5 May, 2023 by James Smith
The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream has recently seen significant change to its floating margins and has been identified as vulnerable to future climate warming. Inflow of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water…3 May, 2023 by Danielle Buss, Jennifer Jackson
Fin whales Balaenoptera physalus were hunted unsustainably across the globe in the 19th and 20th centuries, leading to vast reductions in population size. Whaling catch records indicate the importance of…2 May, 2023 by Irene Malmierca Vallet, Louise Sime, Rahul Sivankutty
The Last Interglacial (LIG) period, which had higher summer solar insolation than today, has been suggested as the last time that Arctic summers were ice free. However, the latest suite…1 May, 2023 by Kevin Newsham, Peter Convey
The nutrient-poor soils of Antarctica are sensitive to change. Recent increases in the number of anthropogenic introductions mean that understanding the impact of non-native species on Antarctic soils is pertinent,…1 May, 2023 by Jack Humby, Liz Thomas
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of persistent organic contaminants of which some are toxic and bioaccumulative. Several PFAS can be formed from the atmospheric degradation of precursors…1 May, 2023 by Peter Convey
The Arctic has a diverse terrestrial microarthropod fauna which overwinters in situ in soil and vegetation. This fauna is involved in key ecosystem process, for example decomposition and pollination, and…1 May, 2023 by Richard Phillips
Animal tracking has afforded insights into patterns of space use in numerous species and thereby informed area-based conservation planning. A crucial consideration when estimating spatial distributions from tracking data is…1 May, 2023 by David Barnes
A significant proportion of Southern Ocean seafloor biodiversity is thought to be associated with fragile, slow growing, long-lived, and habitat-forming taxa. Minimizing adverse impact to these so-called vulnerable marine ecosystems…1 May, 2023 by Alex Burton-Johnson
The geometry of the Antarctic-Phoenix Plate system, with the Antarctic Plate forming both the overriding plate and the conjugate to the subducting oceanic plate, allows quantification of slab age and…1 May, 2023 by Povl Abrahamsen
The heat transported onto the continental shelf by Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) is the main driver of ice shelf basal melting in the Amundsen Sea. Here, we investigate the slope…28 April, 2023 by Jonathan Adams, Joanne Johnson
Cosmogenic-nuclide concentrations in subglacial bedrock cores show that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) at a site between Thwaites and Pope glaciers was at least 35 m thinner than present in…Read more on Reversible ice sheet thinning in the Amundsen Sea Embayment during the Late Holocene
28 April, 2023 by Thomas Bracegirdle
This paper expands on work showing that the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is predictable on decadal timescales to quantify the skill in capturing the North Atlantic eddy-driven jet's location…Read more on Decadal Predictability of the North Atlantic Eddy-Driven Jet in Winter
27 April, 2023 by Louise Sime, Maria Vittoria Guarino
The lig127k-H11 simulation of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP4) is run using the HadGEM3-GC3.1 model. We focus on the coupled system response to the applied meltwater forcing. We show…27 April, 2023 by Jack Humby, Robert Mulvaney
We present an age model for the 651 m deep ice core from Skytrain Ice Rise, situated inland of the Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica. The top 2000 years have previously been…21 April, 2023 by David Barnes
Earth’s biodiversity and human societies face pollution, overconsumption of natural resources, urbanization, demographic shifts, social and economic inequalities, and habitat loss, many of which are exacerbated by climate change. Here,…Read more on Overcoming the coupled climate and biodiversity crises and their societal impacts
21 April, 2023 by Dieter Tetzner, Liz Thomas
Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) are a component of fly-ash, the particulate by-product of industrial high temperature combustion of fuel-oil and coal-series fuels. We provide the first evidence that these indelible…Read more on First evidence of industrial fly-ash in an Antarctic ice core
20 April, 2023 by Michael Meredith
At the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), continued atmospheric and oceanic warming is causing significant physical and biogeochemical changes to glaciers and the marine environment. We compare sediment sources and drivers…20 April, 2023 by John King
In wintertime over the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean (SPNA), the strongest surface sensible and latent heat fluxes typically occur just downstream of the sea-ice edge. The recent retreat in Arctic…19 April, 2023 by Josephine Anselin
Tidal currents are known to influence basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves through two types of mechanisms: local processes taking place within the boundary current adjacent to the ice shelf-ocean…19 April, 2023 by Gaelle Veyssiere, Jeremy Wilkinson
