Rare Earth

The exhibition explores worlds under the microscope, on the surface of the ice, in the ocean and on the ocean floor, drawing attention to the majesty, otherworldliness and rarity of Antarctica, but also the fragility and loss - and of the implications of these changes for the whole planet.

About the project

Scourse and Roman Gonzalez’s research is part of the ongoing ICEBERGS project. ICEBERGS adopts a multidisciplinary approach across nested scales from individual to ecosystem level, and from an ecological to evolutionary scale, evaluating genetic, physiological, population, community and ecosystem impacts of this deglacial perturbation. The project builds on the pioneering Antarctic sclerochronological research of Alejandro Román González (Román González et al. 2016, 2017).

Jointly funded by UK Natural Environment Research Council and its equivalent in Chile (NERC-CONICYT). ICEBERGS aims to investigate the impacts of physical disturbance arising from climate-warming induced deglaciation on benthic communities around the West Antarctic Peninsula. The project brings together partners at the British Antarctic Survey, Bangor University and at the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepcion, Chile.

Images on previous page: (Starting top left) Fire and Ice © Alejandro Roman Gonzalez, Benthic ornamented shape by © Katrina Slack, Untitled (Landscape) © Bridget Roseberry, Abstract Diatoms 2 © Katrina Slack.