iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

A great day of talks at the @iapetusdtp.bsky.social annual conference - and @drheatherprice.bsky.social and I found where #KateandWills met (for coffee)

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

... 3/3 The new cosmogenic C-14 ages show that ice-free nunataks in the Amundsen Sea Embayment region likely became ice free between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago - later than previous cosmogenic Be-10 age estimates of 8,000 to 6,000 years ago (from the same erratic samples)

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The cosmogenic C-14 exposure ages in this paper provide the most accurate chronological constraints to date for when this part of the West Antarctic Ice sheet deglaciated ... 2/3

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Trip to beautiful Heidelberg to discuss our new palaeotsunami Shetland Islands project to look at cores/data, train up the Rhine to Bonn for a DFG meeting, back via Koln/Brussels @bas.ac.uk @uniheidelberg.bsky.social @drmaex.bsky.social #collaboration #tsunami #shetland #sedimentology

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

More details in this press release: www.slu.se/en/news/2026...

Screenshot of the title of the press release for the paper

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

… this provides vital clues about how future climate change could impact important breeding populations of seabirds, including albatross, petrel, and penguin species listed as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature across the Southern Ocean

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Excellent new paper by the amazing Chuxian Li - Southern Ocean seabird population shifts over the Holocene revealed by peat sequestration of mercury from guano - just published in PNAS! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

An albatross opening its wings on Bird Island

Map showing the location of Bird Island and other islands mentioned in the paper

3D diagram showing how mercury ends up in peat bogs from
Seabirds and other transport processes

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

The Iapetus DTP summer Research Experience Placement (REP) projects have just been advertised - including one working on lake sediment cores from Nepal with our research group … See link for more details: iapetus.ac.uk/rep-projects/ @iapetusdtp.bsky.social @bas.ac.uk @ukri.org

Advert for our research experience placement project on the Iapetus DTP website

A poster summarising the main aims of our Nepal lake coring project

A photo of Lake Tilicio in Nepal and an inset of our team taking a lake sediment core from the lake in Nov 2024

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Excellent new paper by @yqnatdeng.bsky.social in The Holocene this week using diatoms from a lake sediment core from Macquarie Island to reconstruct past changes in lake water conductivity and Southern Hemisphere Westerly winds … @bas.ac.uk @uclgeography.bsky.social @antarctic.bsky.social

A 3 part figure a) Map of the Southern Ocean showing the Southern Hemisphere Westerly winds encircled Antarctica b) a satellite picture of Macquarie Island c) a summary map of Lake Tiobunga

A plot of diatom species against time for the last 2500 years found in Lake Tiobunga sediments compared to the 1000-year reconstructed Southern Annular Mode (SAM) index

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Changes in the mineral content of peat records we’ve collected from the sub-Antarctic islands over the last decade provide a proxy for increased wind intensity and storminess, reflecting local to regional shifts in wind patterns around the Southern Ocean over ~10,000 years

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Early view of our new high-resolution sub-Antarctic islands peat geochemistry calibration paper in press @Nature Scientific Reports … www.nature.com/articles/s41...

View of site HER42PB on the western cliff edge of Isla Hermite, near Cape Horn

A four part figure for Figure 1 from our new paper showing (a) the locations of the four islands we samples peat from in the Southern Ocean, (b) an example surface Core Image and downcore XRF core scanning Ti counts per second downcore from site HER42PB, (c-f) location maps showing sample site on Bird Island, Isla Hermite, Kerguelen Island, and Marion Island

Photo of some peat cores collected from a peat coring site on Crozet Island (credit FDV)

A complicated figure for Figure 4 from our new paper showing a several downcore proxy records from the sampling sites - illustrating the good downcore coherence between high resolution XRF core scan data and ICP-MS subsample data and the conversion of XRF core scan data into quantitative concentrations

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Spectacular ending to the annual Cambridge Bonfire Night fireworks display tonight …

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Short Article for the BAS IceSheet Newsletter Oct/Nov 2025 … Ancient tsunamis and storms in the Shetlands Islands See link for article: www.linkedin.com/posts/stephe...

