Our publications

Past Antarctic ice sheet dynamics (PAIS) and implications for future sea-level change

1 October, 2021 by Dominic Hodgson, Fausto Ferraccioli, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Lara Perez Miguel, Richard Hindmarsh, Robert Larter, Richard Hindmarsh

The legacy of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s (SCAR) PAIS strategic research programme includes not only breakthrough scientific discoveries, but it is also the story of a long-standing deep…

The Eocene-Oligocene boundary climate transition: an Antarctic perspective

1 October, 2021 by Jane Francis

Antarctica underwent a complex evolution over the course of the Cenozoic, which influenced the history of the Earth’s climate system. The Eocene-Oligocene boundary is a divide of this history when…

Cenozoic history of Antarctic glaciation and climate from onshore and offshore studies

1 October, 2021 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Lara Perez Miguel, Robert Larter

The past three decades have seen a sustained and coordinated effort to refine the seismic stratigraphic framework of the Antarctic margin that has underpinned the development of numerous geological drilling…

Antarctic environmental change and ice sheet evolution through the Miocene to Pliocene – a perspective from the Ross Sea and George V to Wilkes Land Coasts

1 October, 2021 by Lara Perez Miguel

The Miocene to Pliocene (Neogene) occurred between 23.04 and 2.58 million years ago and includes intervals of peak global warmth where Earth’s average surface temperature was up to 8℃ warmer…

Drift orbit bifurcations and cross-field transport in the outer radiation belt: Global MHD and integrated test-particle simulations

30 September, 2021 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert

Energetic particle fluxes in the outer magnetosphere present a significant challenge to modeling efforts as they can vary by orders of magnitude in response to solar wind driving conditions. In…

Pragmatic assignment of species groups based on primary species hypotheses: the case of a dominant component of the Southern Ocean benthic fauna

30 September, 2021 by Chester Sands

Ecological studies that enhance our understanding of the structure and function of the natural world rely heavily on accurate species identification. With rapid sample accumulation and declining taxonomic expertise, cladistics,…

Otolith-derived field metabolic rates of myctophids (Family Myctophidae) from the Scotia Sea (Southern Ocean)

30 September, 2021 by Anna Belcher, Gabriele Stowasser, Ryan Saunders

Myctophids (Family Myctophidae, commonly known as the lanternfishes) are critical components of open ocean food webs and an important part of the ocean biological carbon pump, as many species actively…

A person riding a wave on top of a mountain.

Low mitochondrial genetic diversity in the Indian Ocean humpback dolphin Sousa plumbea in South African waters

23 September, 2021 by Jennifer Jackson

The Indian Ocean humpback dolphin Sousa plumbea has been described as South Africa’s most endangered marine mammal due to its low abundance, reliance on coastal habitats with increasing anthropogenic threats…

Standing stock of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana, 1850) (Euphausiacea) in the Southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, 2018–19

22 September, 2021 by Eugene Murphy, Philip Trathan, Sophie Fielding

Estimates of the distribution and density of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana, 1850) were derived from a large-scale survey conducted during the austral summer in the Southwest Atlantic sector of…

Multiyear trend in reproduction underpins interannual variation in gametogenic development of an Antarctic urchin

22 September, 2021 by Lloyd Peck, Rebecca De Leij

Ecosystems and their biota operate on cyclic rhythms, often entrained by predictable, small-scale changes in their natural environment. Recording and understanding these rhythms can detangle the effect of human induced…

Microplastics and other anthropogenic particles in Antarctica: using penguins as biological samplers

20 September, 2021 by Claire Waluda

Microplastics (< 5mm in size) is known to be widespread in the marine environment, but it is still poorly studied in Polar Regions, particularly in the Antarctic. As penguins have…

Interhemispheric differences of mesosphere-lower thermosphere winds and tides investigated from three whole-atmosphere models and meteor radar observations

