Stephen Roberts

Biography

2004- present Quaternary Scientist (Band 5): British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Cambridge, including Chemistry and Past Climate Science Programme Co-ordinator 2012-2015. 2008-2013 Associate Lecturer (Part time): Open University. 2001-2004 Post-doctoral Research Associate: University of Edinburgh (NERC-AFI I2/69 and CGS00/06): Millennial-scale variability of George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctica. 1997-2001 PhD Quaternary Tephrochronology of Iceland: Dating Principles & Environmental Applications. University of Edinburgh. 1996-1997 MSc Quaternary Science, Royal Holloway and University College, University of London. 1992-1995 BSc (Hons) Geology, University of Bristol.

Research Interest

I am a Research Scientist at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Cambridge, studying past environmental change in Antarctica and on the Sub-Antarctic islands. My current research focuses on reconstructing past environments on the Antarctic Peninsula, the Sub-Antarctic Islands, East Antarctica and South America to understand past changes in climate, ice sheet extent and thickness and sea level. This research contributes towards the aims of the strategic science framework at the BAS and forms part of the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) environmental science strategy for the UK, which recognises that the Antarctic and Arctic are key components of the global climate system. Since joining BAS in 2004, I have led or played a leading role in >10 international field campaigns to Antarctica, the Sub-Antarctic Islands and Southern-Central Chile investigating: 1) the patterns and rates of past ice shelf and ice sheet loss, glacio-isostatic rebound and relative sea level change in Antarctica; 2) the mechanisms of climate change on the Antarctic Peninsula and in South America over the last c. 30,000 years; 3) former and present-day subglacial lake systems on the Antarctic Peninsula and in East Antarctica; 4) changes in the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds around Antarctica.