Collage showing a map of the Shetland Islands in the top left, a map of Loch Flugarth and core sites and sampling locations top right, a sediment core from the centre of the loch bottom left, coring in a small boat on the loch middle bottom, and GPS surveying and measuring retaining sill altitudes bottom right

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Applications are now open for this years’ @iapetusdtp.bsky.social PhD projects … including this one investigating ice sheet and glacier history of the Sør Rondane Mountains in East Antarctica by developing in-situ 14C cosmogenic exposure dating methods - more here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

Black and white landscape photo of the Sør Rondane mountains in East Antarctica

Black and white photo of three people on top of the Utsteinen Nunatak in the Sor Rondane mountains in East Antarctica - some of the samples in this project were taken from this massif and its surrounding moraine

A black and white landscape photo of the Utsteinen Nunatak in the Sør Rondane mountains in East Antarctica taken while collecting cosmogenic exposure dating samples from the Teltet Nunatak

Black and white photo of two people walking across blue ice of the East Antarctic ice sheet surrounding the Sor Rondane mountains

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Applications are now open for this years’ BAS Iapetus PhD projects … including one working on our Big Thaw project investigating extreme precipitation in Nepal from sediment core and climate data - more details in this link @iapetusdtp.bsky.social @bas.ac.uk iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

Photo of Lake Tilicio in Nepal with an inset core showing our team collecting sediment cores from the lake

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Lake coring in the Shetland Islands last week, looking for ancient tsunamis with @drmaex.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social @bas.ac.uk

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

This is Fan Lake on Annenkov Island nr South Georgia - sediments from the top of the lake record were analysed with sediments from >400 lakes around the world to construct a new global temperature calibration model which can be used to reconstruct past changes in temperature over thousands of years

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Surface sediments from 400 lakes were analysed for biomarker compounds called branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs), a group of temperature-sensitive bacteria membrane lipids used in past temperature reconstructions - we expand calibration datasets, and evaluate calibration models

Map showing the location of over 400 lake sediment samples used in this new study

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

New exciting new global lake sediment temperature calibration paper and dataset by @geochemem.bsky.social, including the first 5- and 6-methyl brGDGTs measured in lake sediments from Antarctica - eg Fan Lake. See link for details: doi.org/10.1016/j.qu... @bas.ac.uk @iapetusdtp.bsky.social

A map of the world showing the locations of over 400 lakes whose surface sediments were analysed for biomarker compounds called branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) are a group of temperature-sensitive membrane lipids found in bacteria that have been widely used in palaeo-temperature reconstruction. The paper expands existing calibration datasets, and evaluates calibration models constructed using a range of statistical modelling approaches

A slide showing Fan Lake on Annenkov Island near South Georgia - sediments from the surface of a core taken from the bottom of the lake were analysed along with sediments from over 400 lakes around the world the construct a new global calibration model which can be used to reconstruct past changes in lake sediments over thousands of years

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Second Scottish lake coring adventure of the summer … this time up to the Shetland Islands looking for ancient storms and tsunamis in lake sediments with @drmaex.bsky.social

Coring on Loch Flugarth north mainland Shetland - photo taken by Susie who lives in the house on the far right of this view of the loch looking at hills in the distance with a white houses

3 people in a small red boat on Loch Flugarth

View of Loch Flugarth from a large boulder with a rope tied to it towards some hills in the distance

A picture of the farm cat who lives near to Loch Flugarth

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

And a big thanks to our ‘special guest stars’ Tom Bradwell and Eileen Tisdall from University of Stirling and Nicola Dakin from @bgs.ac.uk for all their help

Morning tea at SCENE with Colin Adams, Iain Geldard, Jodie Geldard, Eileen Tisdall, and Tom Bradwell sat around a table in the common area