17 September, 2021

Long-term and continuous observations of mesospheric-lower thermospheric winds are rare, but they are important to investigate climatological changes at these altitudes on timescales of several years, covering a solar cycle…

New technological frontiers in ocean mixing

17 September, 2021 by Alexander Brearley, Michael Meredith

This chapter gives an overview of recent advances in in situ observations of ocean mixing. It starts by providing a brief history of measuring ocean mixing. It then describes adaptations…

Ocean mixing: oceanography at a watershed

17 September, 2021 by Michael Meredith

Ocean mixing exerts a fundamental influence across many elements of the Earth system, including circulation, planetary-scale climate and the ecosystem. Despite wide recognition of this importance today, research into ocean…

Ocean Mixing: Drivers, Mechanisms and Impacts

16 September, 2021 by Michael Meredith

Ocean Mixing: Drivers, Mechanisms and Impacts contains a broad perspective on the causes of ocean mixing, with a perspective on the implications, in terms of governing ocean circulation, climate, biogeochemistry…

Climatology of quasi-2-day wave structure and variability at middle latitudes in the northern and southern hemispheres.

15 September, 2021 by Tracy Moffat-Griffin

Climatological structure of the quasi-2-day wave (Q2DW) at middle latitudes in temperature and horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) was compared between the northern and southern hemispheres.…

Extinction of austral diatoms in response to large-scale climate dynamics in Antarctica

15 September, 2021 by Bianca Perren, Dominic Hodgson

Despite evidence for microbial endemism, an understanding of the impact of geological and paleoclimate events on the evolution of regional protist communities remains elusive. Here, we provide insights into the…

Cooperatively breeding banded mongooses do not avoid inbreeding through familiarity-based kin recognition

10 September, 2021

In species that live in family groups, such as cooperative breeders, inbreeding is usually avoided through the recognition of familiar kin. For example, individuals may avoid mating with conspecifics encountered…

Sweepstake reproductive success and collective dispersal produce chaotic genetic patchiness in a broadcast spawner

10 September, 2021 by Lloyd Peck, Michael Meredith, Melody Clark

A long-standing paradox of marine populations is chaotic genetic patchiness (CGP), temporally unstable patterns of genetic differentiation that occur below the geographic scale of effective dispersal. Several mechanisms are hypothesized…

Genetic connectivity of seamount populations of bluenose warehou (Hyperoglyphe antarctica)

9 September, 2021 by Emma Young

Quantifying the level of population connectivity within and between geographically separated single-species deep-water fisheries stocks will be vital for designing effective management plans to preserve such populations. Despite this, stock…

Evaluating artisanal fishing of globally threatened sharks and rays in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh

9 September, 2021 by Rachel Cavanagh

Sharks and rays are at risk of extinction globally. This reflects low resilience to increasing fishing pressure, exacerbated by habitat loss, climate change, increasing value in a trade and inadequate…

Hot plasma in the magnetotail lobes shows characteristics consistent with closed field lines trapped in the lobes

7 September, 2021 by Jade Reidy, Jade Reidy

We examine the magnetotail using data from the Hot Ion Analyzer on Cluster 1 during 2001–2009. We develop and utilise an algorithm in order to identify times during which Cluster…

Identification of potential methane source regions in Europe using δ13 CCH4 measurements and trajectory modeling

7 September, 2021 by James France

The methane emissions from the Hungarian Pannonian Basin are not well qualified, due to a lack of measurements of CH4 mole fraction and δ13CCH4 in the air. This study reports…

Societal importance of Antarctic negative feedbacks on climate change: blue carbon gains from sea ice, ice shelf and glacier losses.

