Found 13092 items
1 December, 2023 by Claire Waluda, Richard Phillips
Knowledge of lampreys during their marine phase is limited, and for the southern hemisphere species was gleaned from their predators (albatrosses) in the 1970s. Taking advantage of new methodologies and…1 December, 2023 by Danielle Buss, Jennifer Jackson
The 20 th century commercial whaling industry severely reduced populations of great whales throughout the Southern Hemisphere. The effect of this exploitation on genetic diversity and population structure remains largely…1 December, 2023 by Stephen Roberts
The glacial and vegetation patterns of Patagonia are strongly correlated to the behaviour of the Southern westerly winds (SWWs) with palaeoenvironmental evidence for the behaviour of the SWWs interpreted as…1 December, 2023 by Andy Wood, Jaume Forcada, Pete Bucktrout
With environmental change, understanding how species recover from overharvesting and maintain viable populations is central to ecosystem restoration. Here, we reconstruct 90 years of recovery trajectory of the Antarctic fur seal…1 December, 2023 by Paul Holland
Antarctic sea ice is mostly seasonal. While changes in sea ice seasonality have been observed in recent decades, the lack of process understanding remains a key challenge to interpret these…1 December, 2023 by Bianca Perren, Dominic Hodgson, Stephen Roberts
The southern limit of the Patagonian Ice Sheet at glacial maxima is poorly constrained due to a paucity of field data. This particularly applies to southern outlet glaciers of the…1 December, 2023 by Florian Mekhaldi
The Sun is magnetically active and often produces eruptive events on different energetic and temporal scales. Until recently, the upper limit of such events was unknown and believed to be…29 November, 2023 by Otis Brunner
Aim: Deep-sea hydrothermal vent habitats support a low-diversity fauna in which most species are unique to the ecosystem. To inform conservation planning around this vulnerable marine ecosystem, we examine species…29 November, 2023 by Elisabeth Biersma, Kevin Newsham
How the multiple facets of soil fungal diversity vary worldwide remains virtually unknown, hindering the management of this essential species-rich group. By sequencing high-resolution DNA markers in over 4000 topsoil…Read more on Connecting the multiple dimensions of global soil fungal diversity
28 November, 2023 by Elisabeth Biersma, Kevin Newsham, Peter Convey, Will Goodall-Copestake
Glacier retreat in cold regions exposes new terrain for plant colonization. However, the roles of soil microbiomes in plant establishment and performance on newly-exposed forefields have rarely been assessed. Here,…28 November, 2023 by Michael Meredith
Ice dynamic change is the primary cause of mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet, thus it is important to understand the processes driving ice-ocean interactions and the timescale on…27 November, 2023 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith
Seismicity at glaciers, ice sheets, and ice shelves provides observational constraint on a number of glaciological processes. Detecting and locating this seismicity, specifically icequakes, is a necessary first step in…27 November, 2023 by Mark Clilverd
Reducing the impact of Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) on electrical power networks is an essential step to protect network assets and maintain reliable power transmission during and after storm events.…27 November, 2023 by Andrew Meijers, Rahul Sivankutty
Changing environmental temperatures impact the physiological performance of fishes, and consequently their distributions. A mechanistic understanding of the linkages between experienced temperature and the physiological response expressed within complex natural…26 November, 2023 by Katrin Linse
Patellogastropoda, the true limpets, is a major group of gastropods widely distributed in marine habitats from the intertidal to deep sea. Though important for understanding their evolutionary radiation, the phylogenetic…Read more on Phylogenomic analyses reveal a single deep-water colonisation in Patellogastropoda
26 November, 2023 by Chester Sands, George Foot, Kevin Newsham, Will Goodall-Copestake
The occurrence of mycothalli, symbioses between liverworts and fungi bearing similarities to mycorrhizas, is poorly documented in sub-Antarctica, and biogeographical patterns in Serendipita, one of the main fungal genera forming…25 November, 2023 by James Kirkham, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Tunnel valleys are widespread in formerly glaciated regions such as the North Sea and record sediment transport beneath ice sheets undergoing deglaciation. However, their complex infill architecture often makes their…24 November, 2023 by Lloyd Peck
The seasonal movement of the zero-degree isotherm across the Southern Ocean and Antarctic Peninsula drives major changes in the physical and biological processes around maritime Antarctica. These include spatial and…23 November, 2023 by Teal Riley
We present the first volatile contents (H2O, CO2, Cl, F, S) of young (< 6 Ma) submarine basaltic glasses from the Phoenix and West Scotia mid-ocean ridges and the Bransfield Strait…22 November, 2023 by Connor Bamford, Martin Collins, Philip Hollyman
Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) are a commercially important species that support a longline fishery at the subantarctic island of South Georgia (CCAMLR Subarea 48.3). Understanding the life history of Patagonian…22 November, 2023 by Andy Wood, Danielle Buss, Jennifer Jackson, Martin Collins
The sub-Antarctic waters of South Georgia Island (Islas Georgias del Sur, SG/IG) are a regularly visited feeding ground for southern right whales (Eubalaena australis, SRW) in the southwest Atlantic. Satellite…17 November, 2023 by Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark, Tony Phillips
Polar ecosystems are experiencing amongst the most rapid rates of regional warming on Earth. Here, we discuss ‘omics’ approaches to investigate polar biodiversity, including the current state of the art,…Read more on Multi-omics for studying and understanding polar life
17 November, 2023 by Dominic Hodgson
Toward the poles, life on land is increasingly dominated by microorganisms, yet the evolutionary origin of polar microbiomes remains poorly understood. Here, we use metabarcoding of Arctic, sub-Antarctic, and Antarctic…Read more on Polar lake microbiomes have distinct evolutionary histories
16 November, 2023 by Diana Vladimirova, Dieter Tetzner, Liz Thomas
Sea-ice extent is predicted to decrease in a warming climate. However, despite global warming over the past century, total Antarctic sea ice remained relatively stable from 1979 until 2015, before…15 November, 2023 by Rahul Sivankutty
The seasonal evolution and interannual variability of latent heat flux (LHF) over the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) region is examined for the period 1980–2019. The seasonal distribution of LHF is…Read more on Latent heat flux variability over the tropical Indian Ocean
15 November, 2023 by John King, Thomas Bracegirdle
Between March 15-19, 2022, East Antarctica experienced an exceptional heatwave with widespread 30-40° C temperature anomalies across the ice sheet. This record-shattering event saw numerous monthly temperature records being broken…15 November, 2023 by John King, Thomas Bracegirdle
Between March 15-19, 2022, East Antarctica experienced an exceptional heatwave with widespread 30-40° C temperature anomalies across the ice sheet. In Part I, we assessed the meteorological drivers that generated…14 November, 2023 by Peter Convey
Snow is a unique microhabitat, despite being a harsh environment, multiple life forms have adapted to survive in it. While algae, bacteria and fungi are dominant microorganisms in Antarctic snow,…14 November, 2023 by Kevin Newsham
Highly simplified microbial communities colonise rocks and soils of continental Antarctica ice-free deserts. These two habitats impose different selection pressures on organisms, yet the possible filtering effects on the diversity…13 November, 2023 by Yohei Takano
Ocean deoxygenation due to anthropogenic warming represents a major threat to marine ecosystems and fisheries. Challenges remain in simulating the modern observed changes in the dissolved oxygen (O2). Here, we…10 November, 2023 by Richard Phillips
Knowledge of fisheries impacts, past and present, is essential for understanding the ecology and conservation of seabirds, but in a rapidly changing world, knowledge and research directions require updating. In…9 November, 2023 by Andrew Orr, Emilia Dobb, Gareth Marshall, Guy Phillips, Hua Lu, John King, Sabina Kucieba, Steve Colwell, Tony Phillips
Meteorological records at Signy Station in the South Orkney Islands (SOIs) have recently been digitized to cover the period of 1947–1995. This study compares the newly available near-surface air temperatures…Read more on Temperature variation in the South Orkney Islands, maritime Antarctic
9 November, 2023 by Philip Trathan
Individual differences in oxygen storage and carrying capacity have been associated with fitness-related traits and, for air-breathing aquatic animals, to diving ability and foraging success. In winter, many seabirds must…8 November, 2023 by Louise Sime
The impact of melt ponds on sea-ice albedo has been observed and documented. In general circulation models, ponds are now accounted for through indirect diagnostic treatments (‘implicit’ schemes), or prognostic…Read more on The significance of the melt-pond scheme in a CMIP6 global climate model
8 November, 2023 by Liz Thomas
Stable water isotope records of six firn cores retrieved from two adjacent plateaus on the northern Antarctic Peninsula between 2014 and 2016 are presented and investigated for their connections with…8 November, 2023 by Susie Grant
Nests of the icefish Chionodraco hamatus were documented for the first time at about 500 m depth at Terra Nova Bay (Victoria Land, western Ross Sea), in an area included…6 November, 2023 by Rahul Sivankutty
The Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) is considered as one of the major drivers of Indian Summer monsoon (ISM) multidecadal variability. The teleconnection is thought to take place via two dominant…6 November, 2023 by Richard Phillips
