29 March, 2022 by Alexander Whittle, Dominic Hodgson, Stephen Roberts
We undertook multi-proxy analyses on two sediment cores from Lago Pato, a small lake basin at 51°S topographically separated from Lago del Toro in Torres del Paine (TdP), to provide…28 March, 2022 by Richard Phillips
Birds exhibit wide variation in their use of aquatic environments, on a spectrum from entirely terrestrial, through amphibious, to highly aquatic. Although there are limited empirical data on hearing sensitivity…Read more on Aquatic birds have middle ears adapted to amphibious lifestyles
26 March, 2022 by Cameron Fox-Clarke, Camille Toscani, Claire Stainfield, Jaume Forcada
Individuals are unique in how they interact with and respond to their environment. Correspondingly, unpredictable challenges or environmental stressors often produce an individualized response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and…
25 March, 2022 by James France
We present a method for estimating fossil fuel methane emissions using observations of methane and ethane, accounting for uncertainty in their emission ratio. The ethane:methane emission ratio is incorporated as…24 March, 2022 by Peter Convey
Invasive alien species may cause substantial changes and damaging impacts. Here, we document the current distribution and ecological interactions with native biota of relatively recently introduced wasps, Vespula vulgaris and…18 March, 2022 by John Turner
Sea ice extent (SIE) in the Weddell Sea attained exceptionally low levels in April (1.97 million km2) and May (3.06 million km2) 2019, with the values being ~22% below the long-term mean. Using in-situ,…18 March, 2022 by Jaume Forcada
Much debate surrounds the importance of top-down and bottom-up effects in the Southern Ocean, where the harvesting of over two million whales in the mid twentieth century is thought to…Read more on Demographic reconstruction of Antarctic fur seals supports the krill surplus hypothesis
17 March, 2022 by Edward Brown, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne
Extreme ultraviolet images taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory make it possible to use deep vision techniques to forecast solar wind speed - a…16 March, 2022 by Ailsa Stroud, Liz Thomas, Robert Mulvaney
Records of chemical impurities from ice cores enable us to reconstruct the past deposition of aerosols onto polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Through this they allow us to gain…16 March, 2022 by Keith Nicholls, Leo Middleton, Peter Davis
Warmer and more persistent intrusions of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) onto the West Antarctic Peninsula are a key driver of the recent increase in ice shelf mass loss. The relatively…16 March, 2022 by David Bett, Kaitlin Naughten, Paul Holland, Pierre Dutrieux
Rapid ice loss is occurring in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This ice loss is assumed to be a long-term response to oceanographic forcing, but…Read more on Simulated twentieth-century ocean warming in the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica
15 March, 2022 by Richard Phillips, William Mills
Antarctic marine ecosystems are often considered to be pristine environments, yet wildlife in the polar regions may still be exposed to high levels of environmental contaminants. Here, we measured total…Read more on Spatial and sex differences in mercury contamination of skuas in the Southern Ocean
15 March, 2022 by Mark Clilverd
Any disturbance of the ionosphere may affect operational activities based on HF communication. The electron density is a critical parameter that controls levels of HF-signal absorption. A significant part of…Read more on Role of hard X-ray emission in ionospheric D-layer disturbances during solar flares
15 March, 2022 by Robert Mulvaney
Large volcanic eruptions occurring in the last glacial period can be detected by their accompanying sulfuric acid deposition in continuous ice cores. Here we employ continuous sulfate and sulfur records…14 March, 2022 by Adrian Jenkins
Basal melting of marine-terminating glaciers, through its impact on the forces that control the flow of the glaciers, is one of the major factors determining sea level rise in a…Read more on The vertical structure and entrainment of subglacial melt water plumes
14 March, 2022 by Anne-Sophie Bonnet-Lebrun, Norman Ratcliffe
In migratory species, the extent of within- and between-individual variation in migratory strategies can influence potential rates and directions of responses to environmental changes. Quantifying this variation requires tracking of…14 March, 2022 by Michael Meredith