British whalers were the first and last from Europe to hunt bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) commercially from the Arctic whaling grounds of the Greenland Sea (East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents stock) and Davis…Read more on Categorisation of the length of bowhead whales from British Arctic whaling records
18 April, 2023
The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha′apai volcano eruption was a unique event that caused many atmospheric phenomena around the globe. In this study, we investigate the atmospheric gravity waves in the mesosphere/lower-thermosphere…17 April, 2023 by Tracey Dornan, Anna Belcher, Jennifer Freer, Ryan Saunders, Tracey Dornan, Tracey Dornan
Lanternfish are a relatively small but very abundant fish. They live deep in the ocean’s “twilight” zone where there is not much light. A unique community of lanternfish live in…17 April, 2023 by Geraint Tarling, Jennifer Freer
Despite the importance of calanoid copepods to healthy ecosystem functioning of the Arctic Ocean and Subarctic Seas, aspects of their biogeography, particularly in winter months, remain unresolved. At the same…14 April, 2023 by Xin Yang
We present a novel technique that elucidates the mechanism of the formation of small aerosolizable salt particles from salty frozen samples. We demonstrated that CsCl may be a suitable probe…14 April, 2023 by Aidan Hunter
The Mediterranean Sea sustains a rich and fragile ecosystem currently threatened by multiple anthropogenic impacts that include, among others, warming, pollution, and changes in seawater carbonate speciation associated to increasing…11 April, 2023 by Paul Holland
Accelerating ice loss from Thwaites Glacier is contributing approximately 5% of global sea-level rise, and could add tens of centimeters to sea level over the coming centuries. We use an…Read more on Strong Ocean Melting Feedback During the Recent Retreat of Thwaites Glacier
7 April, 2023 by Philip Trathan
Animal abundance estimation is increasingly based on drone or aerial survey photography. Manual postprocessing has been used extensively; however, volumes of such data are increasing, necessitating some level of automation,…Read more on Counting animals in aerial images with a density map estimation model
6 April, 2023 by David Vaughan
Understanding the past and future evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is challenged by the availability and quality of observed paleo-boundary conditions. Numerical ice-sheet models often rely on these paleo-boundary…6 April, 2023
Characterizing reproductive barriers such as mating preferences within rapid evolutionary radiations is crucial for understanding the early stages of speciation. Cichlid fishes are well-known for their adaptive radiations and capacity…6 April, 2023 by Markus Frey
Polar environments are among the fastest changing regions on the planet. It is a crucial time to make significant improvements in our understanding of how ocean and ice biogeochemical processes…Read more on Untangling the influence of Antarctic and Southern Ocean life on clouds
1 April, 2023 by Peter Convey
Located 1140 km from the South American coastline in the South Atlantic Ocean and with an age of 4 million years, Trindade Island is the most recent volcanic component of…1 April, 2023 by Lily Bentley, Richard Phillips
Foraging niche specialisation is thought to occur when different members of speciose communities divide resources in either time or space. Here we compared habitat preferences of the congeneric Grey Petrel…1 April, 2023 by Teal Riley
Lithic technologies dominate understanding of early humans, yet natural processes can fracture rock in ways that resemble artefacts made by Homo sapiens and other primates. Differentiating between fractures made by…1 April, 2023 by Jose Marques Queiros
The Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni is a Southern Ocean long-lived top predator which is regularly captured on an annual fishery operating in the region. By its biological and ecological characteristics,…1 April, 2023 by Clara Manno
The biological carbon pump (BCP) contributes to the oceanic CO2 sink by transferring particulate organic carbon (POC) into the deep ocean. The magnitude and efficiency of the BCP is likely…1 April, 2023 by Kate Hendry
The concentration of dissolved barium in seawater ([Ba]SW) is influenced by both primary productivity and ocean circulation patterns. Reconstructing past subsurface [Ba]SW can therefore provide important information on processes which…Read more on Ba/Ca of stylasterid coral skeletons records dissolved seawater barium concentrations
1 April, 2023 by Keith Nicholls, Paul Holland
Numerical studies of ice flow have consistently identified the grounding zone of outlet glaciers and ice streams (the region where ice starts to float) as crucial for predicting the rate…1 April, 2023 by Peter Convey
Antarctic soils provide an excellent setting to test biogeographical patterns across spatial and environmental scales given their relatively simple communities and the dominance of physical factors that create strong environmental…1 April, 2023 by Diana Vladimirova, Dieter Tetzner, Jack Humby, Liz Thomas
The remote Antarctic continent, distant from human industrial activity, should be one of the last places on Earth to capture Anthropogenic change. Hence, stratigraphic evidence of pollution and nuclear activity…1 April, 2023 by Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
