Showing 11923 items
24 January, 2022 by Claire Allen, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Louise Sime, Matthew Chadwick
Environmental conditions during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (130–116 ka) represent an important “process analogue” for understanding the climatic responses to present and future anthropogenic warming. The response of Antarctic sea…Read more on Reconstructing Antarctic winter sea-ice extent during Marine Isotope Stage 5e
24 January, 2022 by James France
Arctic wetlands and surrounding ecosystems are both a significant source of methane (CH4) and a sink of carbon dioxide (CO2) during summer months. However, precise quantification of this regional CH4…24 January, 2022 by Anna Jones, James France
We report methane isotopologue data from aircraft and ground measurements in Africa and South America. Aircraft campaigns sampled strong methane fluxes over tropical papyrus wetlands in the Nile, Congo and…24 January, 2022 by Anna Jones
These two volumes of the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions record the ‘state of methane’ in 2021. The atmospheric methane burden rose rapidly in 2020: more rapidly than at any previous…Read more on Rising methane: is there a methane emergency? [Preface]
24 January, 2022 by James France
Removing methane from the air is possible, but do the costs outweigh the benefits? This note explores the question of whether removing methane from the atmosphere is justifiable. Destruction of…Read more on Is the destruction or removal of atmospheric methane a worthwhile option?
24 January, 2022 by Anna Jones, James France
The atmospheric methane (CH4) burden is rising sharply, but the causes are still not well understood. One factor of uncertainty is the importance of tropical CH4 emissions into the global…Read more on δ13C methane source signatures from tropical wetlands and rice field emissions
20 January, 2022 by Paul Holland
Coastal areas are highly diverse, ecologically rich, regions of key socio-economic activity, and are particularly sensitive to sea-level change. Over most of the 20th century, global mean sea level has…Read more on Sea-level rise: From global perspectives to local services
20 January, 2022 by Peter Convey
This study was initiated following the serendipitous discovery of a unialgal culture of a Stichococcus-like green alga (Chlorophyta) newly isolated from soil collected on Signy Island (maritime Antarctica) in growth…18 January, 2022 by Arlie McCarthy, Lloyd Peck
Antarctica, an isolated and long considered pristine wilderness, is becoming increasingly exposed to the negative effects of ship-borne human activity, and especially the introduction of invasive species. Here, we provide…Read more on Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems
18 January, 2022 by Richard Phillips
Morphological variation in biological structures may be driven by genetic and environmental factors, such as inter- and intraspecific competition for resources. In seabirds, although the bill is also involved in…
15 January, 2022 by Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark, Nicholas Barrett
Increases in Arctic temperatures have accelerated melting of the Greenland icesheet, exposing intertidal organisms, such as the blue mussel Mytilus edulis, to high air temperatures and low salinities in summer.…13 January, 2022 by Alexander Bradley, Pierre Dutrieux, Robert Larter
Pine Island Ice Shelf (PIIS) buttresses the Pine Island Glacier, the key contributor to sea-level rise. PIIS has thinned owing to ocean-driven melting, and its calving front has retreated, leading…11 January, 2022 by Alexander Brearley
Knowledge of the ocean surface layer beneath Antarctic landfast ice is sparse. In this article surface layer turbulent and fine structure are quantified with and without landfast ice in the…Read more on Landfast ice controls on turbulence in Antarctic coastal seas
11 January, 2022 by Florian Mekhaldi
During solar storms, the Sun expels large amounts of energetic particles (SEP) that can react with the Earth’s atmospheric constituents and produce cosmogenic radionuclides such as 14C, 10Be and 36Cl.…10 January, 2022 by Oliver Marsh
After a likely multi-century period of intermittent calving, the full length of Parker Ice Tongue (18 km or 41 km2), calved in March 2020 co-incident with repeated summer break-outs of…7 January, 2022 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Ed King
Basal properties beneath ice streams and glaciers are known to be a control for ice flow dynamics, hence knowledge of them is crucial for predicting sea level due to changes…6 January, 2022 by Mark Clilverd
