Advancing Meteorological and Oceanographic Capabilities for the Arctic

With a long history of Arctic research, we will be working closely with many partners across different countries, sharing data and expertise in an international effort and making best use of all available resources. Through research carried out under the Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme, the project aims to deliver cutting-edge insights into Arctic weather patterns, sea ice forecasting and ocean circulation and provide knowledge essential for everything from safe navigation and research activities to understanding the impact of climate change on a global scale.  

Why is the Arctic important to the UK?  

The Arctic is feeling the impact of climate change more intensely than other locations on Earth. Estimates vary, but temperatures in the region are rising at around four times the global rate. Changes in the Arctic environment have the potential to affect the UK, through global sea-level rise, changes to our climate and weather patterns, and threats to our shared biodiversity. 

Retreating ice and increasing availability of Arctic resources is leading to a growth in accessibility and human activity in the region; a critically important region to the UK, as outlined in a policy paper Looking North: The UK and the Arctic published in 2023. The UK Government is committed to working with our Arctic partners and Allies to share experience and expertise for the benefit of all to maintain international order, peace and stability. 

The UK has strong scientific capability relevant to the Arctic and recognising the increasing importance of this region. The UK Government is investing to develop the Met Office’s Arctic scientific capability further with key national and international partners.  

Programme goals 

The AAC programme aims to deliver the following benefits: 

• Improved understanding of Arctic meteorology and oceanography delivering cutting-edge insights into Arctic weather patterns including sea ice and ocean, knowledge essential for improved understanding of what is happening to the region’s ice, ocean & atmosphere to support global climate resilience. 

•  A world-class Arctic meteorological advice service with underpinning forecast capability, specialist meteorology and oceanography products and services for the Arctic region, essential for everything from safe navigation to understanding the impact of climate change on a global scale. 

• Working closely with many partners and countries, sharing data and expertise, the Programme is an international effort to ensure the security of research activities and make the best use of all available resources. 

To achieve these aims, activities will include:  

• Continued stakeholder and user engagement 

• Evaluation and further development of the Met Office’s global Numerical Weather Prediction systems, focused on the Arctic region 

• Development of a selection of weather and climate impact products to enable users to better understand the specific risks that their operations are exposed 

• Understanding the potential for long range Numerical Weather Prediction forecasts to provide useful predictions for safe navigation of northern sea routes 

• Understanding the potential for new observational techniques to significantly improve our understanding of the Arctic, and to improve the accuracy of Numerical Weather Prediction  

• Focused improvement for polar regions of the Met Office’s Space Weather capabilities 

• Working with international partners to improve the UK’s weather service capability for the Arctic 

How the programme is being funded  

Under the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), the Met Office has been allocated £4.98m (until 31 March 2025) as a delivery partner to implement the AAC. Managed by the Department for Science, Innovation Technology, the ISPF supports UK researchers and innovators to work with international partners on the major themes of our time, and to help them create new knowledge and technology for the world. 

The partners 

The Met Office led AAC programme brings together world leading UK scientific expertise, with international partners and close collaboration with partners already active in the region.  

Partner countries engaged are Finland, Canada, USA, Norway, Sweden, Denmark primarily through technical (meteorology, ice & ocean) agencies including Met Norway (MetNo), Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Swedish Meteorological & Hyrdological Institute (SMHI) and, Environment Canada and military agencies through the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) and, NATO Military Meteorology Panel, US Air Force.    

UK Academic and Government Organisations engaged are University of Oxford, University of Exeter, University College London, University of Leeds, University of Reading, University of Bristol, University of Edinburgh, University of Birmingham, National Oceanographic Centre, UK Hydrographic Organisation, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Organisation, Ministry of Defence, Department for Transport,  British Antarctic Survey and Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling.