1 March, 2020 by Peter Convey
The Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) provides an opportunity to improve our knowledge of Arctic arthropod diversity, but initial baseline studies are required to summarise the status and trends of…1 March, 2020 by Peter Convey
The terrestrial chapter of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) has the potential to bring international multi-taxon, long-term monitoring together, but detailed fundamental species information for Arctic arthropods lags far…1 March, 2020 by Melody Clark, Victoria Sleight
Motivation The molecular processes regulating molluscan shell production remain relatively uncharacterised, despite the clear evolutionary and societal importance of biomineralisation. Results Here we built the first computationally predicted gene regulatory…
1 March, 2020 by Philip Leat, Tom Jordan, Teal Riley
Thick (∼800 m) basaltic successions from the eastern Antarctic Peninsula have been dated in the interval 180 – 177 Ma and preserve a transition from a continental margin arc to…
1 March, 2020 by Richard Phillips
Information on the status of giant petrels breeding at South Georgia was previously based on studies at a small number of the archipelago's breeding sites. Here, we report the results…1 March, 2020 by Peter Convey
The projected increase in freeze-thaw frequency associated with warmer temperatures in the High Arctic could affect the dynamics of soil bacterial communities. We report here the effects of freeze-thaw (FT)…Read more on Effects of freeze-thaw cycles on High Arctic soil bacterial communities
1 March, 2020 by Robert Blackwell, Sophie Fielding
Echograms are used to visualize fisheries acoustic data, but choice of colour map has a significant effect on appearance. Quantitative echograms should use colour maps, which are colourful (have a…1 March, 2020 by Peter Convey
Petroleum pollution is a major concern in Antarctica due to the persistent nature of its hydrocarbon components coupled with the region’s extreme environmental conditions, which means that bioremediation approaches are…
1 March, 2020 by Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
Aim Correlative species distribution models (SDMs) are subject to substantial spatio‐temporal limitations when historical occurrence records of data‐poor species provide incomplete and outdated information for niche modelling. Complementary mechanistic modelling…
1 March, 2020 by Claire Waluda, Richard Phillips
Increasing amounts of anthropogenic debris enter the ocean because of mismanagement in coastal communities and, despite a global ban on deliberate dumping, also from vessels, endangering wildlife. Assessing marine plastic…
1 March, 2020 by Norman Ratcliffe, Simeon Hill
Ecosystem‐based management of fisheries aims to allow sustainable use of fished stocks while keeping impacts upon ecosystems within safe ecological limits. Both the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries…Read more on Reference points for predators will progress ecosystem-based management of fisheries
1 March, 2020 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
The decline in dissolved oxygen in global oceans (ocean deoxygenation) is a potential consequence of global warming which may have important impacts on ocean biogeochemistry and marine ecosystems. Current climate…
1 March, 2020 by Claire Waluda, Iain Staniland, Kevin Hughes, Mari Whitelaw, Michael Dunn, Sally Thorpe
We report on three decades of repeat surveys of beached marine debris at two locations in the Scotia Sea, in the Southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Between October…
1 March, 2020 by Alistair Crame
We are beginning to appreciate that the huge radiations of both marine and terrestrial taxa in the aftermath of the K/Pg mass extinction event were concentrated largely, but not exclusively,…Read more on Early Cenozoic evolution of the latitudinal diversity gradient
1 March, 2020
Most glaciers in South America and on the Antarctic Peninsula are retreating and thinning. They are considered strong contributors to global sea level rise. However, there is a lack of…Read more on Detailed quantification of glacier elevation and mass changes in South Georgia
1 March, 2020 by Dominic Hodgson
Southern Hemisphere glacial chronologies can provide valuable insights into interactions between glaciation and past climate changes, but are not well constrained on most sub-Antarctic islands. We present the first cosmogenic…1 March, 2020 by Philip Hollyman
In response to increased demand in Asian markets, the commercial fishery for the common whelk (Buccinum undatum, L) has expanded in north-eastern Europe. In the Irish Sea region (ICES Area…
1 March, 2020 by Mark Clilverd
Large geomagnetic storms are a known space weather hazard to power transmission networks due to the effects of Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs). However, research in this area has been hampered…1 March, 2020 by Peter Convey
Microcystins (MCs) are secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria and have been well-documented in temperate and tropical regions. However, knowledge of the production of MCs in extremely cold environments is still…
26 February, 2020 by Anna Belcher, Geraint Tarling
Copepods are amongst the most abundant animals on our planet. Who knew?! These small (typically 1–10 mm) crustaceans are found in all of the world’s oceans and play an important…
26 February, 2020 by Adrian Jenkins
Mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the ocean has increased in recent decades, largely because the thinning of its floating ice shelves has allowed the outflow of grounded…Read more on Ice front blocking of ocean heat transport to an Antarctic ice shelf
26 February, 2020 by Claire Allen, Dieter Tetzner, Emily Ludlow, Hilary Blagbrough, Liz Thomas, Richard Warren, Thomas Bracegirdle
Winds in the Southern Ocean drive exchanges of heat and carbon dioxide between the ocean and atmosphere. Wind dynamics also explain the dominant patterns of both basal and surface melting…26 February, 2020 by Peter Convey
An insect’s ability to tolerate winter conditions is a critical determinant of its success. This is true for both native and invasive species, and especially so in harsh polar environments.…
25 February, 2020 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