Dynamical variations of radiation belt trapped electron fluxes are examined to better understand the variability of enhancements linked to substorm clusters. Analysis is undertaken using the Substorm Onsets and Phases…1 January, 2022 by Peter Convey
Lichens produce various carbon-based secondary compounds (CBSCs) in response to abiotic conditions and herbivory. Although lichen CBSCs have received considerable attention with regard to responses to UV-B exposure, very little…
1 January, 2022 by Lara Perez Miguel, Robert Larter
Oscillations in ice sheet extent during early and middle Miocene are intermittently preserved in the sedimentary record from the Antarctic continental shelf, with widespread erosion occurring during major ice sheet…1 January, 2022 by Kevin Newsham
The growing problem of antibiotic resistance has led to the exploration of uncultured bacteria as potential sources of new antimicrobials. PCR amplicon analyses and short-read sequencing studies of samples from…1 January, 2022 by Emma Young, Philip Trathan, Victoria Warwick-Evans
Fishery demand for Antarctic krill is increasing, and projected to continue increasing into the future. Krill has the potential to contribute approximately 10% to all future marine landings, adding significantly…1 January, 2022 by Roger Worland, Peter Convey
Snow cover changes can have important effects on ecosystems, especially where spatial variability in cover is high, influencing the biogeochemical conditions of the underlying soil as well as the vegetation.…
1 January, 2022 by Geraint Tarling, Jennifer Freer
Biological communities in the Arctic are changing through the climate-driven encroachment of subarctic species. This ‘Atlantification’ extends to keystone Calanoid copepods, as the small-bodied Calanus finmarchicus increases in abundance in…1 January, 2022 by Dani Jones
Ocean ventilation is the transfer of tracers and young water from the surface down into the ocean interior. The tracers that can be transported to depth include anthropogenic heat and…
1 January, 2022 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Nadescha Zwerschke
Global warming is causing significant losses of marine ice around the polar regions. In Antarctica, the retreat of tidewater glaciers is opening up novel, low-energy habitats (fjords) that have the…1 January, 2022 by James France
The distribution of methane sources in Kuwait was mapped through mobile vehicle surveying of methane mole fraction, and by collection of air samples at source for subsequent isotopic analysis. Mobile…1 January, 2022 by Peter Convey
Vega Island is located off the eastern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula (Maritime Antarctica), in the Weddell Sea. In this study, we used metabarcoding to investigate green algal DNA sequence…1 January, 2022 by Alexander Whittle
The salinisation of many coastal ecosystems is underway and is expected to continue into the future because of sea-level rise and storm intensification brought about by the changing climate. However,…Read more on Low‐salinity transitions drive abrupt microbial response to sea‐level change
1 January, 2022 by Claire Allen, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Louise Sime, Matthew Chadwick
Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (130–116 ka) represents an important ‘process analogue’ for understanding the climatic feedbacks and responses likely active under future anthropogenic warming. Reconstructing the Southern Ocean (SO) palaeoenvironment…1 January, 2022 by Peter Convey
Linkages between aboveground and belowground communities are a key but globally under-researched component of responses to environmental change. Given the logistical complications to studying these relationships, much of our knowledge…1 January, 2022 by Christian Buckingham
Mesoscale eddies contain the bulk of the ocean’s kinetic energy (KE), but fundamental questions remain on the cross-scale KE transfers linking eddy generation and dissipation. The role of submesoscale flows…1 January, 2022 by Alexander Brearley, Sophie Fielding
The extent to which marine species avoid survey vessels is the subject of considerable debate, with stimuli such as noise and pressure waves receiving particular attention. By some estimates, avoidance…Read more on Antarctic krill likely avoid underwater gliders
1 January, 2022 by Mark Clilverd
Precipitating auroral and radiation belt electrons are considered an important part of the natural forcing of the climate system. Recent studies suggest that this forcing is underestimated in current chemistry-climate…1 January, 2022 by Clara Manno, Elisa Bergami, Victoria Peck
In the Southern Ocean (SO), plastic debris has already been found in waters and sediments. Nanoplastics (1 January, 2022 by Lloyd Peck