Colin Adams and Tom Bradwell inflating the raft on the beach at SCENE

Ellen Tisdall carrying a core back to shore along the boat jetty at the end of days’ coring

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

A huge thanks to everyone at @sceneuog.bsky.social for hosting us - in particular Prof. Colin Adams for his phenomenal support, & Iain Geldard - we couldn’t have done it without both of you! Jodie Geldard did an amazing job organising the whole trip as part of her @iapetusdtp.bsky.social PhD

SCENE University of Glasgow research centre where we were based - photo shows the road leading up to the wooden building through the forest

Collection of sediment cores taken from Loch Lomond over the last 2 weeks strapped into the van for transport to BAS and Southampton for analysis as part of Jodie Geldard’s Iapetus DTP PhD with University of Stirling

Final day lunch at the oldest pub in Scotland, the Clachan with Colin Adams, Iain Geldard, Tom Bradwell, and Jodie Geldard (not in photo)

Selfie With Tom Bradwell outside the sign for the Clachan in Drymen, the oldest pub in Scotland (apparently)

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Not everyday was like this but we had a couple of flat calm hot and sunny days out on the lake with stunning views across to Ben Lomond and surrounding mountains … which was very nice @iapetusdtp.bsky.social @bas.ac.uk

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Some pictures from the last couple of weeks lake sediment coring on Loch Lomond with @iapetusdtp.bsky.social

Loch Lomond at sunset with coring rig moored in sheltered bay at SCENE university of Glasgow research centre

Loch Lomond view from the southern basin across to Ben Lomond

Collecting cores in the middle of Loch Lomond - 4 people capping a surface core retrieved for potential fish eDNA analysis

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

That's all for Loch Lomond coring: 12 cores collected in 10 days, 2 gravel layers reached and lots of very fine grey clay in between! @iapetusdtp.bsky.social @bas.ac.uk

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Amazing sculpture exhibition Clearwell Caves in the Wye Valley

Sculpture of Red sunglasses in the foreground and orange high heeled shoes out of focus in the background

Sculpture of people holding hands in the shape of ladder

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Early start … on my way to Edinburgh for the @iapetusdtp.bsky.social annual conference

Picture of my foot on Platform 4 Zone 5 at Peterborough station

Picture of the inside of the empty quiet carriage on the LNER train to Edinburgh

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Iapetus Research experience placement (REP) projects are available for summer 2025 including one based @bas.ac.uk investigating the Effects of Climate Change on the Polar Ionospheric F-region - see link for more details and eligibility criteria; deadline 12 pm 16/5/25 iapetus2.ac.uk/rep-projects/

A list of 5 REP research experience placements available for this summer

A picture of the thermosphere showing the F-region around the Earth

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Some pictures of lakes: Tal-y-llyn, Wales; Phewa Lake, Pokhara, Nepal; Rara Lake, Mugu, Nepal

A black and white picture of Tal-y-Llyn lake next to Cadair Idris in Wales

A photo of showing reflection of Phewa Lake, Pokhara, Nepal

A black and white picture of a horse in front of Rara Lake in Mugu district, NE Nepal

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Hugo’s big day out on Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

We wrote a couple of papers about Hodgson Lake (a few years ago) describing what it’s like now and what we thought it was like at the Last Glacial Maximum and before … doi.org/10.1016/j.qu... doi.org/10.1016/j.qu...

Location map of Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninusla and Hodgson Lake showing its geomorphology and sampling sites

Cartoon showing the evolution of Lake
Hodgson since before the Last Glacial Maxium

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Footprints in the sand (Elia beach, Mykonos) and snow (Princess Elizabeth Station, East Antarctica)

Black and white photo of footprints on a beach and in the snow

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Some photos from a below freezing walk out to Cottenham and back to Cambridge today

4 portrait pictures showing: Frost on a gate post; a kestrel sitting on top of the tree branch: a telegraph pole in the winter sun, frozen plant with frost on it

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Sunset walk in a crisp and chilly Cambridge …