7 September, 2021 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Nadescha Zwerschke

Diminishing prospects for environmental preservation under climate change are intensifying efforts to boost capture, storage and sequestration (long-term burial) of carbon. However, as Earth’s biological carbon sinks also shrink, remediation…

Liverworts frequently form mycothalli on Spitsbergen in the High Arctic

7 September, 2021 by Kevin Newsham, Will Goodall-Copestake

Mycothalli, symbioses between liverworts and soil fungi, have not previously been recorded in the Arctic. Here, 13 species of leafy liverwort from west Spitsbergen in the High Arctic are examined…

Comparison of kilometre and sub‐kilometre scale simulations of a foehn wind event over the Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula using the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM)

6 September, 2021 by Amelie Kirchgaessner, Andrew Orr, John King, Tony Phillips

A foehn event on 27 January 2011 over the Larsen C Ice Shelf (LCIS), Antarctic Peninsula and its interaction with an exisiting ground-based cold-air pool is simulated using the MetUM…

External Morphology of Larvae of Belgica antarctica Jacobs, 1900 (Diptera, Chironomidae) Obtained from Two Locations in Maritime Antarctica

3 September, 2021 by Peter Convey

The external morphology of the fourth-instar larva of the Antarctic endemic chironomid midge Belgica antarctica is described. Larvae were collected from Jougla Point (Wiencke Island) and an un-named island close…

A new percussion hammer mechanism for a borehole deployable subglacial sediment corer

1 September, 2021 by Andy Smith, Dominic Hodgson, Daniel Ashurst, James Smith, Keith Makinson, Paul Anker, Peter Davis

Subglacial sediments have the potential to reveal information about the controls on glacier flow, changes in ice-sheet history and characterise life in those environments. Retrieving sediments from beneath the ice,…

Ice stream subglacial access for ice sheet history and fast ice flow: The BEAMISH Project on Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica and initial results on basal conditions

1 September, 2021 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Dominic Hodgson, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker

Three holes were drilled to the bed of Rutford Ice Stream, through ice up to 2154 m thick, to investigate the basal processes and conditions associated with fast ice flow…

The BEAMISH hot water drill system and its use on the Rutford Ice Stream, Antarctica

1 September, 2021 by Andy Smith, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker

During the 2018/19 Antarctic field season, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Basal conditions on Rutford Ice Stream: BEd Access, Monitoring and Ice Sheet History’ (BEAMISH) project drilled three holes through…

Strong quasi-stationary wintertime atmospheric surface pressure anomalies drive a dipole pattern in the Subantarctic Mode Water formation

1 September, 2021 by Andrew Meijers

The deepest wintertime (Jul-Sep) mixed layers associated with Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) formation develop in the Indian and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean. In these two sectors the dominant…

Non-contact measurement system for hot water drilled ice boreholes

1 September, 2021 by Alex Brisbourne, Carson McAfee, Julius Rix, Keith Makinson, Paul Anker, Sean Quirk

A programmable borehole measurement system was deployed in hot water drilled ice holes during the ‘Bed Access and Monitoring of Ice Sheet History’ (BEAMISH) project to drill to the bed…

Development of a clean hot water drill to access Subglacial Lake CECs, West Antarctica

1 September, 2021 by Andy Smith, David Goodger, Julius Rix, Keith Makinson, Paul Anker, Scott Polfrey

Recent drilling successes on Rutford Ice Stream in West Antarctica demonstrate the viability of hot water drilling subglacial access holes to depths >2000 m. Having techniques to access deep subglacial…

A bivalve biomineralization toolbox

1 September, 2021 by Melody Clark, Tejaswi Yarra

Mollusc shells are a result of the deposition of crystalline and amorphous calcite catalysed by enzymes and shell matrix proteins. Developing a detailed understanding of bivalve mollusc biomineralization pathways is…

Ice drilling on Skytrain Ice Rise and Sherman Island, Antarctica

1 September, 2021 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Julius Rix, Rebecca Tuckwell, Robert Mulvaney, Scott Polfrey

To understand the long-term climate and glaciological evolution of the ice sheet in the region bordering the Weddell Sea, the British Antarctic Survey has undertaken a series of successful ice…