Sea ice is an important habitat for a wide variety of microalgal species. Depending on the species composition, sea ice can be a seeding source for pelagic phytoplankton blooms after…Read more on On the phenology and seeding potential of sea-ice microalgal species
10 March, 2022 by 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. Our understanding of the…Read more on Reconstructing Antarctic winter sea-ice extent during Marine Isotope Stage 5e
10 March, 2022 by Pierre Dutrieux
A 63-year observational record in the southwest Ross Sea shows a continuing, near-linear salinity decrease of 0.170 and slight warming of 0.013°C through 2020. That freshening exceeded any increase in…Read more on Persistent Ross Sea freshening from imbalance West Antarctic Ice Shelf melting
10 March, 2022 by Lloyd Peck
Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are increasing in both intensity and frequency against a backdrop of gradual warming associated with climate change. In the context of MHWs, animals are likely to experience…9 March, 2022 by Alexander Bradley, Rosie Williams, Robert Arthern
Accurate predictions of basal melt rates on ice shelves are necessary for precise projections of the future behaviour of ice sheets. The computational expense associated with completely resolving the cavity…Read more on Asymptotic analysis of subglacial plumes in stratified environments
9 March, 2022 by Andrew Clarke, Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark, Simeon Hill
Whole-animal, in vivo protein metabolism rates have been reported in temperate and tropical, but not Antarctic fish. Growth in Antarctic species is generally slower than lower latitude species. Protein metabolism…Read more on Life in the freezer: Protein metabolism in Antarctic fish
9 March, 2022 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Tom Jordan
East Antarctic provinces lay at the heart of both Rodinian and Gondwanan supercontinents, yet poor exposure and limited geophysical data provide few constraints on the region’s tectonic evolution. The shape…9 March, 2022 by Claire Allen, Dieter Tetzner, Liz Thomas
The presence of marine microfossils (diatoms) in glacier ice and ice cores has been documented from numerous sites in Antarctica, Greenland, as well as from sites in the Andes and…8 March, 2022 by Alexander Lozinski
Geomagnetically trapped protons forming Earth's proton radiation belt pose a hazard to orbiting spacecraft. In particular, solar cells are prone to degradation caused by non-ionising collisions with protons in the…Read more on Modelling the exposure of satellites in medium Earth orbit to proton belt radiation
8 March, 2022 by Keith Nicholls
Subglacial hydrologic systems regulate ice sheet flow, causing acceleration or deceleration, depending on hydraulic efficiency and the rate at which surface meltwater is delivered to the bed. Because these systems…Read more on Rapid basal melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet from surface meltwater drainage
8 March, 2022 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
This paper is the fifth monograph of the series that describes the global records of limno-terrestrial water bears (Tardigrada). Here, we provide a comprehensive list of non-marine tardigrades recorded from…Read more on Annotated zoogeography of non-marine Tardigrada. Part V: Australasia
8 March, 2022 by Philip Trathan
Although mitochondrial DNA has been widely used in phylogeography, evidence has emerged that factors such as climate, food availability, and environmental pressures that produce high levels of stress can exert…7 March, 2022 by Richard Phillips
Monitoring of population sizes and trends using conventional surveys is challenging for nocturnal, burrow-nesting seabirds. The White-chinned Petrel is the most commonly killed species in Southern Ocean fisheries and its…7 March, 2022 by Florian Mekhaldi
The Sun sporadically produces eruptive events leading to intense fluxes of solar energetic particles (SEPs) that dramatically disrupt the near-Earth radiation environment. Such events have been directly studied for the…Read more on Tree-rings reveal two strong solar proton events in 7176 and 5259 BCE
5 March, 2022
The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) is the most widely distributed pinniped, occupying a wide variety of habitats and climatic zones across the Northern Hemisphere. Intriguingly, the harbour seal is also…3 March, 2022 by Pierre Dutrieux
Recent rapid thinning of West Antarctic ice shelves are believed to be caused by intrusions of warm deep water that induce basal melting and seaward meltwater export. This study uses…Read more on Seasonal variability of ocean circulation near the Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica
2 March, 2022 by Dominic Hodgson, Louise Sime, Richard Phillips
