This was one of my last things to organise at work before soon going on maternity leave and it's always so nice to see how much people still love paper maps. There's just something special about them and the joy, conversation and memories that they bring about 🥰

Mapping and Geographic Information Centre@magic.bas.ac.uk · 9mo ago

We ran a Map Giveaway for BAS staff & students this week, raising money for @mapaction.bsky.social! The maps were a mixture of beautiful, historical maps from the 70s and 80s, and previous versions of our main published maps. We had so much interest - thanks BAS for the support & generous donations!

We are so pleased to announce the official launch of the new BAS Map Catalogue 🎉🗺 The catalogue contains open access topographic, thematic and geological maps, as well as full details on where to purchase our professionally printed published maps. Have a look for yourselves at bas.ac.uk/maps! 1/2

British Antarctic Survey 🐧@bas.ac.uk · 11mo ago

🗺️NEW: BAS Map Catalogue is live! Explore Antarctica and the Arctic through our collection of professional maps. Perfect for educators, adventurers, and polar enthusiasts. Many available on open licence for free download. #PolarMaps #Antarctica

Thank you so much to the British Cartographic Society for recognising 2 of @bas.ac.uk’s maps at last week’s conference. It was fantastic to collect the certificate for our recently-released Alexander Island map, one of the most interesting maps I’ve made in a long time!

British Cartographic Society@bcsmaps.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Thank you to Stanfords Travel for their support in sponsoring the best paper map award 2025. Congratulations to the four Highly Commended runners up in this category: British Antarctic Survey, Laura Gerrish (BAS), Kon-Tiki Maps, and Harvey Map Services.

#A23a iceberg continues its disintegration north of South Georgia in the South Atlantic, with a brilliant image from today finishing off this timelapse of Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery over the last few weeks! It's always interesting to track these bergs out of Antarctica and into warmer waters 🌊🌴

Iceberg A23A is currently located north of South Georgia & over the weekend has fragmented into a several large pieces. While these individual icebergs are large & may get new names, they may be short lived as further breakup is now likely as currents push them all further north into warmer waters.

Really looking forward to this conference at @bgs.ac.uk next week! Always great to catch up with other mapping enthusiasts. Is anyone else on here going to 1 or both days?

British Cartographic Society@bcsmaps.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Thank you to these speakers who you can meet next week at BCS Annual Conference, 3-4 Sept, BGS, Keyworth, Nottingham For more details see the BCS website lnkd.in/eCQrMjR where you can download full programme details. Link in bio 🔗 #mapping #community #excellence #conference #network #awards

I'm just starting an update of BAS's published "Adelaide Island and Arrowsmith Peninsula" map. One of the first things I always work on is creating new hillshades & contours from the latest elevation data. These in-progress images show some of the interesting islands & landscapes in the region! 🏔️🧊

This new topographic map has been my big project for the last few months and I'm so pleased to see it finally printed and published! 🗺️ It's been a truly fascinating region to work in, with changes happening almost before my eyes as I attempted to keep the new data up to date. ❄️🧊

Mapping and Geographic Information Centre@magic.bas.ac.uk · last yr.

📢 New Map Alert 🗺️ We have produced new maps of Alexander Island, along with the geology team here at @bas.ac.uk! These 1:500 000 scale maps cover the second largest uninhabited island in the world at a level of detail never before seen. See the full story here: www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/t... 1/2

NOAA has released their official animation of the propagation of this week's tsunami. It took almost exactly one day to reach Antarctica and was reported at 0.6 feet high.

Bedmap3 map PDFs are now available to freely download from BAS data.bas.ac.uk/items/757872...

South Georgia in winter 😍 These SAR and optical images show the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. SAR imagery allows us to see these locations through winter and cloud-covered days, and then the optical imagery adds extra content when it's not cloudy or dark!

In case you were wondering... Iceberg A23a seen cruising around South Georgia today by Meteosat 12. The old berg still has an area of 2,846 sq km.

📢 We're hiring! My team is currently advertising for my maternity cover for 12 months. Join us, making maps and working on some of the most interesting aspects of my role. You'll get to work in beautiful Cambridge and meet all kinds of interesting people at the British Antarctic Survey ❄️🗺️

Mapping and Geographic Information Centre@magic.bas.ac.uk · last yr.

We're hiring a GIS and Mapping Specialist to manage our Geospatial Helpdesk and to contribute to our Topographic Map Series. This is a really exciting opportunity at the British Antarctic Survey to support colleagues across the organisation. Details here: shorturl.at/bA4fd #GISjobs

We've just received the proofs of our new Alexander Island map from Dennis Maps printers and have given the go ahead for printing! This is the first comprehensive map of the entire region produced in decades. At 1:500 000 scale, it also features a geological map on the reverse 😍 Watch this space!

The NERC Arctic Office have printed a giant version of our main published Arctic map and it's come out beautifully! We can't wait to see this being used at upcoming events. Who doesn't want a huge 3 metre map?!

NERC Arctic Office@ukarcticoffice.bsky.social · last yr.

New map alert! Looking forward sharing at conferences and events before too long!