Four photos from a sunset walk round Stourbridge Common

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Our Big Thaw Nepal lake coring project summarised as a poster presented at the #QRA2025 meeting in Newcastle this week …

Poster summarising our Big Thaw Nepal project

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Classic Cambridge postcard view in the cold winter sunshine at lunchtime today …

Classic postcard view of Kings College Cambridge across the Backs

Close up of a kings College Cambridge across the Backs in the winter sun

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Lions, mammoths and space travel at the Saffron Walden Museum

Going to the Moon exhibition in Saffron Walden Museum

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Unexpected geologically-themed day out in Saffron Walden today, featuring mammoths, lions, hippos, a glacial erratic in a plastic cover, and a famous meteorite … with some tasty sushi for lunch

Saffron Walden Church in winter sunlight

Glacial erratic (covered in plastic) at Saffron Walden Museum

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

iPhone 16 Pro Max somehow took this picture of Llannon Church in near pitch darkness last night - no lighting, street lamps nearby or flash used …

Unlit Llannon church at night with stars in background taken with iPhone 16

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Wild, windy and wavy in Wales …

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Wild, windy and wavy in Wales …

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Summary reel of Nepal fieldwork in Oct/Nov 2024 … longer version on Instagram: @antarctic_diary here: www.instagram.com/reel/DDsTEEw...

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

All the new BAS @bas.ac.uk.bsky.social Iapetus DTP PhD projects are summarised nicely in this Instagram link and here: @iapetusdtp.bsky.social www.instagram.com/p/DDaRfmUIRF...

Instagram post for the U.K. polar network summarising BAS Iapetus PhD project for 2025

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Compilation of photos from our recent fieldwork trip to Nepal collecting lake cores for our Big Thaw project - en route to Manang and acclimatising at altitude in and around the spectacular Annapurna, Manaslu and Tilicho mountain ranges

Compilation of photos from our recent fieldwork trip to Nepal - photos show us getting to Manang and the Annapurna range

Compilation of photos from our recent fieldwork trip to Nepal - photos show us acclimatising to the altitude opposite the Annapurna massif

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

… fieldwork involved daily side-by-side trips (adventures) getting out of town to survey a number of different beaches around Cambridge Bay!

Cambridge Bay farmhouse with moon rising

Looking through binoculars across the beach

Looking out from the side-by-side across the beach

Footprints in the intertidal beach zone with the side-by-side in the background

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

New paper includes multispectral drone maps of several beaches - see this link for details: www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Catching up pt. 2: Excellent new paper about low biodiversity of Canadian High Arctic intertidal habitats around Cambridge Bay (with drone mapping of beaches!) led by @huwiceandstuff.bsky.social in collaboration with @cathwaller.bsky.social & CHARS - @polar.knowledge on IG doi.org/10.3389/fmar...

New paper about low biodiversity of Canadian High Arctic intertidal habitats

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1494734

Multispectral drone maps of 4 beaches surveyed using a drone

Drone mosaic of Beach 6 showing increased level of detail obtained compared to high-res satellite images

Oblique view of Beach 6 from the drone video while flying the multispectral survey

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Finally got to visit these adorable/mischievous monkeys at the Monkey Temple in Kathmandu on my last morning after 2 postponed attempts last/this year - perfect end to a great trip! (the new iPhone 16 Pro Max camera is a huge step up in quality from the iPhone 11 that I used last year)

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Catching up with papers published while I’ve been away: first up, Becky Peel’s (@becky.science on Instagram) excellent paper from her PhD examining pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) for quantifying microplastic pollution of terrestrial environments doi.org/10.1039/d4va...

Figure summarising methods used in the paper and chromatogram outputs with microplastic structures found in terrestrial

Screenshot of paper abstract and significance

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Stephen Roberts @stever60.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Time to fly home …. a nice relaxing last day yesterday included a morning visit to 3 temples in Kathmandu, including the monkey temple, and a final dinner with Ananta in the evening discussing future plans and collaboration

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