤩❄️🧬🦠🔬👩‍🔬

Sonia Papadaki and Anne Jungblut preparing gypsum endolith samples at the Natural History Museum, London, for analyses.

Figure from Sonia Papadaki's PhD thesis, showing gypsum rocks with visible colonisation by endolithic microbes. Petuniabukta, Svalbard.

Sonia Papadaki (2nd from the left) with Anastasia Hambi (left), Laura Molares Moncayo (middle), and James Bradley (second from the right), at a public science event in London.

Enormous congratulations to the new Doctor Sonia Papadaki! 🎓👩‍🔬 Extremely proud ☺️
Sonia combined molecular, geochemical & spectroscopic tools to reveal how microbes survive in Arctic gypsum rocks 🧬🧪🔬🐻‍❄️
And how their imprints can inform understanding of past life & future life-detection missions 🪐

Photograph from 1911 taken by Herbert Ponting whilst with Scott's Antarctic Expedition The monochrome photo is taken from within a cave. The walls of the cave are made of ice. The cave entrance is in the mid distance with two figures standing looking out towards a distant ship. Between them and the ship there is first a 'beach' of ice before the sea itself. The ship could be up to 800 metres away What makes the photo so special is that where the figures are at the cave entrance there is a band of very white snow and ice (contrasting with the comparatively dark inside of the cave) that creates a stark framework in which the men and the ship are captured. It is made even more dramatic by the fact that the cave entrance is at least 30 metres high and is in the shape of a distorted elipse with the tail sloping off to the right at the top of the elipse The photo being in monochrome in a largely white environment makes the photographers skill all the more laudable

This photo was taken in 1911 using glass plate technology by Herbert Ponting who was part of Scott's Antarctic expedition,

The composition and detail are exquisite with the band of white snow/ice creating a perfect frame around the two people and the ship in the distance

Iconic imo