Antarctic sea ice is a critical component of the climate system affecting a range of physical and biogeochemical feedbacks and supporting unique ecosystems. During the last glacial stage, Antarctic sea…2 March, 2022 by Anna Jones, Neil Brough
We present 20-year flask sample records of atmospheric CO2, δ(O2/N2), and atmospheric potential oxygen (APO) from the stations Lutjewad (the Netherlands) and Mace Head (Ireland), and a 3-year record from…1 March, 2022 by Sam Coffin
The polar regions represent two of the most extreme environments on Earth, with sub-zero temperatures, sustained light in the summer and complete darkness in the winter. Marine diatoms are prevalent…1 March, 2022 by Laura Gerrish
Icebergs impact the physical and biological properties of the ocean where they drift, depending on the degree of melting. We use satellite imagery and altimetry to quantify the area, thickness,…Read more on Observing the disintegration of the A68A iceberg from space
1 March, 2022 by David Pearce
The polar regions, comprising the Antarctic, Arctic and Tibetan Plateau, represent the most extreme environments on Earth. Soils across the polar regions harbor diverse microorganisms, which dominate the biogeochemical cycling.…Read more on Polar soils exhibit distinct patterns in microbial diversity and dominant phylotypes
1 March, 2022 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Robert Larter
Mixed (turbidite-contourite) depositional systems are formed by a complex interplay of deep-water processes. An evaluation of their morphological elements and their lateral and spatial distribution is crucial to better understand…1 March, 2022 by Richard Horne
During magnetospheric storms, radiation belt electrons are produced and then removed by collisions with the lower atmosphere on varying timescales. An efficient loss process is microbursts, strong, transient precipitation of…Read more on Ducted chorus waves cause sub‐relativistic and relativistic electron microbursts
1 March, 2022 by Tracy Moffat-Griffin
Realistic modeling of the winds and dynamical variations in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) at Southern Hemisphere (SH) mid-to-high latitudes near 60oS where dramatic motions occur has been a…28 February, 2022 by Hua Lu, John King, John Turner, Tony Phillips
High surface temperatures are important in Antarctica because of their role in ice melt and sea level rise. We investigate a high temperature event in December 1989 that gave record…28 February, 2022 by Robert Larter
Ice shelves restrict outflow from many of the largest glaciers in Antarctica, thus limiting the Antarctic contribution to sea-level rise. However, past ice-shelf collapse events show they are highly vulnerable…Read more on Basal melting, roughness and structural integrity of ice shelves
28 February, 2022 by Alex Brisbourne, Keith Nicholls, Lianne Harrison, Paul Holland
Observations of surface lowering on Larsen C Ice Shelf (LCIS), Antarctica, have prompted concern about its stability. In this study, an ocean model is used to investigate the extent to…28 February, 2022 by Peter Convey
Antarctica contains most of the glacial ice on the planet, a habitat that is largely unexplored by biologists. Recent warming in parts of Antarctica, particularly the Antarctic Peninsula region, is…25 February, 2022 by James Smith, Louise Sime
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) presently holds enough ice to raise global sea level by 4.3 m if completely melted. The unknown response of the WAIS to future warming remains…Read more on Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to +2 °C (SWAIS 2C)
25 February, 2022 by Andrew Orr
Regional climate models compute ice sheet surface mass balance (SMB) over a mask that defines the area covered by glacier ice, but ice masks have not been harmonised between models.…23 February, 2022 by Gaelle Veyssiere, Jeremy Wilkinson
The Arctic is no longer a region dominated by thick multi-year ice (MYI), but by thinner, more dynamic, first-year-ice (FYI). This shift towards a seasonal ice cover has consequences for…Read more on Under-ice light field analysis in the western Arctic Ocean during late summer
21 February, 2022 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Robert Larter
The stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is threatened by the incursion of warm Circumpolar Deepwater which flows southwards via cross-shelf troughs towards the coast there melting ice shelves.…18 February, 2022 by James Kirkham, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
The subglacial hydrological system exerts a critical control on the dynamic behaviour of the overlying ice because its configuration affects the degree of basal lubrication between the ice and the…Read more on Subglacial water flow over an Antarctic palaeo-ice stream bed