We present the results of our 13th annual horizon scan of issues likely to impact on biodiversity conservation. Issues are either novel within the biological conservation sector or could cause…Read more on A horizon scan of global biological conservation issues for 2022
1 January, 2022 by Richard Phillips
Interspecific introgression can occur between species that evolve rapidly within an adaptive radiation. Pachyptila petrels differ in bill size and are characterised by incomplete reproductive isolation, leading to interspecific gene…Read more on Independent evolution of intermediate bill widths in a seabird clade
1 January, 2022 by Scott Hosking
A new model is presented for multisite statistical downscaling of temperature and precipitation using convolutional conditional neural processes (convCNPs). ConvCNPs are a recently developed class of models that allow deep-learning…Read more on Convolutional conditional neural processes for local climate downscaling
1 January, 2022 by James France
Atmospheric methane (CH4) continues to increase, but there are multiple anthropogenic source categories that can be targeted for cost-effective emissions reduction. Cities emit CH4 to the atmosphere from a mixture…1 January, 2022 by Kevin Newsham
Background Invasive plants may displace native species. This is the case of Poa annua, the only non-native plant species successfully established in Maritime Antarctica. Nonetheless, it is uncertain which factors…1 January, 2022 by Peter Convey
The rhizosphere microbiome of the native Antarctic hairgrass Deschampsia antarctica from the central maritime Antarctic was investigated using 16S RNA metagenomics and compared to those of the second native Antarctic…
31 December, 2021 by Chester Sands, David Barnes
Climate change is strongly influencing regions of Antarctica but the consequences on microevolutionary processes have been little studied. Patterns of population genetic diversity were analysed in the Antarctic bivalve Nuculana…30 December, 2021 by Hua Lu, Thomas Bracegirdle
Climate model biases in the North Atlantic (NA) low-level tropospheric westerly jet are a major impediment to reliably representing variability of the NA climate system and its wider influence, in…21 December, 2021 by Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith, Simon Morley
The Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a hotspot for environmental change and has a strong environmental gradient from North to South. Here, for the first time we used adult individuals…20 December, 2021 by David Barnes, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
Where polar ice sheets meet the coast, they can flow into the sea as floating ice shelves. The seabed underneath is in complete darkness, and may be Earth’s least known…Read more on Richness, growth, and persistence of life under an Antarctic ice shelf
16 December, 2021 by Claire Allen, Dieter Tetzner, Liz Thomas
Volcanism can play a key role in modulating climate, however, a lack of historical records has limited our comprehension of Antarctic volcanism and its role on the cryosphere. Remote sensing…16 December, 2021 by Richard Horne
Whistler-mode chorus waves are critical for driving resonant scattering and loss of radiation belt relativistic electrons into the atmosphere. The resonant energies of electrons scattered by chorus waves increase at…Read more on Conjugate observation of magnetospheric chorus propagating to the ionosphere by ducting
16 December, 2021 by Andrew Orr
Peruvian glaciers are important contributors to dry season runoff for agriculture and hydropower, but they are at risk of disappearing due to climate change. We applied a physically based, energy…Read more on The energy and mass balance of Peruvian glaciers
16 December, 2021 by Alex Burton-Johnson
We present PetroChron Antarctica, a new relational database including petrological, geochemical and geochronological datasets along with computed rock properties from geological samples across Antarctica. The database contains whole-rock geochemistry with…Read more on PetroChron Antarctica: A geological database for interdisciplinary use
16 December, 2021 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Gareth Flint, Louise Ireland, Simon Morley
Carbon-rich habitats can provide powerful climate mitigation if meaningful protection is put in place. We attempted to quantify this around the Tristan da Cunha archipelago Marine Protected Area. Its shallows…16 December, 2021 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Lara Perez Miguel
Early to Middle Miocene sea-level oscillations of approximately 40-60 m estimated from far-field records(1-3) are interpreted to reflect the loss of virtually all East Antarctic ice during peak warmth(2). This…Read more on A large West Antarctic Ice Sheet explains early Neogene sea-level amplitude.