Utilising IPCC assessments to support the ecosystem approach to fisheries management within a warming Southern Ocean

1 September, 2021 by Eugene Murphy, John Turner, Michael Meredith, Philip Hollyman, Philip Trathan, Rachel Cavanagh, Simeon Hill, Susie Grant

Southern Ocean marine ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate-driven change, the impacts of which must be factored into conservation and management. The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living…

Drivers of abundance and spatial distribution in Southern Ocean peracarid Crustacea

1 September, 2021 by Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse

The Southern Ocean (SO) continental shelf and deep sea are environments characterised by different benthic communities. Their structure and composition are driven and shaped by different variables: whilst on the…

Mitigating the impact of longline fisheries on seabirds: Lessons learned from the South Georgia Patagonian toothfish fishery (CCAMLR Subarea 48.3)

1 September, 2021 by Martin Collins, Philip Hollyman, Richard Phillips

Seabird mortality in fisheries is a global problem and a major driver of the continued decline of many seabird populations. Unless appropriate mitigation is in place, longline fishing can cause…

Enhancing the ecosystem approach for the fishery for Antarctic krill within the complex, variable and changing ecosystem at South Georgia

1 September, 2021 by Eugene Murphy, Martin Collins, Philip Hollyman, Philip Trathan, Sophie Fielding, Victoria Warwick-Evans

The objective of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management is to sustain healthy marine ecosystems and the fisheries they support. One of the earliest implementations was in the Southern Ocean,…

Regime behavior in the upper stratosphere as a precursor of stratosphere-troposphere coupling in the northern winter

1 September, 2021 by Hua Lu, John King, Thomas Bracegirdle

A new regime index is constructed to capture the seasonal development of the stratospheric polar vortex in the northern winter, based on the standard deviation of Ertel’s potential vorticity in…

Tracking juveniles confirms fisheries-bycatch hotspot for an endangered albatross

1 September, 2021 by Caitlin Frankish, Richard Phillips

Fisheries bycatch is a major threat to marine megafauna such as seabirds. Population monitoring has revealed low survival of juvenile seabirds over recent decades, potentially because naïve individuals are more…

An age scale for the first shallow (sub-)Antarctic ice core from Young Island, Northwest Ross Sea

1 September, 2021 by Dieter Tetzner, Dorothea Moser, Liz Thomas

The climate of the sub-Antarctic is important in understanding the environmental conditions of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. However, regional climate proxy records from this region are scarce. In this…

New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential

31 August, 2021 by Rachel Cavanagh

To evaluate the species diversity and strengthen the taxonomic identification of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, a study was conducted in the southeast coastal region between January 2016…

Tropical teleconnection impacts on Antarctic climate changes

31 August, 2021 by John Turner, Paul Holland

Over the modern satellite era, substantial climatic changes have been observed in the Antarctic, including atmospheric and oceanic warming, ice sheet thinning and a general Antarctic-wide expansion of sea ice,…

Future sea level change under Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 and 6 scenarios from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets

28 August, 2021 by Thomas Bracegirdle

Projections of the sea level contribution from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets rely on atmospheric and oceanic drivers obtained from climate models. The Earth System Models participating in the…

Frequency-dependent modulation of whistler-mode waves by density irregularities during the recovery phase of a geomagnetic storm

28 August, 2021 by Richard Horne

Density irregularities near the plasmapause are commonly observed and play an important role in whistler-mode wave excitation and propagation. In this study, we report a frequency-dependent modulation event of whistler-mode…

Spring‐fall asymmetry in VLF amplitudes recorded in the North Atlantic region: The fall‐effect

28 August, 2021 by Mark Clilverd

A spring-fall asymmetry is observed in daytime amplitude values of very low frequency (VLF) radio wave signals propagating over the North Atlantic during 2011–2019. We explore the processes behind this…

Rapid and accurate polarimetric radar measurements of ice crystal fabric orientation at the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core site