18 February, 2022 by Mark Clilverd
Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) produced during geomagnetic disturbances pose a risk to the safe operation of electrical power networks. One route to determine the hazard of large and extreme geomagnetic…17 February, 2022 by Belinda Vause, David Barnes, Terri Souster, Laura Gerrish, Lloyd Peck, Simon Morley, Terri Souster
Seafloor biodiversity provides a key ecosystem service, as an efficient route for carbon to be removed from the atmosphere to become buried (long-term) in marine sediment. Protecting near intact ecosystems,…17 February, 2022 by Ben Robinson, David Barnes, Simon Morley
Climate-driven changes in disturbance are a major threat to ecosystem Functional diversity. The selective mechanisms underlying ecosystem response to disturbance are far from universal and remain the subject of scientific…17 February, 2022 by Anna Jones
The marginal sea ice zone has been identified as a source of different climate-active gases to the atmosphere due to its unique biogeochemistry. However, it remains highly undersampled, and the…Read more on Sea ice concentration impacts dissolved organic gases in the Canadian Arctic
16 February, 2022 by Mark Clilverd
It is challenging, yet important, to measure the - ever-changing - cold electron density in the plasmasphere. The cold electron density inside and outside of the plasmapause is a key…16 February, 2022 by Diana Vladimirova, Dieter Tetzner, Jack Humby, Liz Thomas
In this study, we present the age scales for three Antarctic Peninsula (AP) ice cores: Palmer, Rendezvous, and Jurassic. The three cores are all intermediate-depth cores, in the 133–141 m…13 February, 2022 by Dominic Hodgson, Peter Convey
Peatlands contain a significant fraction of global soil carbon, but how these reservoirs will respond to the changing climate is still relatively unknown. A global picture of the variations in…9 February, 2022 by Norman Ratcliffe
Mechanisms promoting coexistence between closely related species are fundamental for maintaining species diversity. Mechanisms of niche differentiation include allochrony which offsets the peak timing of resource utilisation between species. Many…8 February, 2022 by Claire Waluda
Plastic pollution in the marine environment is a pervasive, global problem that threatens wildlife and human health. Routine monitoring is required to determine pollution hotspots, focus clean-up efforts, and assess…7 February, 2022 by Markus Frey
Year-round observations of the physical snow and ice properties and processes that govern the ice pack evolution and its interaction with the atmosphere and the ocean were conducted during the…Read more on Overview of the MOSAiC expedition: Snow and sea ice
7 February, 2022 by Amelie Kirchgaessner, Markus Frey
With the Arctic rapidly changing, the needs to observe, understand, and model the changes are essential. To support these needs, an annual cycle of observations of atmospheric properties, processes, and…5 February, 2022 by Ben Evans
Salt marshes provide diverse ecosystem services including coastal protection, habitat provision and carbon sequestration. The loss of salt marshes is a global scale phenomenon, of great socio-economic concern due to…
1 February, 2022 by Peter Convey
Belgica antarctica (Diptera: Chironomidae), a brachypterous midge endemic to the maritime Antarctic, was first described in 1900. Over more than a century of study, a vast amount of information has…1 February, 2022 by Jack Humby, Julius Rix, Liz Thomas, Rebecca Tuckwell, Robert Mulvaney
Dissolved and particulate sodium, magnesium and calcium are analyzed in ice cores to determine past changes in sea ice extent, terrestrial dust variability and atmospheric aerosol transport efficiency. They are…
1 February, 2022 by Laura Gerrish, Simon Morley
Physiological comparisons are fundamental to quantitative assessments of the capacity of species to persist within their current distribution and to predict their rates of redistribution in response to climate change.…1 February, 2022 by David Barnes, Terri Souster, Terri Souster
Unprecedented and dramatic transformations are occurring in the Arctic in response to climate change, but academic, public, and political discourse has disproportionately focussed on the most visible and direct aspects…Read more on Biogeochemical consequences of a changing Arctic shelf seafloor ecosystem
1 February, 2022 by Peter Convey
Human activity and climate change are increasing the spread of species across the planet, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Invasion engineers, such as birds, facilitate plant growth through manuring of…1 February, 2022 by Anne-Sophie Bonnet-Lebrun, Derren Fox, Norman Ratcliffe, Tim Morley
