Showing 11923 items
24 September, 2020 by Keith Nicholls
Calving events of Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, in 2010 and 2012 reduced the length of its ice tongue by c. 25 km, allowing exploration of newly uncovered seafloor during the…
20 September, 2020 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
The marine-based West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is considered the most unstable part of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, with particular vulnerability in the Amundsen Sea sector where glaciers are melting…
18 September, 2020 by Andrew Fleming, Adrian Jenkins, David Bett, Paul Holland
The Amundsen Sea has the highest thinning rates of ice shelves in Antarctica. This imbalance is caused by changes in ocean melting induced by warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) intrusions.…
16 September, 2020 by Ella Gilbert, John King
Recent ice shelf retreat on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been principally attributed to atmospherically driven melt. However, previous studies on the largest of these ice shelves…
16 September, 2020 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Michael Meredith, Simon Morley
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) dominates the open-ocean circulation of the Southern Ocean, and both isolates and connects the Southern Ocean biodiversity. However, the impact on biological processes of other…
16 September, 2020 by Louise Ireland, Richard Phillips
Long-term studies of pelagic nekton in the Southern Ocean and their responses to ongoing environmental change are rare. Using stable isotope ratios measured in squid beaks recovered from diet samples…
15 September, 2020 by Hua Lu
Extreme polar vortex events known as sudden stratospheric warmings can influence surface winter weather conditions, but their timing is difficult to predict. Here, we examine factors that influence their occurrence,…Read more on Forecasting extreme stratospheric polar vortex events
14 September, 2020 by Anna Belcher, Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Ryan Saunders, Sophie Fielding
Mesopelagic fish are an important component of marine ecosystems, and their contribution to marine biogeochemical cycles is becoming increasingly recognized. However, major uncertainties remain in the rates at which they…
9 September, 2020 by Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter, Tom Jordan
Ice shelves play a critical role in the long-term stability of ice sheets through their buttressing effect. The underlying bathymetry and cavity thickness are key inputs for modelling future ice…
9 September, 2020 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, James Kirkham, Kelly Hogan, Robert Arthern, Robert Larter, Tom Jordan
The geometry of the sea floor immediately beyond Antarctica's marine-terminating glaciers is a fundamental control on warm-water routing, but it also describes former topographic pinning points that have been important…9 September, 2020 by Thomas Bauska
Carbonate cave deposits (speleothems) have been used widely for paleoclimate reconstructions; however, few studies have examined the utility of other speleothem-forming minerals for this purpose. Here we demonstrate for the…
7 September, 2020 by Dani Jones, David Vaughan, Emily Shuckburgh, Erik Mackie
Sea level rise increases the frequency and severity of storm surges and coastal flooding, causing serious damage to critical infrastructure and leading to the displacement of coastal communities around the…
2 September, 2020 by Luca Telesca
The three mussel species comprising the Mytilus complex are widespread across Europe and readily hybridize when they occur in sympatry, resulting in a mosaic of populations with varying genomic backgrounds.…2 September, 2020 by Ingrid Cnossen
The magnetic equator in the Brazilian region has moved over 1,100 km northward since 1957, passing the geomagnetic observatory Tatuoca (TTB), in northern Brazil, around 2013. We recovered and processed…2 September, 2020 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
In 2013 an ice core was recovered from Roosevelt Island, an ice dome between two submarine troughs carved by paleo-ice-streams in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The ice core is part…Read more on An 83 000-year-old ice core from Roosevelt Island, Ross Sea, Antarctica