Mercury (Hg) is a globally important pollutant that can negatively impact metabolic, endocrine and immune systems of marine biota. Seabirds are long-lived marine top predators and hence are at risk…3 November, 2023 by Peter Convey
Terrestrial environments of Antarctica include some of the most extreme on Earth, challenging the very existence of life itself. This article outlines briefly the geological and biological history of the…2 November, 2023 by Philip Trathan
Emperor penguins are tough birds that breed on sea ice, which is the frozen surface of the ocean. They are famous for walking across the sea ice, to and from…1 November, 2023 by John Turner
During the second half of the twentieth century, the Antarctic Surface Air Temperature (SAT) trends are characterized by fast warming over West Antarctica but mild cooling over East Antarctica. However,…Read more on A broadscale shift in antarctic temperature trends
1 November, 2023 by David Barnes
Spatial management of the deep sea is challenging due to limited available data on the distribution of species and habitats to support decision making. In the well-studied North Atlantic, predictive…1 November, 2023 by Andrew Fleming, Anita Faul, Ben Evans, David Vaughan, Scott Hosking
Accurate quantification of iceberg populations is essential to inform estimates of Southern Ocean freshwater and heat balances as well as shipping hazards. The automated operational monitoring of icebergs remains challenging,…1 November, 2023 by Alistair Crame, Jane Francis, Rowan Whittle, Vanessa Bowman
Lower Paleocene marine siliciclastics of the Sobral Formation (Seymour Island, Antarctica) form an important component of a key southern high latitude reference section for the Maastrichtian–Eocene. The formation comprises a…1 November, 2023 by Jonathan Adams, Joanne Johnson
Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, is the largest Antarctic contributor to global sea-level rise and is vulnerable to rapid retreat, yet our knowledge of its deglacial history since the Last…1 November, 2023 by Alice Fremand
Scienists are increasingly using autonomous and remotely piloted aerial vehicles (commonly referenced here as UAVs) to collect large volume of data in a range of different scienific domains. These data…1 November, 2023 by Alice Fremand
This document gives relevant information related to the management of remotely piloted or uncrewed airborne vehicles (commonly referenced as UAV in this document) data collected as part of NERC funded…28 October, 2023 by Jeremy Wilkinson
Snow depth on sea ice is an Essential Climate Variable and a major source of uncertainty in satellite altimetry-derived sea ice thickness. During winter of the MOSAiC Expedition, the “KuKa”…27 October, 2023 by Jeremy Wilkinson
A major consideration for maritime activity in the Southern Hemisphere is the northern limit of icebergs, or the Southern Ocean Limit Of Known Ice (SOLOKI). This analysis of historical reports…26 October, 2023 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Ronan Agnew
We present seismic measurements of the firn column at Korff Ice Rise, West Antarctica, including measurements of compressional-wave velocity and attenuation. We describe a modified spectral-ratio method of measuring the…25 October, 2023 by Andrew Orr, Ella Gilbert, Ruth Price, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
The Ross Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, experienced an extensive melt event in January 2016. We examine the representation of this event by the HIRHAM5 and MetUM high-resolution regional atmospheric models,…24 October, 2023 by Eugene Murphy, Jennifer Jackson, Nadine Johnston, Richard Phillips
The Southern Ocean, which flows around the Antarctic continent, is home to vast numbers of unique and remarkable animals, including penguins, albatrosses, petrels, seals, and whales. The ocean bursts into…Read more on The Southern Ocean Ecosystem Affects The Entire World
23 October, 2023 by Kaitlin Naughten, Paul Holland
Ocean-driven melting of floating ice-shelves in the Amundsen Sea is currently the main process controlling Antarctica’s contribution to sea-level rise. Using a regional ocean model, we present a comprehensive suite…23 October, 2023 by Alison Cleary, Jennifer Freer, Martin Collins
Lanternfishes (Myctophidae) are key components of mesopelagic fish communities globally. In the Southern Ocean, incomplete information on myctophid diets limits our understanding of their energetics, interactions and wider ecosystem impact.…21 October, 2023 by Paul Holland
Mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is dominated by basal melting–induced warm ocean water. Ice-sheet mass loss and thinning of buttressing ice shelves occur primarily in the Amundsen and…18 October, 2023 by Eugene Murphy, Huw Griffiths, Nadine Johnston, Rachel Cavanagh, Simon Morley, Susie Grant
i. The Antarctic Treaty System (beginning in 1959 with the Antarctic Treaty) and its emphasis on conservation and protection, exemplified in the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living…Read more on Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean: Summary for Policymakers
18 October, 2023 by Claire Waluda, Kevin Hughes