14 December, 2021 by Peter Kirsch, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
With new satellite constellations being launched into low Earth orbit, the growing use of medium Earth orbit for radio-navigation and timing signals, slot region orbits for telecommunications and the introduction…Read more on The Satellite Risk Prediction and Radiation Forecast System (SaRIF)
13 December, 2021 by Chester Sands
The drivers behind evolutionary innovations such as contrasting life histories and morphological change are central questions of evolutionary biology. However, the environmental and ecological contexts linked to evolutionary innovations are…Read more on Evolutionary innovations in Antarctic brittle stars linked to glacial refugia
12 December, 2021 by Alexander Lozinski, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
Geomagnetically trapped protons forming Earth’s proton radiation belt pose a hazard to orbiting spacecraft. In particular, solar cell degradation is caused by non-ionising collisions with protons at energies of several…Read more on Modelling inner proton belt variability at energies 1 to 10MeV using BAS‐PRO
8 December, 2021 by Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse
In 2018 RRS James Clark Ross investigated the marine benthic biodiversity of the Prince Gustav Channel area which separates the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula from James Ross Island.…
8 December, 2021 by Eugene Murphy
The COVID-19 pandemic is the first serious test of how science can inform decision-making in the face of an immediate global threat, yielding important lessons on how science, society and…Read more on The global pandemic has shown we need an action plan for the ocean
8 December, 2021 by Jennifer Jackson
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are a cosmopolitan species and perform long annual migrations between low-latitude breeding areas and high-latitude feeding areas. Their breeding populations appear to be spatially and genetically…7 December, 2021 by Jack Humby
C1–C4 perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are highly persistent chemicals that have been found in the environment. To date, much uncertainty still exists about their sources and fate. The importance of the…
6 December, 2021 by Louise Sime
We discuss a series of artworks produced since 2009 including The Southern Ocean Studies (2012), The Northern Polar Studies (2014) and Carbon Topographies (2020). Through this work we explore how…Read more on The Data Imaginaries of Climate Art: The Manifest Data Project
4 December, 2021 by Peter Convey
Since the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, the continent has been pressurized by multiple anthropogenic activities, today including research and tourism, which have led to the emergence of phenol pollution.…
1 December, 2021 by Philip Trathan, Victoria Warwick-Evans
According to central place foraging theory, animals will only increase the distance of their foraging trips if more distant prey patches offer better foraging opportunities. Thus, theory predicts that breeding…1 December, 2021 by Geraint Tarling
In the North Atlantic, euphausiids (krill) form a major link between primary production and predators including commercially exploited fish. This basin is warming very rapidly, with species expected to shift…1 December, 2021 by Liz Thomas
The West Antarctic climate has witnessed large changes during the second half of the twentieth century including a strong and widespread continental warming, important regional changes in sea-ice extent and…1 December, 2021 by Iain Staniland, Richard Phillips
Identifying important sites for biodiversity is vital for conservation and management. However, there is a lack of accessible, easily-applied tools that enable practitioners to delineate important sites for highly mobile…1 December, 2021 by James Kirkham, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Landforms produced beneath former ice sheets offer insights into inaccessible subglacial processes and present analogues for how current ice masses may evolve in a warming climate. Large subglacial channels cut…Read more on Tunnel valley infill and genesis revealed by high-resolution 3-D seismic data
1 December, 2021 by Elisabeth Biersma, Jennifer Jackson, Peter Convey
We investigated evolutionary relationships and biogeographical patterns within the genus Boeckella to evaluate (1) whether its current widespread distribution in the Southern Hemisphere is due to recent long-distance dispersal or…
1 December, 2021 by Peter Convey
Human- and animal-impacted sites in Antarctica can be contaminated with heavy metals, as well as areas influenced by underlying geology and naturally occurring minerals. The present study examined the relationship…Read more on Influence of heavy metals on the occurrence of Antarctic soil microalgae
1 December, 2021 by Iain Staniland, Norman Ratcliffe
Static (fixed-boundary) protected areas are key ocean conservation strategies, and marine higher predator distribution data can play a leading role toward identifying areas for conservation action. The Falkland Islands are…
1 December, 2021 by Peter Convey
Antarctic lakes have generally simple periphyton communities when compared with those of lower latitudes. To date, assessment of microbial diversity in Antarctica has relied heavily on traditional direct observation and…Read more on Periphyton diversity in two different Antarctic lakes assessed using metabarcoding
1 December, 2021 by Dave Munday
The transfer of momentum between the atmosphere and ocean is dependent upon the velocity difference between the seawater and overlying air. This is commonly known as relative wind, or ocean…Read more on Relative vs. absolute wind stress in a circumpolar model of the Southern Ocean.