1 September, 2020 by Jennifer Jackson, Peter Convey
Environmental conditions were particularly severe during the Last Glacial Maximum, altering the distribution of the Southern Hemisphere biota, particularly at higher latitudes. The copepod Boeckella poppei is the only macroscopic…
1 September, 2020 by Hugh Venables
Copepods that enter dormancy, such as Calanoides acutus, are key primary consumers in Southern Ocean food webs where they convert a portion of the seasonal phytoplankton biomass into a longer-term…Read more on Plasticity in dormancy behaviour of Calanoides acutus in Antarctic coastal waters
1 September, 2020 by Alessandro Cavallo, Lloyd Peck
Seasonality of food supply is a major driver of physiological and ecological adaptations of marine zooplankton. High-latitude marine copepods accumulate lipids for maintenance and reproductive maturation during the food-depleted winter…Read more on Lipid storage patterns in marine copepods: environmental, ecological
1 September, 2020 by Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Ryan Saunders, Sophie Fielding
Myctophids are the most abundant fish group in the Southern Ocean pelagic ecosystem and are an important link in the Antarctic marine food web. Due to their major ecological role,…Read more on Main drivers of mercury levels in Southern Ocean lantern fish Myctophidae
1 September, 2020 by Ben Robinson, David Barnes, Simon Morley
Disturbance is a key factor in most natural environments and, globally, disturbance regimes are changing, driven by increased anthropogenic influences, including climate change. There is, however, still a lack of…
1 September, 2020 by Kaitlin Naughten, Thomas Bracegirdle
Two decades into the 21st century there is growing evidence for global impacts of Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate change. Reliable estimates of how the Antarctic climate system would behave…Read more on Twenty first century changes in Antarctic and Southern Ocean surface climate in CMIP6
1 September, 2020 by Daniel Ashurst, Julius Rix, Robert Mulvaney
The paleoclimate community has an interest in distributed subglacial bedrock sampling but, while capable drill systems do exist, they are often incompatible with Twin Otter logistics. To address this issue,…
1 September, 2020 by Gareth Marshall
Extreme precipitation events (EPEs) have a major impact across Arctic Fennoscandia (AF). Here we examine the spatial variability of seasonal 50-year trends in three EPEs across AF for 1968–2017, using…
1 September, 2020 by Philip Trathan
When successive stages of an organism's life-history overlap, conflicts and trade-offs can emerge due to competition among physiological pathways. For example, long periods of sustained locomotion in migrating birds are…Read more on Trade-off between aerobic performance and egg production in migratory macaroni penguins
1 September, 2020 by Peter Convey
The Antarctic is generally considered to be one of the most pristine areas in the world. However, both long and short-range pollutants are now known to be present in the…
1 September, 2020 by Alex Burton-Johnson, Philip Leat, Teal Riley
The Cretaceous marks an episode of enhanced magmatism, sedimentation and tectonic processes along the entire proto-Pacific convergent margin of West Gondwana. Cretaceous magmatism across the Antarctic Peninsula is dominated by…
1 September, 2020 by Mark Belchier, Susan Gregory
As the role of mercury is poorly known in Southern Ocean biota, the total mercury (T-Hg) concentrations were evaluated in upper/lower beaks, digestive gland, gills and mantle muscle of Adelieledone…Read more on Antarctic octopod beaks as proxy for mercury concentrations in soft tissues
1 September, 2020 by Thomas Bracegirdle
Earth System models enable a broad range of climate interactions that physical climate models are unable to simulate. However, the extent to which adding Earth System components changes or improves…1 September, 2020 by Emma Young, Michael Meredith
The northeast periphery of the Scotia Sea hosts one of the largest chlorophyll‐a blooms of the Southern Ocean. This bloom peaks to the northwest of the island of South Georgia,…1 September, 2020 by Peter Convey
This present study aimed at examining the ability of cold-adapted Antarctic bacteria to tolerate and degrade diesel in the presence of different types of heavy metal co-pollutants.
