Warmist Bob Ward: With 400 employees and an annual budget of $60 million, the British Antarctic Survey isn't big enough

UK plan to merge Antarctic, ocean research stirs science row | Business Recorder

"We should be increasing our research in Antarctica, not cutting back," said Bob Ward, policy director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and Environment at the London School of Economics. "In times of recession, it does not pay to be less knowledgeable," he told Reuters. Antarctica, which holds enough water to raise world sea levels 60 metres if it all melted, should be a higher priority for research, he said.

The government, facing deep spending cuts, announced a proposal in June to merge [British Antarctic Survey] with the National Oceanography Centre into a new group, the Centre for Ocean and Polar Science. A final decision is due in December. Professor Duncan Wingham, head of the Natural Environment Research Council, said there would be some cuts among BAS's 400 employees. BAS's funding had been kept up, shielded from deeper cuts in NERC's budget, he said.

"Far from seeking to damage polar science, we are continuing to sustain our polar activity in spite of the difficult times we find ourselves in," Wingham said. "There are no plans to close BAS." annual funding for BAS, based in Cambridge, is about 37 million pounds ($60 million).