Written question asked by Lord Dykes (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Rooker (Labour) on Monday, 7 January 2008.

Climate Change: Research

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will provide additional funding for the Swansea University GLIMPSE project's current research programmes into glacier melting and its effects on global warming.

Answer: My department has no plans to fund the GLIMPSE project directly. I understand that Swansea University's GLIMPSE team has significant funding from the Leverhulme Trust for its important climate research better to understand the dynamics of the Greenland ice sheet, and has several other research grants from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) which support this work. Jointly with the Ministry of Defence, my department funds significant climate research and modelling at the Met Office Hadley Centre (MOHC). MOHC works closely with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), other NERC institutes and NERC-funded academic groups to improve understanding of the response of ice sheets to climate change; as well as to improve representations of ice sheets in climate models. This integrating work will be strengthened through the new Met Office / NERC Joint Climate Research Programme and I anticipate that this will include close co-operation with the Swansea team.

Secondary information