27 August, 2021 by Carlos Martin Garcia

The crystal orientation fabric (COF) of ice sheets records the past history of ice sheet deformation and influences present-day ice flow dynamics. Though not widely implemented, coherent ice-penetrating radar is…

A body of water surrounded by ice with a mountain in the background

Seasonal Arctic sea ice forecasting with probabilistic deep learning

26 August, 2021 by Dani Jones, Emily Shuckburgh, James Byrne, Scott Hosking, Jeremy Wilkinson, Tony Phillips, Tom Andersson

Anthropogenic warming has led to an unprecedented year-round reduction in Arctic sea ice extent. This has far-reaching consequences for indigenous and local communities, polar ecosystems, and global climate, motivating the…

ExtremeEarth meets satellite data from space

26 August, 2021 by Andrew Fleming, Andreas Cziferszky

Bringing together a number of cutting-edge technologies that range from storing extremely large volumesof data all the way to developing scalable machine learning and deep learning algorithms in a distributed…

EUREC4A

25 August, 2021 by Thomas Lachlan-Cope

The science guiding the EUREC4A campaign and its measurements is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and…

Interplanetary shock‐induced magnetopause motion: Comparison between theory and global magnetohydrodynamic simulations

18 August, 2021 by Mervyn Freeman, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne

The magnetopause marks the outer edge of the Earth’s magnetosphere and a distinct boundary between solar wind and magnetospheric plasma populations. In this letter, we use global magnetohydrodynamic simulations to…

Intermediate ice scour disturbance is key to maintaining a peak in biodiversity within the shallows of the Western Antarctic Peninsula

18 August, 2021 by Ben Robinson, David Barnes, Simon Morley

Climate-related disturbance regimes are changing rapidly with profound consequences for ecosystems. Disturbance is often perceived as detrimental to biodiversity; however, the literature is divided on how they influence each other.…

High geothermal heat flow beneath Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica inferred from aeromagnetic data

18 August, 2021 by Fausto Ferraccioli

Geothermal heat flow in the polar regions plays a crucial role in understanding ice-sheet dynamics and predictions of sea level rise. Continental-scale indirect estimates often have a low spatial resolution…

Evaluating auroral forecasts against satellite observations

17 August, 2021 by Gareth Chisham

The aurora is a readily visible phenomenon of interest to many members of the public. However, the aurora and associated phenomena can also significantly impact communications, ground-based infrastructure, and high-altitude…

What is the surface mass balance of Antarctica? An intercomparison of regional climate model estimates.

17 August, 2021 by Andrew Orr, Tony Phillips

We compare the performance of five different regional climate models (RCMs) (COSMO-CLM2, HIRHAM5, MAR3.10, MetUM, and RACMO2.3p2), forced by ERA-Interim reanalysis, in simulating the near-surface climate and surface mass balance…

Estimating dissipation rates associated with double diffusion

16 August, 2021 by Leo Middleton

Double diffusion refers to a variety of turbulent processes in which potential energy is released into kinetic energy, made possible in the ocean by the difference in molecular diffusivities between…

Direct evidence reveals transmitter signal propagation in the magnetosphere

16 August, 2021 by Richard Horne

Signals from very-low-frequency transmitters on the ground are known to induce energetic electron precipitation from the Earth's radiation belts. The effectiveness of this mechanism depends on the propagation characteristics of…

Decline in plankton diversity and carbon flux with reduced sea ice extent along the Western Antarctic Peninsula

16 August, 2021 by Michael Meredith

Since the middle of the past century, the Western Antarctic Peninsula has warmed rapidly with a significant loss of sea ice but the impacts on plankton biodiversity and carbon cycling…

Using forecasting methods to incorporate social, economic, and political considerations into Marine Protected Area planning

13 August, 2021 by Philip Trathan

As the global environmental crisis grows in scale and complexity, conservation professionals and policymakers are increasingly called upon to make decisions despite high levels of uncertainty, limited resources, and insufficient…

Impacts of UV Irradiance and Medium-Energy Electron Precipitation on the North Atlantic Oscillation during the 11-Year Solar Cycle.