1 December, 2021 by Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse
Peracarid data were collected in the Southern Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean. Sampling was performed during nine different expeditions on board of RRS James Clark Ross and RV Polarstern, using…1 December, 2021 by Peter Convey
Knowledge of the biodiversity of the Thala Hills oasis (Enderby Land, East Antarctica) is very limited. Here, we integrate all information available since 1962, when the Russian ‘Molodyozhnaya’ station was…Read more on Eukarya biodiversity in the Thala Hills, East Antarctica
1 December, 2021 by Dave Munday
Declining atmospheric CO2 concentrations are considered the primary driver for the Cenozoic Greenhouse-Icehouse transition, ~34 million years ago. A role for tectonically opening Southern Ocean gateways, initiating the onset of…Read more on Gateway-driven weakening of ocean gyres leads to Southern Ocean cooling
1 December, 2021 by Anne-Sophie Bonnet-Lebrun, Richard Phillips
Foraging site selection and site fidelity can have implications for many ecological processes. The degree of site fidelity differs greatly not just between species but also within populations. Some of…1 December, 2021 by Pierre Dutrieux
Widespread ice shelf thinning has been recorded in the Amundsen Sea in recent decades, driven by basal melting and intrusions of relatively warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) onto the continental…1 December, 2021 by Johnathan Ross, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
The interactions between electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves and relativistic electrons are influential in diffusing radiation belt electrons into the loss code from which the electrons are lost into the…1 December, 2021 by John Turner
The polar regions are a critical component of the global climate system, with changes taking place at high latitudes having global implications. Anthropogenic activity is affecting both the Arctic and…1 December, 2021 by Peter Kirsch, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
Increasing numbers of satellites are orbiting through the Earth's radiation belts, and the range of orbits being commonly used is also growing. As a result, there is an increasing need…Read more on Evaluation of SaRIF high-energy electron reconstructions and forecasts
1 December, 2021 by Peter Convey
Mercury (Hg) is a heavy metal that can be released into the environmentthrough natural activity such as volcanic eruptions and release from vegetation during bushfires, and anthropogenic activities such as…30 November, 2021 by Fabian Haumann
The Southern Ocean is a critical component of Earth's climate system, but its remoteness makes it challenging to develop a holistic understanding of its processes from the small scale to…30 November, 2021 by Elisabeth Biersma, Kevin Newsham
Fungi are highly important biotic components of terrestrial ecosystems, but we still have a very limited understanding about their diversity and distribution. This data article releases a global soil fungal…Read more on The Global Soil Mycobiome consortium dataset for boosting fungal diversity research
29 November, 2021 by Norman Ratcliffe, Ryan Saunders
King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) are an iconic Southern Ocean species, but the prey distributions that underpin their at-sea foraging tracks and diving behaviour remain unclear. We conducted simultaneous acoustic surveys…Read more on Using Predicted Patterns of 3D Prey Distribution to Map King Penguin Foraging Habitat
29 November, 2021 by Randolph Sliester
Supporting Antarctic scientific investigation is the job of the national Antarctic programmes, the government entities charged with delivering their countries’ Antarctic research strategies. This requires sustained investment in people, innovative…Read more on Icebreaking polar class research vessels: New Antarctic fleet capabilities
28 November, 2021 by Sofia-Katerina Kufner