The future response of the Antarctic ice sheet to rising temperatures remains highly uncertain. A useful period for assessing the sensitivity of Antarctica to warming is the Last Interglacial (LIG)…Read more on Early Last Interglacial ocean warming drove substantial ice mass loss from Antarctica
25 February, 2020 by Peter Convey
The invertebrate terrestrial fauna of Antarctica is being investigated with increasing interest to discover how life interacts with the extreme polar environment and how millions of years of evolution have…
24 February, 2020 by Povl Abrahamsen
The Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW) export from 1999 to 2019 displays distinct seasonal and interannual variability. From 2014 into 2017 a marked salinity decrease was recorded, with the lowest…Read more on Interannual variability of the outflow of Weddell Sea bottom water
24 February, 2020 by Gabriele Stowasser, Iain Staniland, Jaume Forcada, John Dickens, Kayleigh Jones, Norman Ratcliffe, John Dickens
Competition for resources within a population can lead to niche partitioning between sexes, throughout ontogeny and among individuals, allowing con-specifics to co-exist. We aimed to quantify such partitioning in Antarctic…Read more on Intra-specific niche partitioning in Antarctic fur seals, Arctocephalus gazella
21 February, 2020 by Paul Holland
We describe a versatile apparatus for measuring the permeability of porous materials using oscillatory flows. The permeabilities are measured by an original spectral analysis of the pressure and fluid-displacement signals.…Read more on Permeability measurements using oscillatory flows
21 February, 2020 by Thomas Bauska
Permafrost and methane hydrates are large, climate-sensitive old carbon reservoirs that have the potential to emit large quantities of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as the Earth continues to warm.…Read more on Old carbon reservoirs were not important in the deglacial methane budget
20 February, 2020 by Mark Clilverd
Recently, a model for medium energy (30–1000 keV) radiation belt‐driven electron precipitation (ApEEP) has been put forward for use in decadal to century‐long climate model runs as part of the…17 February, 2020 by Markus Frey
Uncertainty in snow properties impacts the accuracy of Arctic sea ice thickness estimates from radar altimetry. On first-year sea ice (FYI), spatiotemporal variations in snow properties can cause the Ku-band…
16 February, 2020 by Richard Horne
Geomagnetic indices are routinely used to characterize space weather event intensity. The DST index is well resolved, but is only available over 5 solar cycles. The aa index extends over…
7 February, 2020 by Caitlin Frankish, Richard Phillips
Foraging performance is widely hypothesized to play a key role in shaping age-specific demographic rates in wild populations, yet the underlying behavioral changes are poorly understood. Seabirds are among the…Read more on Effects of age on foraging behavior in two closely related albatross species
6 February, 2020 by Jeremy Wilkinson
Accurate measurements of sea ice thickness are critical to better understand climate change, to provide situational awareness in ice-covered waters, and to reduce risks for communities that rely on sea…
6 February, 2020 by Claire Waluda, Richard Phillips, William Mills
Diet analyses can reveal important changes in seabird foraging ecology and, by inference, resource availability and predator–prey dynamics within the wider marine ecosystem. Here, we analysed stomach contents of 1544…
5 February, 2020 by Jade Reidy, Jade Reidy
This paper reviews our current understanding of auroral features that appear poleward of the main auroral oval within the polar cap, especially those that are known as Sun-aligned arcs, transpolar…
4 February, 2020 by David Barnes
The Earth’s warming climate is reducing snow and ice. The warming of the polar seas causes the sea surface to freeze less in winter and glaciers to retreat, generating more…
4 February, 2020 by Philip Trathan, Richard Phillips
1. The identification of geographic areas where the densities of animals are highest across their annual cycles is a crucial step in conservation planning. In marine environments, however, it can…
4 February, 2020 by Peter Convey
Physiological thermal limits of organisms are linked to their geographic distribution. The assessment of such limits can provide valuable insights when monitoring for environmental thermal alterations. Using the dynamic critical…4 February, 2020 by Thomas Lachlan-Cope
In situ measurements of Arctic clouds frequently show that ice crystal number concentrations (ICNCs) are much higher than the number of available ice-nucleating particles (INPs), suggesting that secondary ice production…Read more on The impact of secondary ice production on Arctic stratocumulus
3 February, 2020 by James France
Gravity drainage is the dominant process redistributing solutes in growing sea ice. Modelling gravity drainage is therefore necessary to predict physical and biogeochemical variables in sea ice. We evaluate seven…1 February, 2020 by Philip Trathan
More than half of the world's 18 penguin species are declining. We, the Steering Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Penguin Specialist Group, determined…Read more on Applying science to pressing conservation needs for penguins
1 February, 2020 by Dave Munday
The Southern Ocean (SO) surface wind stress is a major atmospheric forcing for driving the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the global overturning circulation. Here the effects of wind fluctuations at…Read more on Southern Ocean wind stress in CMIP5 models: Role of wind fluctuations
1 February, 2020 by Martin Collins, Ryan Saunders
This study examines age and growth of Brauer's lanternfish Gymnoscopelus braueri and rhombic lanternfish Krefftichthys anderssoni from the Scotia Sea in the Southern Ocean, through the analysis of annual growth…1 February, 2020 by Kevin Newsham
We report a space-for-time substitution study predicting the impacts of climate change on vegetated maritime Antarctic soils. Analyses of soils from under Deschampsia antarctica sampled from three islands along a…1 February, 2020 by Chester Sands, David Barnes
As marine-ice around Antarctica retracts, a vast 'blue carbon' sink, in the form of living biomass, is emerging. Properly protected and promoted Antarctic blue carbon will form the world's largest…Read more on Protecting Antarctic blue carbon: As marine ice retreats can the law fill the gap?