We're proud to share that our Bedmap3 map won "Best Map" at the International Map Industry Association (IMIA) forum in London last week! 🏆 This international award celebrates Outstanding Cartographic Design & we’re honoured to be recognised alongside leading names in the field from previous years. 🗺️

I'm speaking at the IMIA Mapping Leaders Forum next week in London. Is anyone here attending? I'm looking forward to meeting other mapping enthusiasts and experts at the 2 day event! There are still a few spaces left if you'd like to come along. More details here: imiamaps.org/mapping-lead...

Mapping Leaders Forum - IMIA | International Map Industry Association

May 14-15, 2025 | The News Building, London The IMIA Mapping Leader Forum brings together industry leaders, business experts, and technology innovators during this annual two-day event to explore the...

imiamaps.org

📢 The final ArcticDEM & REMA release is here - and it might be the last. Funding cuts put vital polar data at risk. Help us rally support: take the survey! 🔗https://z.umn.edu/pgc-dem-survey #PolarScience #SavePolarData

Did you know that from 2000 to 2020, retreat of marine-terminating glaciers exposed >2,400 km of new Arctic coastline? www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congratulations, @mettebendixen.bsky.social, @cpecz.bsky.social, Jan Kavan, Matt Strelecki, and co., on your excellent paper!

New coasts emerging from the retreat of Northern Hemisphere marine-terminating glaciers in the twenty-first century - Nature Climate Change

As marine-terminating glaciers retreat, they reveal new coastlines in many regions. Here the authors use satellite data to quantify these changes for the Northern Hemisphere, finding that between 2000...

nature.com

More data! 😄 I love looking at Sentinel-1 imagery through these portals because it gives a near-real-time insight into changes in Antarctica, and the detail in the sea ice patterns can be so insightful for a range of people working in the region 🚢 🛰️ 🌊

Mapping and Geographic Information Centre@magic.bas.ac.uk · last yr.

🎉 Imagery from the newly launched Sentinel-1C Copernicus satellite is now accessible via Polar View www.polarview.aq and the Ice Logistics Portal www.icelogistics.info/antarctic?ce...! This addition significantly increases the repeatability of SAR observations in the Polar Regions 🛰️

I've picked up my new Alexander Island map today after a month or two of other work, and while double checking some data, I noticed that this section of ice shelf has retreated by over 1.5 km in places since I updated the data in November. Can things just stop melting?! Keeps me busy for sure!

We’ve just published the most detailed map yet of the landscape beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet (called Bedmap3), and we learnt some pretty cool facts about Antarctica that you can use to impress your pals. Ready? Graphic: Hamish Pritchard et al

We've been working with this beautiful Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery this week, showing South Georgia in all its glory in Feb. 2018. The sediment plumes are clearly highlighted here and it is extremely rare to get an almost cloud-free image of the whole island 🏔️😍

Lovely image from the NOAA-20 satellite yesterday showing the location of grounded A23a iceberg close to the island of South Georgia 😍 It's still crazy to me that this iceberg has been in the Southern Ocean since 1986, taking a few little pauses along its way to this current position! @bas.ac.uk

Back to one of my favourite tasks of iceberg mapping 😄

Mapping and Geographic Information Centre@magic.bas.ac.uk · last yr.

The world's largest iceberg, A23a, appears to have grounded close to South Georgia. We've been monitoring and mapping this berg for many years now and we're watching closely to see what it might do next! These maps show its route since 1986 and the latest position to the SW of South Georgia ❄️🐧 1/3

I'm thrilled to be a part of developing and populating this new catalogue! I’ve created hundreds of maps (maybe even over a thousand!) during my time at BAS - many used once and then forgotten. Now we'll be making them openly available for all to use. Watch this space! 👀🗺️

Mapping and Geographic Information Centre@magic.bas.ac.uk · last yr.

We're developing a new Map Catalogue where you can access a variety of general interest maps, available with an open licence!   You'll also be able to browse our published maps and BAS staff members can access these and other restricted internal maps 🥳   What Polar maps would you like to see here?

This is a map I first started about 4 years ago, and it’s been put down and picked back up about 5 times since then (we’ve all had projects like this!) but I’m so glad to see it finally released! The front cover shows some of the very varied terrain that has been mapped 😍

Mapping and Geographic Information Centre@magic.bas.ac.uk · last yr.

📢 New Map Alert 📢 We have just released a new map of the South Orkney Islands! This double-sided map shows the remote archipelago in the Southern Ocean, incorporating new data on key geographical features such as contours, mountain spot heights and place names. www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/n...

Interesting article written by BAS scientist Dr Ella Gilbert, featuring a little map that I made the other day. I always like mapping the fast-changing and important region of Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers! 🗺️

Carbon Brief@carbonbrief.org · last yr.

NEW – Guest post: How atmospheric rivers are bringing rain to West Antarctica | @drgilbz.bsky.social @bas.ac.uk Read here: https://buff.ly/4179aR7

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.

Beautiful Sentinel-2 imagery of George VI Ice Shelf with lots of meltwater from yesterday. The patterns that this water produces is like artwork! Fossil Bluff is shown in the second image, and Hodgson Lake shown in the last - a former subglacial lake sealed under ice thick perennial ice ❄️