Communication at the science-policy interface can be bewildering not only for early-career researchers, but also for many within the research community. In the context of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean,…17 October, 2023 by Elisabeth Biersma, Kevin Newsham, Peter Convey
Aim Poa annua L. (annual bluegrass) is presently the sole invasive vascular plant species to have successfully established in Maritime Antarctica, where it poses a significant conservation threat to native…17 October, 2023 by Anna Jones, Thomas Lachlan-Cope
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are the most pristine areas of the globe and represent ideal places to investigate aerosol-climate interactions in an unperturbed atmosphere. In this study, we present…17 October, 2023 by Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse
This dataset contributes to the knowledge of macro- and megafaunal Mollusca associated with a range of benthic habitat types in the South Orkney Islands, Antarctica, an exceptionally diverse region of…16 October, 2023 by Peter Davis
Understanding ice shelf water (ISW) structure is crucial for studying the basal melting of ice shelves. In this study, we performed large-eddy simulation experiments to assess ISW structure and basal…Read more on Ice Shelf Water Structure Beneath the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica
16 October, 2023 by Dave Munday
During the Eocene and the Eocene-Oligocene transition, the lower cell of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC), associated with bottom water formation, underwent changes associated with the geological evolution of Southern…16 October, 2023 by Dave Munday
During the Eocene and the Eocene-Oligocene transition, the lower cell of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC), associated with bottom water formation, underwent changes associated with the geological evolution of Southern…15 October, 2023 by Norman Ratcliffe
Over the past decade, drones have become increasingly popular in environmental biology and have been used to study wildlife on all continents. Drones have become of global importance for surveying…Read more on Best practices for using drones in seabird monitoring and research
12 October, 2023 by Joseph Ulanowski
Dust particles in lofted atmospheric layers may present a preferential orientation, which could be detected from the resulting dichroic extinction of the transmitted sunlight. The first indications were provided relatively…11 October, 2023 by Claire Boyle, Kevin Hughes, Laura Gerrish, Peter Convey, Steve Colwell
Antarctica has been subject to widespread, long-term and on-going human activity since the establishment of permanent research stations became common in the 1950s. Equipment may become intentionally or inadvertently lost…10 October, 2023 by Robert Mulvaney
High-resolution stable isotope records obtained from Antarctic ice cores can be used as proxies to investigate past climatic changes in Antarctica, overcoming the spatiotemporal limitations of observational and instrumental records.…3 October, 2023 by Victoria Warwick-Evans
Understanding the processes that drive interpopulation differences in demography and population dynamics is central to metapopulation ecology. In colonial species, populations are limited by local resource availability. However, individuals from…1 October, 2023 by Hannah Cubaynes, Peter Fretwell
The use of satellite imagery to find, count and monitor whales in remote and hard to access areas has shown some promise, but few satellite studies have, as yet, provided…Read more on Satellite image survey of beluga whales in the southern Kara Sea
1 October, 2023 by Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
Signatories to the Antarctic Treaty System’s Environmental Protocol are committed to preventing incursions of non-native species into Antarctica, but systematic surveillance is rare. Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods provide new opportunities…1 October, 2023 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
Glaciers are inhabited by various cryophilic organisms ranging from single celled to multicellular, like Tardigrada (water bears). Owing to their scattered distribution, glaciers represent extremely fragmented habitats, and it remains…1 October, 2023 by Peter Convey
Climate change, coupled with the introduction of non-native organisms, represent major threats to the functioning of ecosystems, especially in species-poor communities such as polar terrestrial ecosystems. In this laboratory study,…1 October, 2023 by Kayleigh Jones
Interactions between seals and commercial fisheries can pose a significant threat to the conservation status of seal populations. In the Falkland Islands, home to over 50% of the global South…1 October, 2023 by Paul Holland
Little is known about Antarctic subglacial hydrology, but based on modeling, theory and indirect observations it is thought that subglacial runoff enhances submarine melt locally through buoyancy effects. However, no…Read more on The non‐local impacts of Antarctic subglacial runoff
1 October, 2023 by Mark Evans
An almost complete ichthyosaur skeleton 10 m long was discovered in January 2021 at the Rutland Water Nature Reserve in the county of Rutland, UK. This was excavated by a small…1 October, 2023 by Peter Convey