28 August, 2020 by Elisabeth Biersma, Jennifer Jackson, Katrin Linse, Peter Convey
Biogeographic patterns of globally widespread species are expected to reflect regional structure, as well as connectivity caused by occasional long-distance dispersal. We assessed the level and drivers of population structure,…
27 August, 2020 by Peter Convey
The dispersal routes of taxa with transoceanic disjunctions remain poorly understood, with the potential roles of Antarctica not yet demonstrated. Mosses are suitable organisms to test direct intra‐Antarctic dispersal, as…
27 August, 2020 by Peter Convey
Petroleum hydrocarbons, notably diesel oil, are the main energy source for running amenities in the Antarctic region and are the major cause of pollution in this area. Diesel oil spills…
26 August, 2020 by Peter Convey
With the progressive increase in human activities in the Antarctic region, the possibility of domestic oil spillage also increases. Developing means for the removal of oils, such as canola oil,…
24 August, 2020 by Peter Convey
During austral summer field seasons between 1999 and 2018, we sampled at 91 locations throughout southern Victoria Land and along the Transantarctic Mountains for six species of endemic microarthropods (Collembola),…24 August, 2020 by Keith Nicholls
Mass loss from the Antarctic ice sheet, Earth’s largest freshwater reservoir, results directly in global sea-level rise and Southern Ocean freshening. Observational and modeling studies have demonstrated that ice shelf…Read more on Strong ice-ocean interaction beneath Shirase Glacier Tongue in East Antarctica
21 August, 2020 by Emilie Capron
Abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period have been detected in a global array of palaeoclimate records, but our understanding of their absolute timing and regional synchrony is incomplete.…Read more on Synchronous timing of abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period
20 August, 2020 by Elisabeth Biersma, Kevin Newsham, Peter Convey, Will Goodall-Copestake
Aim: Antarctica's remote and extreme terrestrial environments are inhabited by only two species of native vascular plants. We assessed genetic connectivity amongst Antarctic and South American populations of one of…19 August, 2020 by Robert Mulvaney
The last glacial period is characterized by a number of millennial climate events that have been identified in both Greenland and Antarctic ice cores and that are abrupt in Greenland…
18 August, 2020 by Adrian Jenkins, Paul Holland
The changing supply of warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) to the West Antarctic continental shelf is responsible for the basal melting and thinning of the West Antarctic ice shelves that…18 August, 2020 by Heather Regan, Michael Meredith, Paul Holland
The Southern Ocean is chronically undersampled due to its remoteness, harsh environment, and sea ice cover. Ocean circulation models yield significant insight into key processes and to some extent obviate…
15 August, 2020 by Simon Morley
Studying the influence of changing environmental conditions on Antarctic marine benthic invertebrates is strongly constrained by limited access to the region, which poses difficulties to performing long-term experimental studies. Ecological…
15 August, 2020 by Elaine Mawbey, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith
Benthic foraminifera Mg/Ca is a well-established bottom water temperature (BWT) proxy used in paleoclimate studies. The relationship between Mg/Ca and BWT for numerous species has been determined using core-top and…13 August, 2020 by Geraint Tarling, Jennifer Freer, Martin Collins
Ecological niche models (ENMs) can be a practical approach for investigating distributions and habitat characteristics of pelagic species. In principle, to reflect the ecological niche of a species well, ENMs…11 August, 2020 by Pierre Dutrieux
This paper reviews the scientific motivation and challenges, development, and use of underwater robotic vehicles designed for use in ice-covered waters, with special attention paid to the navigation systems employed…
10 August, 2020 by Irene Malmierca Vallet, Louise Sime, Maria Vittoria Guarino
The Last Interglacial (LIG), a warmer period 130,000–116,000 years before present, is a potential analogue for future climate change. Stronger LIG summertime insolation at high northern latitudes drove Arctic land…Read more on Sea-ice-free Arctic during the Last Interglacial supports fast future loss