Protection of Antarctica's biodiversity and ecosystem values is enshrined in the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which provides for the designation of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs)…Read more on The need for increased protection of Antarctica’s inland waters
29 March, 2023 by Jaume Forcada
Heavy metals, including mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd), occur naturally or anthropogenically and are considered toxic to the environment and human health. However, studies on heavy metal contamination focus on…29 March, 2023 by Clara Manno, Elisa Bergami, Emily Rowlands, Laura Wilkie Johnston
Microplastics (MP) have been reported in Southern Ocean (SO), where they are likely to encounter Antarctic zooplankton and enter pelagic food webs. Here we assess the presence of MP within…Read more on Organic or junk food? Microplastic contamination in Antarctic krill and salps
28 March, 2023 by Antony Siahaan, Emma Young, Felipe Gomez Valdivia, Paul Holland, Pierre Dutrieux
We use United Kingdom Earth System Model simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 to analyze the Ross Gyre (RG) dynamics during the historical 1850–2014 period and under two…Read more on Projected West Antarctic Ocean Warming Caused by an Expansion of the Ross Gyre
28 March, 2023 by Peter Convey
The underexplored intertidal ecosystems of Antarctica are facing rapid changes in important environmental factors. Associated with temperature increase, reduction in coastal ice will soon expose new ice-free areas that will…27 March, 2023 by Ananth Ranjithkumar, Markus Frey, Xin Yang
Natural aerosols and their interactions with clouds remain an important uncertainty within climate models, especially at the poles. Here, we study the behavior of sea salt aerosols (SSaer) in the…Read more on The representation of sea salt aerosols and their role in polar climate within CMIP6
24 March, 2023 by Dani Jones
The vertical distribution of ozone in the atmosphere, which features complex spatial and temporal variability set by a balance of production, loss, and advection, is relevant for both surface air…Read more on Technical note: Unsupervised classification of ozone profiles in UKESM1
23 March, 2023 by Oliver Marsh
Ice tongues at the fringes of the Antarctic ice sheet lose mass primarily through both basal melting and calving. They are sensitive to ocean conditions which can weaken the ice…Read more on Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea
21 March, 2023 by Elisa Bergami
This chapter describes the best current definitions for nanoplastics in terms of specific origin, size, properties, their behavior in aquatic media, and ecotoxic interactions with other aquatic pollutants and living…Read more on Nanoplastics in Urban Waters: Recent Advances in the Knowledge Base
21 March, 2023 by Teal Riley
The importance of topography generated by Eocene Eurekan deformation as a sediment source for sandstones deposited on the western Barents Shelf margin is evaluated through a sediment provenance study conducted…17 March, 2023 by Florian Mekhaldi
Extreme solar particle events (ESPEs) are rare and the most potent known processes of solar eruptive activity. During ESPEs, a vast amount of cosmogenic isotopes (CIs) 10Be, 36Cl and 14C…17 March, 2023 by Paul Holland, Pierre Dutrieux
Mass loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is dominated by glaciers draining into the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE), yet the impact of anomalous precipitation on the mass balance of…16 March, 2023 by Amanda Burson
Despite their wide use in past sea-ice reconstructions, the seasonal, habitat and species-based sources of sedimentary sea-ice proxies are poorly understood. Here, we conduct direct observations of the community composition…15 March, 2023 by Rowan Whittle
Many modern extinction drivers are shared with past mass extinction events, such as rapid climate warming, habitat loss, pollution and invasive species. This commonality presents a key question: can the…15 March, 2023 by Dorothea Moser, Liz Thomas
Here we present a case study for using visual stratigraphy to date a shallow firn core from coastal West Antarctica. The Mount Siple ice core has the potential to reconstruct…15 March, 2023 by Robert Mulvaney
Here we present a newly developed ice core gas-phase proxy that directly samples a component of the large-scale atmospheric circulation: synoptic-scale pressure variability. Surface pressure changes weakly disrupt gravitational isotopic…15 March, 2023 by James Smith
Nioghalvfjerdsbrae, or 79∘ N Glacier, is the largest marine-terminating glacier draining the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS). In recent years, its ∼ 70 km long fringing ice shelf (hereafter referred to as the…14 March, 2023 by Lily Bentley
In the dynamic marine environment, highly mobile predators are expected to select profitable foraging areas, especially when provisioning young in addition to meeting their own energy needs. Knowing how and…Read more on The sea is the limit: Foraging ecology of breeding Antarctic Procellariiformes
11 March, 2023 by Hannah Cubaynes, Penny Clarke
Monitoring marine mammals is of broad interest to governments and individuals around the globe. Very high-resolution (VHR) satellites hold the promise of reaching remote and challenging locations to fill gaps…10 March, 2023 by Nigel Meredith
