Understanding and quantifying the processes taking place in our soils can provide insights to guide new strategies for addressing and adapting to climate change. With stable isotope analysis, it is possible to measure tiny differences in the microbiological processes in the soil around plants (known as their rhizosphere).

We speak to Dr Craig Smeaton, lecturer in physical geography at the University of St Andrews, about his research into blue carbon storage and it's implications for climate change research.

In order to understand the global warming, scientists around the world are researching the cycle of greenhouse gases. They are seeking methods through which to decode the complex climate system and better predict the reaction to sustained emissions on Earth. One of these methods is to look back at the past. Very far back in history: over more than one million years. The only direct information source available to them is drilled ice cores from Antarctica.