6 August, 2020 by Irene Malmierca Vallet, Louise Sime, Maria Vittoria Guarino
Palaeoclimate model simulations are an important tool to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of climate change. These simulations also provide tests of the ability of models to simulate climates…
1 August, 2020 by Scott Hosking
The current method for averaging model ensembles, which is to calculate a multi model mean, assumes model independence and equal model skill. Sharing of model components amongst families of models…
1 August, 2020 by Simeon Hill
Mercury is a bioaccumulating toxic pollutant which can reach humans through the consumption of contaminated food (e.g. marine fish). Although the Southern Ocean is often portrayed as a pristine ecosystem,…
1 August, 2020 by Philip Trathan
The conservation of biodiversity is hampered by data deficiencies, with many new species and subspecies awaiting description or reclassification. Population genomics and ecological niche modelling offer complementary new tools for…
1 August, 2020 by Richard Horne
The flux of > 2 MeV electrons at geosynchronous orbit is used by space weather forecasters as a key indicator of enhanced risk of damage to spacecraft in low, medium…Read more on Forecasting GOES 15 >2 MeV electron fluxes from solar wind data and geomagnetic indices
1 August, 2020 by Richard Phillips
1. In a highly dynamic airspace, flying animals are predicted to adjust foraging behaviour to variable wind conditions to minimize movement costs. 2. Sexual size dimorphism is widespread in wild…
1 August, 2020 by Alex Burton-Johnson
New field, geochemical, and geochronological data from the Segama Valley Felsic Intrusions (SVFI) of Sabah, north Borneo, shows them to be arc-derived tonalites; not windows or partial melts of a…1 August, 2020 by Andrew Kavanagh, Jade Reidy, Jade Reidy
This paper presents observations of polar cap arc substructure down to scale sizes of meters and temporal resolution of milliseconds. Two case studies containing polar cap arcs occurring over Svalbard…1 August, 2020 by Michael Rose, Mervyn Freeman
Nearly all studies of impulsive magnetic perturbation events (MPEs) with large magnetic field variability (dB/dt) that can produce dangerous geomagnetically‐induced currents (GICs) have used data from the northern hemisphere. Here…1 August, 2020 by Jaume Forcada
High density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays allow large numbers of individuals to be rapidly and cost-effectively genotyped at large numbers of genetic markers. However, despite being widely used in…
31 July, 2020 by Connor Bamford, Hannah Cubaynes, Jennifer Jackson, Laura Gerrish, Philip Trathan, Peter Fretwell
As whales recover from commercial exploitation, they are increasing in abundance in habitats that they have been absent from for decades. However, studying the recovery and habitat use patterns of…
31 July, 2020 by David Barnes
The Southern Ocean plays a critical role in regulating global climate as a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), and in global ocean biogeochemistry by supplying nutrients to the…Read more on Changing biogeochemistry of the Southern Ocean and its ecosystem implications
31 July, 2020 by Peter Convey
The skin is the first line of defense against pathogen and other environmental pollutant. The body is constantly exposed to reactive oxygen species (ROS) that stimulates inflammatory process in the…28 July, 2020 by Irena Vankova, Keith Nicholls
Several autonomous phase-sensitive radio-echo sounders (ApRES) were deployed at Greenland glaciers to investigate ice deformation. Different attenuation settings were tested and it was observed that, in the presence of clipping…Read more on Depth-dependent artifacts resulting from ApRES signal clipping
23 July, 2020 by Thomas Bracegirdle
Projection of the contribution of ice sheets to sea level change as part of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) takes the form of simulations from coupled ice…23 July, 2020 by Connor Bamford
Photographs collected during a 23 yr photo-identification study in the Moray Firth were examined to assess the prevalence, type and severity of vertebral deformations present in bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus…22 July, 2020 by Andrew Orr, Hamish Pritchard
Surface meltwater on ice shelves can exist as slush, it can pond in lakes or crevasses, or it can flow in surface streams and rivers. The collapse of the Larsen…Read more on Lateral meltwater transfer across an Antarctic ice shelf.