11 August, 2021 by Mark Clilverd

Observational studies suggest that part of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) variability may be attributed to the spectral ultra-violet (UV) irradiance variations associated to the 11-year solar cycle. The observed…

Latitudinal patterns in intertidal ecosystem structure in West Greenland suggest resilience to climate change

5 August, 2021 by Jakob Thyrring, Lloyd Peck

Climate change has ecosystem‐wide cascading effects. Little is known, however, about the resilience of Arctic marine ecosystems to environmental change. Here we quantify and compare large‐scale patterns in rocky intertidal…

Global connectivity of Southern Ocean ecosystems

4 August, 2021 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Eugene Murphy, Geraint Tarling, Jennifer Jackson, Kevin Hughes, Nadine Johnston, Philip Trathan, Richard Phillips, Rachel Cavanagh, Ryan Saunders, Sally Thorpe

Southern Ocean ecosystems are globally important. Processes in the Antarctic atmosphere, cryosphere, and the Southern Ocean directly influence global atmospheric and oceanic systems. Southern Ocean biogeochemistry has also been shown…

Sea cucumbers (Echinodermata, Holothuroidea) from the JR275 expedition to the Eastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

4 August, 2021 by Huw Griffiths

Thirty-seven holothuroid species, including six potentially new, are reported from the eastern Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Information regarding sea cucumbers in this dataset is based on Agassiz Trawl (AGT) samples…

The effects of combined ocean acidification and nanoplastic exposures on the embryonic development of Antarctic krill

3 August, 2021 by Clara Manno, Emily Rowlands, Sally Thorpe, Victoria Peck

In aquatic environments, plastic pollution occurs concomitantly with anthropogenic climate stressors such as ocean acidification. Within the Southern Ocean, Antarctic krill (Euphausia Superba) support many marine predators and play a…

Multi-scale assessment of distribution and density of procellariiform seabirds within the Northern Antarctic Peninsula marine ecosystem

1 August, 2021 by Philip Trathan, Victoria Warwick-Evans

The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on earth, and it is likely that the abundance and distribution of marine predators will change as a result.Procellariiform…

History of Larsen C Ice Shelf reconstructed from sub-ice shelf and offshore sediments

1 August, 2021 by Emily Venables, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker

Because ice shelves respond to climatic forcing over a range of time scales, from years to millennia, an understanding of their long-term history is critically needed for predicting their future…

A man riding a wave on top of a mountain.

Robust model-based indicators of regional differences in food-web structure in the Southern Ocean

1 August, 2021 by Simeon Hill

Efforts to model marine food-webs are generally undertaken by small teams working separately on specific regions (

A body of water with a mountain in the background.

Cephalopod fauna of the Pacific Southern Ocean using Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) as biological samplers and fisheries bycatch specimens

1 August, 2021

Cephalopods are an important component of Southern Ocean food webs but studies analysing their habitat and trophic ecology are scarce. Here, we use the Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni as a…

Implementation and impacts of surface and blowing snow sources of Arctic bromine activation within WRF-Chem 4.1.1

1 August, 2021 by Markus Frey

Elevated concentrations of atmospheric bromine are known to cause ozone depletion in the Arctic, which is most frequently observed during springtime. We implement a detailed description of bromine and chlorine…

Variability in tissue-specific trophic discrimination factors (∆13C and ∆15N) between Antarctic krill Euphausia superba and free-ranging Pygoscelis penguins

1 August, 2021

For top consumers in marine environments, trophic discrimination factors (∆13C and ∆15N) between food and consumers’ tissues are expected to be similar among related species. However, few studies conducted in…

Experimental determination of reflectance spectra of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in the Scotia Sea