Climate change alters species distributions by shifting their fundamental niche in space through time. Such effects may be exacerbated by increased inter-specific competition if climate alters species dominance where competitor…1 February, 2022 by Scott Hosking
Transdisciplinary solutions are needed to achieve the sustainability of ecosystem services for future generations. We propose a framework to identify the causes of ecosystem function loss and to forecast the…Read more on The Time Machine framework: monitoring and prediction of biodiversity loss
1 February, 2022 by Derren Fox, Jennifer Jackson, Michael Dunn, Stacey Adlard
The South Georgia Shag Leucocarbo [atriceps] georgianus has breeding populations on the islands of South Georgia, the South Sandwich and South Orkney Islands. The South Orkney Islands are estimated to…1 February, 2022 by Gaelle Veyssiere
The Arctic marine ecosystem is shaped by the seasonality of the solar cycle, spanning from 24-h light at the sea surface in summer to 24-h darkness in winter. The amount…1 February, 2022 by Anna Belcher, Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Jennifer Freer
The changing Arctic environment is affecting zooplankton that support its abundant wildlife. We examined how these changes are influencing a key zooplankton species, Calanus finmarchicus, principally found in the North…1 February, 2022 by Elisabeth Biersma
Colobanthus (23 species) and Sagina (30–33 species) together are sister to Facchinia. Whereas Facchinia is distributed in western Eurasia, Colobanthus is almost exclusively distributed in the Southern Hemisphere, and Sagina…Read more on Colonization of the Southern Hemisphere by Sagina and Colobanthus (Caryophyllaceae)
1 February, 2022 by Geraint Tarling, Simeon Hill
Poleward range shifts are a global-scale response to warming, but these vary greatly among taxa and are hard to predict for individual species, localized regions or over shorter (years to…1 February, 2022 by Simeon Hill
Plankton drive a major sink of carbon across the global oceans. Dead plankton, their faeces and the faeces of plankton feeders, form a huge rain of carbon sinking to the…Read more on Commercial fishery disturbance of the global ocean biological carbon sink
1 February, 2022 by Peter Convey
We assessed the content of some major and trace elements and lichen compounds as well as antioxidant activity in eight lichen species representing four families collected in areas > 1…Read more on Chemical compounds and antioxidant activity of Antarctic lichens
1 February, 2022 by Andrew Kavanagh, Emma Woodfield, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
Plasmaspheric hiss waves at the Earth are well known for causing losses of electrons from the radiation belts through wave particle interactions. At Saturn, however, we show that the different…Read more on Acceleration of electrons by whistler-mode hiss waves at Saturn
1 February, 2022 by Rob Shore
Report on the RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting ‘System-scale observations and modelling of solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere (SW-M-I-T) coupling’.1 February, 2022 by Amanda Wynne, Nigel Meredith
The Sounds of Space Project harvests found sounds and signals from Earth and way beyond, and gathers them into evocative sonic compositions.1 February, 2022 by Gareth Chisham, Mervyn Freeman
We analyze probability distributions of Birkeland current densities measured by the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE). We find that the distributions are leptokurtic rather than normal and…1 February, 2022 by Jeremy Wilkinson
Arctic observing and data systems have been widely recognized as critical infrastructures to support decision making and understanding across sectors in the Arctic and globally. Yet due to broad and…
26 January, 2022 by Kaitlin Naughten
The Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), including an ice shelf component, has been applied on a circum-Antarctic domain to derive estimates of ice shelf basal melting. Significant improvements made compared…Read more on The Whole Antarctic Ocean Model (WAOM v1.0): Development and evaluation
26 January, 2022 by Tracey Dornan, Ryan Saunders, Sophie Fielding, Tracey Dornan, Tracey Dornan
The oceanic mesopelagic zone, 200–1000 m below sea level, holds abundant small fishes that play central roles in ecosystem function. Global mesopelagic fish biomass estimates are increasingly derived using active…Read more on Large mesopelagic fish biomass in the Southern Ocean resolved by acoustic properties
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.…