Plasmaspheric hiss is an electromagnetic wave mode that occurs ubiquitously in the high-density plasmasphere and contributes crucially to the dynamic behavior of the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts. While plasmaspheric…Read more on Unique Banded Structures of Plasmaspheric Hiss Waves in the Earth’s Magnetosphere
9 March, 2023 by Alexandra Weiss
A new, simple parameterization scheme for scalar (heat and moisture) exchange over sea ice and the marginal ice zone is tested in a numerical weather and climate prediction model. This…9 March, 2023 by Katrin Linse
Schmidt Ocean Institute, in partnership with The Ditchley Foundation, hosted Credit where credit is due: Authorship of open ocean data at Ditchley Park, in Chipping Norton, UK, on October 6-7,…Read more on Credit Where Credit is Due: Authorship of Open Ocean Data Workshop Report
7 March, 2023 by Keith Nicholls
The transport of oceanic heat towards the Antarctic continental margin is central to the mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Recent modeling efforts challenge our view on where and…7 March, 2023 by Subir Mandal
Gravity waves, which are considered omnipresent in the Earth's upper atmosphere, are generally investigated by monitoring the fluctuations in different atmospheric parameters. Here, we report the propagation characteristics of thermospheric…3 March, 2023 by Alexandra Weiss
Marine cold air outbreaks are vigorous equatorward excursions of cold air over the ocean, responsible for the majority of wintertime oceanic heat loss from the subpolar seas of the North…1 March, 2023 by Peter Convey
We provide the first assessment of fungal diversity associated with historic wooden structures at Whalers Bay (Heritage Monument 71), Deception Island, maritime Antarctic, using DNA metabarcoding. We detected a total…1 March, 2023 by Rachel Cavanagh
The unsustainable trade in elasmobranch products, particularly fins, contributes to the decline of elasmobranch populations worldwide. Designing and implementing context-appropriate solutions to mitigate unsustainable trade requires a thorough analysis of…Read more on Mitigating elasmobranch fin trade: A market analysis for made-to-measure interventions
1 March, 2023 by Peter Convey
Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands include some of the world’s most extreme and pristine terrestrial habitats. While they are characterized by low biodiversity and terrestrial communities comprise small, often microscopic,…1 March, 2023
Intensive hunting activities such as commercial fishing and trophy hunting can have profound influences on natural populations. However, less intensive recreational hunting can also have subtle effects on animal behaviour,…1 March, 2023 by Ingrid Cnossen, Mervyn Freeman
On December 04, 2021, a total solar eclipse occurred over west Antarctica. Nearly an hour beforehand, a geomagnetic substorm onset was observed in the northern hemisphere. Eclipses are suggested to…1 March, 2023
The germline mutation rate determines the pace of genome evolution and is an evolving parameter itself. However, little is known about what determines its evolution, as most studies of mutation…Read more on Evolution of the germline mutation rate across vertebrates
1 March, 2023 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Carlos Martin Garcia, Sofia-Katerina Kufner
The crystal orientation fabric of glacier ice impacts its strength and flow. Crystal fabric is therefore an important consideration when modelling ice flow. Here, we show that shear-wave splitting (SWS)…1 March, 2023 by Hamish Pritchard, Shuhong Wang
Glacier retreat is altering the water regime of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) as the region's climate changes, but there remain substantial gaps in our knowledge of recent glacier loss in…1 March, 2023 by Susan Gregory
White-blooded Antarctic icefishes, a family within the adaptive radiation of Antarctic notothenioid fishes, are an example of extreme biological specialization to both the chronic cold of the Southern Ocean and…Read more on Genomics of Secondarily Temperate Adaptation in the Only Non-Antarctic Icefish
1 March, 2023 by Peter Convey
The aim of the present study was to optimize the fermentation process for enhanced production of pravastatin by a wild-type Penicillium brefeldianum ESF21P strain using statistical approaches. Initial screening of…1 March, 2023 by Scott Hosking, Tom Andersson
Conditional neural processes (CNPs; Garnelo et al., 2018a) are attractive meta-learning models which produce well-calibrated predictions and are trainable via a simple maximum likelihood procedure. Although CNPs have many advantages,…28 February, 2023 by Peter Convey
Free-living terrestrial mites (Acari) have persisted through numerous glacial cycles in Antarctica. Very little is known, however, of their genetic diversity and distribution, particularly within the Ross Sea region. To…27 February, 2023 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Nadescha Zwerschke, Simon Morley, Theresa Gossmann
Meaningful protection of global oceans lags far behind that of land and has taken little consideration of climate mitigation potential to date (such as through assessment of blue carbon stocks…27 February, 2023 by Jennifer Jackson