21 July, 2020 by Rosie Williams, Robert Arthern
We present the result of the third Marine Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project, MISMIP+. MISMIP+ is intended to be a benchmark for ice-flow models which include fast sliding marine ice…Read more on Results of the third Marine Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project (MISMIP+)
16 July, 2020 by Christopher Bull
Like many western boundary currents, the East Australian Current extension is projected to get stronger and warmer in the future. The CMIP5 multi‐model mean (MMM) projection suggests up to 5°C…
14 July, 2020 by Felipe Simoes, Peter Convey
The habitat of the intertidal flightless midge Telmatogeton magellanicus (Jacobs, 1900) is described for the first time from the northern coast of Navarino Island, Tierra del Fuego, Chile. Additionally, we…
14 July, 2020 by Jennifer Freer
Global oceans are absorbing over 90% of the heat trapped in our atmosphere due to accumulated anthropogenic greenhouse gases, resulting in increasing ocean temperatures. Such changes may influence marine ectotherms,…
13 July, 2020 by Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
Coastal zones of Antarctica harbor rich but highly variable phytoplankton communities. The mechanisms that control the dynamics of these communities are not well defined. Here we elucidate the mechanisms that…
7 July, 2020 by Johnathan Ross, Nigel Meredith, Sarah Glauert
Test particle codes indicate that electron dynamics due to interactions with low amplitude incoherent whistler mode‐waves can be adequately described by quasi‐linear theory. However there is significant evidence indicating that…
7 July, 2020 by Alexander Tate, Alice Fremand
Bathymetry (seafloor depth), is a critical parameter providing the geospatial context for a multitude of marine scientific studies. Since 1997, the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) has…Read more on The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean Version 4.0
6 July, 2020 by David Newnham, Mark Clilverd
Energetic electron precipitation leads to increased nitric oxide (NO) production in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. NO distributions in the winter time, high‐latitude Southern hemisphere atmosphere during geomagnetic storms are…
4 July, 2020 by Geraint Tarling
Routine respiration rates in the South Georgia stock of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) were measured to compare with previously published measurements on stocks from colder locations further south. Within the…
1 July, 2020 by Peter Convey
Ground surface temperature (GST) and active layer thickness (ALT) are key indicators of climate change (CC) in permafrost regions, with their relationships with climate and vegetation being crucial for the…
1 July, 2020 by Laura Gerrish
Contemporary calculations for the flux of extraterrestrial material falling to the Earth’s surface (each event referred to as a “fall”) rely upon either short-duration fireball monitoring networks or spatially limited…Read more on The spatial flux of Earth’s meteorite falls found via Antarctic data
1 July, 2020 by Richard Phillips
Fisheries bycatch is one of the biggest threats to seabird populations. Managers need to identify where and when bycatch occurs and ensure effective action. In 1999, the Food and Agriculture…
1 July, 2020 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
Tardigrades are potentially dispersed by birds, but the extent of the interactions between birds and tardigrades is virtually unknown. We discovered nine tardigrades within feces of White-bellied Seedsnipe (Attagis malouinus)…
1 July, 2020 by Clara Manno, Claire Waluda, Gabriele Stowasser, Kirstie Jones-Williams
This study investigated the distribution of plastic debris from the Atlantic portion of the Sub-Antarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula. This region is home to some of the highest concentrations of…
1 July, 2020 by Andrew Wood, Richard Phillips
Bycatch of seabirds in longline fisheries includes mortalities and live captures (mainly during hauling). Excluding outliers, the latter accounts for 5–70% (mean 40.4%) of all bycaught birds in demersal, and…
1 July, 2020 by Gareth Marshall
The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is the leading mode of extratropical Southern Hemisphere climate variability, associated with changes in the strength and position of the polar jet around Antarctica. This…
1 July, 2020 by Peter Convey
Antarctic cyanobacteria may represent a potential resource of new and unique compounds with interesting capabilities. Profiling of fatty acids in Antarctic cyanobacteria can provide an overview of potential fatty acids…Read more on Fatty acid profiles of Antarctic cyanobacteria Leptolyngbya