1 August, 2021 by Anna Belcher, Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Louise Ireland, Peter Fretwell, Sophie Fielding

Antarctic krill are the dominant metazoan in the Southern Ocean in terms of biomass; however, their wide and patchy distribution means that estimates of their biomass are still uncertain. Most…

Tracing glacial meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet to the ocean using gliders

1 August, 2021 by Jacob Opher, Alexander Brearley, Michael Meredith

The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is experiencing significant mass loss and freshwater discharge at glacier fronts. The freshwater input from Greenland will impact the physical properties of adjacent coastal seas,…

Radio-echo sounding and waveform modeling reveal abundant marine ice in former rifts and basal crevasses within Crary Ice Rise, Antarctica

1 August, 2021 by Carlos Martin Garcia

Crary Ice Rise formed after the Ross Ice Shelf re-grounded ~1 kyr BP. We present new ice-penetrating radar data from two systems operating at center frequencies of 7 and 750…

Eco-interactions of engineered nanomaterials in the marine environment: Towards an eco-design framework

1 August, 2021 by Elisa Bergami

Marine nano-ecotoxicology has emerged with the purpose to assess the environmental risks associated with engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) among contaminants of emerging concerns entering the marine environment. ENMs’ massive production and…

Carbon isotopic characterisation and oxidation of UK landfill methane emissions by atmospheric measurements

1 August, 2021 by James France

Biological oxidation of methane in landfill cover material can be calculated from the carbon isotopic signature (δ13CCH4) of emitted CH4. Enhanced microbial consumption of methane in the aerobic portion of…

Atmospheric circulation and surface observations: Antarctica and the Southern Ocean

1 August, 2021 by Steve Colwell

Evidence for a highly dynamic West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Pliocene

28 July, 2021 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand

Major ice loss in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is hypothesized to have triggered ice sheet collapses during past warm periods such as those…

A man riding a wave on top of a body of water.

Cetaceans sightings during research cruises in three remote Atlantic British Overseas Territories

28 July, 2021 by Simon Morley

Marine mammal sightings were recorded during research cruises to three remote, mid-ocean British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean. In March to April 2018 and 2019, the…

A citizen science trial to assess perception of wild penguin welfare

27 July, 2021 by Philip Trathan

Wild penguins are facing increased threats to their populations and their welfare as a consequence of human activities. Understanding the perception of animal welfare is essential to identify ethical concerns…

Ethane measurement by Picarro CRDS G2201-i in laboratory and field conditions: potential and limitations

27 July, 2021 by James France

Atmospheric ethane can be used as a tracer to distinguish methane sources, both at the local and global scale. Currently, ethane can be measured in the field using flasks or…

Downhole distributed acoustic seismic profiling at Skytrain Ice Rise, West Antarctica

23 July, 2021 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Sofia-Katerina Kufner

Antarctic ice sheet history is imprinted in the structure and fabric of the ice column. At ice rises, the signature of ice flow history is preserved due to the low…

Bridging observations, theory and numerical simulation of the ocean using machine learning

22 July, 2021 by Dani Jones

Progress within physical oceanography has been concurrent with the increasing sophistication of tools available for its study. The incorporation of machine learning (ML) techniques offers exciting possibilities for advancing the…

Climate-driven phenological changes in the Russian Arctic derived from MODIS LAI time series 2000-2019

22 July, 2021 by Gareth Marshall

Arctic surface temperature has increased at approximately twice the global rate over the past few decades and is also projected to warm most in the 21st century. However, the mechanism…

Data‐driven basis functions for SuperDARN ionospheric plasma flow characterisation and prediction

21 July, 2021 by Gareth Chisham, Mervyn Freeman, Rob Shore

The archive of plasma velocity measurements from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) provides a rich dataset for investigation of magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling. However, systematic gaps in this archive exist…

Key climate change effects on the coastal and marine environment around the Polar UK Overseas Territories