The Pamir plateau protrudes ∼300 km between the Tajik- and Tarim-basin lithosphere of Central Asia. Whether its salient location and shape are caused by forceful indentation of a promontory of Indian…Read more on Structure and stress field of the lithosphere between Pamir and Tarim
26 November, 2021 by Richard Phillips
Seabirds are amongst the most mobile of all animal species and spend large amounts of their lives at sea. They cross vast areas of ocean that appear superficially featureless, and…26 November, 2021 by Robert Mulvaney
A 58 m long azimuthally oriented ice core has been collected from the floating lateral sinistral shear margin of the lower Priestley Glacier, Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. The crystallographic preferred…23 November, 2021 by Peter Convey
Rice straw, an agricultural waste product generated in huge quantities worldwide, is utilized to remediate diesel pollution as it possesses excellent characteristics as a natural sorbent. This study aimed to…18 November, 2021 by Hannah Cubaynes, Jennifer Jackson, Penny Clarke, Peter Fretwell
The study of cetacean strandings was globally recognised as a priority topic at the 2019 World Marine Mammal Conference, in recognition of its importance for understanding the threats to cetacean…18 November, 2021 by Floortje Van Den Heuvel
The pandemic has badly affected the most diverse career stage in UK Earth sciences: early career researchers. Disrupted careers must be rescued with contingency plans, remote networks, a focus on…Read more on [Comment] Interventions to prevent pandemic-driven diversity loss
16 November, 2021 by Pierre Dutrieux
Ice-shelf basal channels form due to concentrated submarine melting. They are present in many Antarctic ice shelves and can reduce ice-shelf structural integrity, potentially destabilizing ice shelves by full-depth incision.…Read more on Ice‐shelf basal melt channels stabilized by secondary flow
15 November, 2021 by James France
The causes of methane's renewed rise since 2007, accelerated growth from 2014 and record rise in 2020, concurrent with an isotopic shift to values more depleted in 13C, remain poorly…Read more on Atmospheric methane and nitrous oxide: challenges along the path to Net Zero
15 November, 2021 by Charles Simpson, Scott Hosking
The 880 million agricultural workers of the world are especially vulnerable to increasing heat stress due to climate change, affecting the health of individuals and reducing labour productivity. In this…Read more on Regional disparities and seasonal differences in climate risk to rice labour
15 November, 2021 by Anna Jones
Introduction to discussion meeting issue. Methane is the second-most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. The atmospheric burden is rising rapidly. CH4 growth from about 720 ppb in pre-industrial times…Read more on Rising methane: is warming feeding warming? [Introduction]
14 November, 2021 by Peter Convey
An Antarctic soil bacterial consortium (reference BS14) was confirmed to biodegrade canola oil, and kinetic studies on this biodegradation were carried out. The purpose of this study was to examine…13 November, 2021 by Jenny Wong
We provide a systematic analysis of two related multiparty protocols, namely (Non-Interactive Fully) Distributed Verifiable Random Functions (DVRFs) and Decentralised Random Beacons (DRBs), including their syntax and definition of robustness…11 November, 2021 by Mark Clilverd
Solar flares increase the electron number concentration in the day-time ionosphere, potentially affecting radiowave propagation over several frequency ranges. In this study, we use ionospheric observations to determine both peak…Read more on Solar flare X‐ray impacts on long subionospheric VLF paths
11 November, 2021 by Huw Griffiths, Peter Convey
The polar regions provide valuable insights into the functioning of the Earth’s regulating systems. Conducting field research in such harsh and remote environments requires strong international cooperation, extended planning horizons,…