30 June, 2020 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter
The Antarctic Ice Sheet extent in the Weddell Sea Embayment (WSE) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca. 19–25 calibrated kiloyears before present, cal. ka BP) and its subsequent retreat…30 June, 2020
Ectomycorrhizal fungi are key players in terrestrial ecosystems yet their mating systems and population dynamics remain poorly understood. We investigated the fine-scale relatedness structure and genetic diversity of Boletus edulis,…30 June, 2020 by Hugh Corr
It has been hypothesized that complex englacial structures identified within the East Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are generated by (i) water freezing to the ice sheet base and evolving…
29 June, 2020 by Gareth Marshall, John Turner
Over the last three decades, the South Pole has experienced a record-high statistically significant warming of 0.61 ± 0.34 °C per decade, more than three times the global average. Here, we use an…Read more on Record warming at the South Pole during the past three decades
26 June, 2020
The gut microbiome is an integral part of a species' ecology, but we know little about how host characteristics impact its development in wild populations. Here, we explored the role…Read more on Early sexual dimorphism in the developing gut microbiome of northern elephant seals
25 June, 2020 by Leo Middleton
Double diffusion occurs when the fluid density depends on two components that diffuse at different rates (e.g. heat and salt in the ocean). Double diffusion can lead to an up-gradient…
24 June, 2020 by David Pearce
Microbial communities have inherently high levels of metabolic flexibility and functional redundancy, yet the structure of microbial communities can change rapidly with environmental perturbation. To understand whether such changes observed…Read more on Functional associations and resilience in microbial communities.
24 June, 2020 by Peter Fretwell
Many wildlife species inhabit inaccessible environments, limiting researchers ability to conduct essential population surveys. Recently, very high resolution (sub-metre) satellite imagery has enabled remote monitoring of certain species directly from…
23 June, 2020 by Geraint Tarling
Antarctic krill inhabit areas of the Southern Ocean that can exceed 4.0°C, yet they preferentially inhabit regions with temperatures of −1.5 to ≤1.5°C. Successful embryonic development and hatching are key…Read more on Temperature-induced hatch failure and nauplii malformation in Antarctic krill
16 June, 2020 by Anna Jones, Alison Ming, Markus Frey, Robert Mulvaney, Holly Winton, Xin Yang
Major tropical volcanic eruptions have emitted large quantities of stratospheric sulphate and are potential sources of stratospheric chlorine although this is less well constrained by observations. This study combines model…
16 June, 2020 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne
We extend our database of whistler mode chorus, based on data from seven satellites, by including ~3 years of data from RBSP‐A and RBSP‐B and an additional ~6 years of…
16 June, 2020 by Eugene Murphy, Gareth Marshall, Jack Arnatt, John Turner, Maria Vittoria Guarino, Rachel Cavanagh, Tony Phillips, Tom Andersson
In Austral summer 2016/17 the sea ice extent (SIE) in the Weddell Sea dropped to a near‐record value in the satellite era (1.88 × 106 km2, 56% of the long‐term…Read more on Recent decrease of summer sea ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica
15 June, 2020 by Scott Hosking, Michelle McCrystall
While rapid changes in Arctic climate over recent decades are widely documented, the importance of different driving mechanisms is still debated. A previous study proposed a causal connection between recent…
12 June, 2020 by Andrew Fleming
Profound changes in Arctic sea-ice, a growing desire to utilize the Arctic’s abundant natural resources, and the potential competitiveness of Arctic shipping routes, all provide for increased industry marine activity…Read more on Sea-ice information and forecast needs for industry maritime stakeholders
11 June, 2020 by Jonathan Shanklin
We review the 2014 Antarctic ozone hole, making use of a variety of ground-based and space-based measurements of ozone and ultra-violet radiation, supplemented by meteorological reanalyses. Although the polar vortex…11 June, 2020 by Jonathan Shanklin
We reviewed the 2015 and 2016 Antarctic ozone holes, making use of a variety of ground-based and spacebased measurements of ozone and ultraviolet radiation, supplemented by meteorological reanalyses. The ozone…11 June, 2020 by Jonathan Shanklin
We review the 2017 Antarctic ozone hole, making use of various meteorological reanalyses, and in-situ, satellite and ground-based measurements of ozone and related trace gases, and ground-based measurements of ultraviolet…