Assessing environmental changes in Southern Ocean ecosystems is difficult due to its remoteness and data sparsity. Monitoring marine predators that respond rapidly to environmental variation may enable us to track…24 February, 2023 by David Barnes, Jonathan Shanklin, Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
Invasive non-native species (INNS) are recognized as a major threat to island biodiversity, ecosystems, and economies globally. Preventing high-risk INNS from being introduced is the most cost-effective way to avoid…23 February, 2023 by Richard Horne
In this study, we use approximately 3 years of observations from the Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace (ERG/Arase) satellite to statistically study the meridional distribution of wave power…Read more on Latitudinal dependence of ground VLF transmitter wave power in the inner magnetosphere
20 February, 2023 by Clara Manno
Planktonic calcifying organisms play a key role in regulating ocean carbonate chemistry and atmospheric CO2. Surprisingly, references to the absolute and relative contribution of these organisms to calcium carbonate production…Read more on Pelagic calcium carbonate production and shallow dissolution in the North Pacific Ocean
17 February, 2023 by Jeremy Wilkinson
We present a comprehensive review of the current status of remotely sensed and in situ sea ice, ocean, and land parameters acquired over the Arctic and Antarctic and identify current…16 February, 2023 by Irena Vankova, James Smith, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker, Peter Davis, Robert Arthern
Thwaites Glacier is one of the fastest-changing ice–ocean systems in Antarctica1,2,3. Much of the ice sheet within the catchment of Thwaites Glacier is grounded below sea level on bedrock that…Read more on Suppressed basal melting in the eastern Thwaites Glacier grounding zone
16 February, 2023 by Catrin Thomas, David Vaughan, James Smith, James Wake, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker, Peter Davis, Catrin Thomas
Thwaites Glacier represents 15% of the ice discharge from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and influences a wider catchment. Because it is grounded below sea level, Thwaites Glacier is thought…Read more on Heterogeneous melting near the Thwaites Glacier grounding line
15 February, 2023 by Teal Riley
Understanding subduction processes is critical in assessing the long-term evolution of the upper mantle and continental crust. We present new geochemical data on glassy submarine lavas from the Bransfield Strait,…13 February, 2023 by Ingrid Cnossen
Climate change is characterized by global surface warming associated with the increase of greenhouse gas population since the start of the industrial era. Growing evidence shows that the upper atmosphere…11 February, 2023 by Alex Burton-Johnson, Teal Riley
The LeMay Group accretionary complex of Alexander Island (Antarctic Peninsula) comprises a 4 km thick succession of variably deformed turbidites associated with thrust slices of ocean floor basalts. The depositional…8 February, 2023 by Peter Convey
We studied the fungal diversity present in soils sampled along a deglaciated chronosequence from para- to periglacial conditions on James Ross Island, north-east Antarctic Peninsula, using DNA metabarcoding. A total…7 February, 2023 by Ryan Saunders
Mesopelagic fishes play a central role in the transfer of energy through open-ocean food webs, particularly in the Southern Ocean where they are both important predators of zooplankton and a…2 February, 2023 by Paul Holland, Ryan Patmore
The ice shelf-ocean boundary current has an important control on heat delivery to the base of an ice shelf. Climate and regional models that include a representation of ice shelf…2 February, 2023 by Victoria Peck
Planktic foraminifera test iodine to calcium ratios represent an emerging proxy method to assess subsurface seawater oxygenation states. Several core-top studies show lower planktic foraminifera I/Ca ratios in locations with…Read more on Planktic foraminifera iodine/calcium ratios from plankton tows
2 February, 2023 by Qinggang Gao
Atmospheric vortex streets are a widely studied dynamical effect of isolated mountainous islands. Observational evidence comes from case studies and satellite imagery, but the climatology and annual cycle of vortex…Read more on Vortex streets to the lee of Madeira in a kilometre-resolution regional climate model
2 February, 2023 by Connor Bamford, Jennifer Jackson
- Baleen whales are predominately summer visitors to Antarctic waters, where they feed on large swarms of zooplankton, primarily Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba). - Over 2 million whales were killed…Read more on The recovery of Antarctica’s giants – baleen whales
1 February, 2023 by Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
Intensive human exploitation of the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) in its primary population centre on sub-Antarctic South Georgia, as well as on other sub-Antarctic islands and parts of the…1 February, 2023 by Norman Ratcliffe
Anthropogenic climate change is resulting in spatial redistributions of many species. We assessed the potential effects of climate change on an abundant and widely distributed group of diving birds, Eudyptes…