Cryospheric Algal Sampling Protocols –
International Collaboration and Exchange
The CASP-ICE Mission
Cryospheric Algal Sampling Protocols – International Collaboration and Exchange, or CASP-ICE for short, is a UKRI-funded international network of researchers working on snow and glacier algae across the cryosphere. The network brings together leaders in the field of snow and glacier algal research to undertake the foundational work needed to align efforts across the research community and unlock the next generation of science on snow and glacier algal blooms cryosphere-wide.
Develop standardised protocols
Establishing best practices for snow and glacier algal sampling and mapping to ensure consistency and comparability in data collection
Providing and sharing useful resources
Developing protocols, datasets and networks for all those interested in snow and glacier algae across the world
Undertake cryosphere-wide sampling
Implementing standardized protocols to produce inter-comparable datasets on snow/glacier algal blooms across the cryosphere.
Establish a global monitoring network
Identifying key sites and securing funding for continuous, worldwide cryospheric algal monitoring.
Get involved
We welcome all interested researchers and external people/groups to join our network and participate in our activities. We would encourage anyone interested in snow or glacier algal research and monitoring to reach out to us and join in.
We also hope to extend snow and glacier algal monitoring to non-microbiology focussed research groups and citizen science initiatives working across the cryosphere to extend the breadth of our monitoring. Please email casp-ice@bristol.ac.uk or use the contact form below to get involved.
Resources
CASP-ICE is just in the process of spinning up, but we plan to host a collection of resources here in the future including: standard operating procedures (SOPs) for snow and glacier algal point sampling that allow inter-comparison across and between studies; a global database on snow/glacier algal blooms produced using our new SOPs; code for UAV/Remote-Sensing data processing to derive snow/glacier-algal biomass; and a portal to capture new datasets produced across the community.
Project info
The CASP-ICE project is funded by UKRI Natural Environment Research Council, grant NE/Y002636/1. The project is led by Dr Chris Williamson and hosted by MicroLab@Bristol at the University of Bristol.
Contact us on casp-ice@bristol.ac.uk or use the contact form below
Credit: Robin Kodner