Belgica antarctica Jacobs (Diptera: Chironomidae) is the only endemic insect found in the Antarctic Peninsula region and has stimulated considerable research interest. Due to recent rapid changes in regional climate…1 October, 2023 by Claire Waluda, Michael Dunn, Philip Trathan
Due to its persistence and potential ecological and health impacts, mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant of major concern that may reach high concentrations even in remote polar oceans. In…1 October, 2023 by Louise Sime, Qinggang Gao
To refine moisture-source and site-temperature reconstructions inferred from measurements from ice cores, we must understand moisture provenance from which Antarctic precipitation originates. Here, we discuss our current understanding of Antarctic…30 September, 2023 by Peter Convey
Cyanobacteria are one of the most important groups of photoautotrophic organisms, contributing to carbon and nitrogen fixation in mangroves worldwide. They also play an important role in soil retention and…28 September, 2023 by Paul Holland
We investigate feedbacks between subsurface continental shelf ocean temperatures and Antarctic glacial melt using a coupled climate model. The model was forced with SSP5-8.5 and an uncoupled projection of basal…28 September, 2023 by Roseanne Smith
Giant icebergs release cold, fresh meltwater as they drift, perturbing the physical conditions of the surface ocean. This study uses satellite-derived sea surface salinity and temperature measurements to explore the…27 September, 2023 by Eugene Murphy, Sally Thorpe
Understanding the vertical migration behaviour of Antarctic krill is important for understanding spatial distribution, ecophysiology, trophic interactions and carbon fluxes of this Southern Ocean key species. In this study, we…27 September, 2023 by Dorothea Moser, Liz Thomas
Melting polar and alpine ice sheets in response to global warming pose ecological and societal risks but will also hamper our ability to reconstruct past climate and atmospheric composition across…Read more on Melt-Affected Ice Cores for (Sub-)Polar Research in a Warming World [preprint]
26 September, 2023 by Bryony Freer, Oliver Marsh
Tide-forced short-term migration of the grounding line (GL) of Antarctic ice shelves can impact ice dynamics at the ice sheet margins and obscures assessments of long-term GL advance or retreat.…18 September, 2023 by Andrew Orr, Ella Gilbert, Hua Lu, John King, Steve Colwell, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
Extreme warm events in the South Orkney Islands (SOIs) are investigated using synoptic observations from Signy and Orcadas stations for 1947-1994 and 1956-2019, respectively. Defining the extremes as temperatures exceeding…18 September, 2023 by Louise Sime
The Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) is the Earth’s largest store of frozen water; understanding how it changed in the past allows us to improve projections of how it, and sea…7 September, 2023 by Kaitlin Naughten
Observations of ocean-driven grounding-line retreat in the Amundsen Sea Embayment in Antarctica raise the question of an imminent collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Here we analyse the committed…6 September, 2023 by Ashley Bennison
Many vertebrates show lateralized behaviour, or handedness, where an individual preferentially uses one side of the body more than the other. This is generally thought to be caused by brain…4 September, 2023 by Ananth Ranjithkumar, Markus Frey, Xin Yang
The Arctic warms nearly four times faster than the global average, and aerosols play an increasingly important role in Arctic climate change. In the Arctic, sea salt is a major…Read more on Arctic warming by abundant fine sea salt aerosols from blowing snow
4 September, 2023 by Kevin Newsham
Societal Impact Statement: Climate change is predicted to increase drought and soil salinity in Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs), posing a significant threat to global food security. Genetic modification of crops to…1 September, 2023 by Peter Convey
We evaluated the diversity and enzymatic activities of culturable fungi recovered from cotton baits submerged for 2 years in Hennequin Lake, King George Island, and from benthic biofilms in Kroner…1 September, 2023 by Peter Convey
The high number of bipolar and widespread bryophyte and microbial taxa in the Antarctic flora suggests the effective Long-Distance Dispersal (LDD) of spores and other propagules from lower latitudes and…1 September, 2023 by Melody Clark
The wild poses a multifaceted challenge to the maintenance of cellular function. Therefore, a multistressor approach is essential to predict the cellular mechanisms which promote homeostasis and underpin whole-organism tolerance.…Read more on The environmental cellular stress response: the intertidal as a multistressor model
1 September, 2023 by Alvaro Arenas Pingarron, Carl Robinson, Hugh Corr, Tom Jordan, Alvaro Pingarron Arenas
Polarimetric Airborne Scientific INstrument, mark 2 (PASIN2) is a 150 MHz coherent pulsed radar with the purpose of deep ice sounding for bedrock, subglacial channels and ice-water interface detection in…