21 July, 2021 by Martin Collins, Mark Belchier, Rachel Cavanagh, Susie Grant

Investigating the uptake and fate of poly- and perfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) in sea ice using an experimental sea ice chamber

20 July, 2021 by James France

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are contaminants of emerging Arctic concern and are present in the marine environments of the polar regions. Their input to and fate within the marine…

Mytilus trossulus introgression and consequences for shell traits in longline cultivated mussels

19 July, 2021 by Luca Telesca

Mussels belonging to the Mytilus species complex (M. edulis, ME; M. galloprovincialis, MG; and M. trossulus, MT) often occur in sympatry, facilitating introgressive hybridisation. This may be further promoted by…

Movements and diving behaviour of white-chinned petrels: Diurnal variation and implications for bycatch mitigation

17 July, 2021 by Caitlin Frankish, Richard Phillips

1. Many seabirds dive to forage, and the ability to use this hunting technique varies according to such factors as morphology, physiology, prey availability, and ambient light levels. Proficient divers…

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) for natural microseismicity studies: A case study from Antarctica

16 July, 2021 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Sofia-Katerina Kufner

Icequakes, microseismic earthquakes at glaciers, offer insights into the dynamics of ice sheets. For the first time in the Antarctic, we explore the use of fiber optic cables as Distributed…

Life in the extreme: when did tardigrades colonise Antarctica?

15 July, 2021 by Katherine Short

Marked seasonal changes in the microbial production, community composition and biogeochemistry of glacial snowpack ecosystems in the maritime Antarctic

15 July, 2021 by Peter Convey

We describe seasonal changes in the biogeochemistry, microbial community and ecosystem production of two glacial snowpacks in the maritime Antarctic during a cold summer. Frequent snowfall and low, intermittent melt…

Isotopic signatures of major methane sources in the coal seam gas fields and adjacent agricultural districts, Queensland, Australia

14 July, 2021 by James France

In regions where there are multiple sources of methane (CH4) in close proximity, it can be difficult to apportion the CH4 measured in the atmosphere to the appropriate sources. In…

Preliminary report on climate risk in the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough region, 2020-2099

13 July, 2021 by Charles Simpson

Commissioned by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Commission on Climate, this report provides a high-level risk assessment of changes the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough region may experience due to climate change…

Movement patterns and activity levels are shaped by the neonatal environment in Antarctic fur seal pups

12 July, 2021 by Cameron Fox-Clarke, Camille Toscani, Claire Stainfield, Jaume Forcada

Tracking studies of juveniles are rare compared to those of adults, and consequently little is known about the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on activity during this critical life…

A diagram of the magnetic lines around the planet Jupiter, with the satellites that measure them

Revealing the source of Jupiter’s x-ray auroral flares

9 July, 2021 by Emma Woodfield

Jupiter’s rapidly rotating, strong magnetic field provides a natural laboratory that is key to understanding the dynamics of high-energy plasmas. Spectacular auroral x-ray flares are diagnostic of the most energetic…

The impact of sudden commencements on ground magnetic field variability: Immediate and delayed consequences

8 July, 2021 by Mervyn Freeman

We examine how Sudden Commencements (SCs) and Storm Sudden Commencements (SSCs) influence the occurrence of high rates of change of the magnetic field (R) as a function of geomagnetic latitude.…

Vertical profiling of the electrical properties of charged desert dust during the pre-ASKOS campaign.

6 July, 2021 by Joseph Ulanowski

Numerous studies of the electrical properties in dusty environments, related to lofted particle charging, indicate that it is a rather complex mechanism which greatly affects the particle dynamics. The electrification…

A man riding a wave on top of haystack rock.

DNA metabarcoding to assess the diversity of airborne fungi present over Keller Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica

1 July, 2021 by Peter Convey

We assessed fungal diversity present in air samples obtained from King George Island, Antarctica, using DNA metabarcoding through high-throughput sequencing. We detected 186 fungal amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) dominated by…

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