1 February, 2020 by Andrew Orr, James Pope
This paper delineates the process of activation of soot or black carbon particles into cloud droplets over Chennai, India (an Asian megacity). Archaic wood-fired cooking stove emissions from crowded shantytown…1 February, 2020 by Martin Collins
Diet of bluenose warehou, Hyperoglyphe antarctica, was investigated from samples collected during commercial fishing (trawling and longlining) on seamounts in the Tristan da Cunha EEZ in the South Atlantic Ocean.…1 February, 2020 by Michael Rose
Iron-rich meteorites are significantly underrepresented in collection statistics from Antarctica. This has led to a hypothesis that there is a sparse layer of iron-rich meteorites hidden below the surface of…1 February, 2020 by Sophie Fielding
Today, we can celebrate a strong representation of women in sea-going science in the United Kingdom, providing positive role models for early-career female marine scientists. However, women continue to face…Read more on Equity at sea: Gender and inclusivity in UK sea-going science
31 January, 2020 by Huw Griffiths
Antarctic shallow coastal marine communities were long thought to be isolated from their nearest neighbours by hundreds of kilometres of deep ocean and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The discovery of…
28 January, 2020 by Kelly Hogan
Petermann Fjord is a deep (>1000 m) fjord that incises the coastline of north-west Greenland and was carved by an expanded Petermann Glacier, one of the six largest outlet glaciers draining…
27 January, 2020 by Peter Convey
Climatic changes can induce geographic expansion and altitudinal shifts in the distribution of invasive species by offering more thermally suitable habitats. At the remote sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands, the predatory insect…27 January, 2020 by Tom Jordan, Teal Riley
West Antarctica has formed the tectonically active margin between East Antarctica and the Pacific Ocean for almost half a billion years, where it has recorded a dynamic history of magmatism,…Read more on The geological history and evolution of West Antarctica
24 January, 2020 by Hugh Corr, Irena Vankova, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls
The Filchner‐Ronne Ice Shelf experiences strong tidal forcing known to displace portions of the ice shelf by several meters over a tidal cycle. These large periodic displacements may cause significant…
23 January, 2020 by Amelie Kirchgaessner, John King
Föhn winds are warm, strong, downslope winds on the lee side of mountains, which can last from several hours to a few days. 1995 and 2002 saw the dramatic break‐up…20 January, 2020 by Alexander Brearley
A Kongsberg Seaglider with a microstructure package was deployed in the Faroe-Shetland Channel in 2017 as part of the 4th Marine Autonomous Systems in Support of Marine Observations (MASSMO4). Using…
17 January, 2020 by Lloyd Peck, Simon Morley
The levels of pollutants in polar regions is gaining progressively more attention from the science community. This is especially so for pollutants that persist in the environment and can reach…17 January, 2020 by Tracy Moffat-Griffin
Atmospheric 8‐ and 6‐hr tides are observed for the first time in the zonal and meridional winds at ~82–97 km altitudes simultaneously at Tierra del Fuego (TDF; 53.7°S, 67.7°W), King…
16 January, 2020 by Louise Sime, Maria Vittoria Guarino
When the same weather or climate simulation is run on different high-performance computing (HPC) platforms, model outputs may not be identical for a given initial condition. While the role of…
15 January, 2020 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith
The Amundsen Sea drainage sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is widely regarded as a candidate for triggering potential WAIS collapse. The grounded ice sheet drains into the…
15 January, 2020 by Jacob Opher
What is already happening • Salinity of eastern North Atlantic waters west of the UK has dramatically decreased over the last five years, probably in response to changes in the…Read more on Climate change and salinity of the coastal and marine environment around the UK.
15 January, 2020 by Jeremy Wilkinson
Satellite measurements continue to reveal reductions in the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice. Research suggests that at least half of the observed decline of ice extent can be…
8 January, 2020 by Richard Phillips
Pelagic seabirds are amongst the most threatened of all avian groups. They face a range of immunological challenges which seem destined to increase due to environmental changes in their breeding…Read more on Protein deimination and extracellular vesicle profiles in Antarctic seabirds
6 January, 2020 by Thomas Bauska
The Last Interglacial (129–116 thousand years ago (ka)) represents one of the warmest climate intervals of the past 800,000 years and the most recent time when sea level was metres higher…Read more on Global ocean heat content in the Last Interglacial
5 January, 2020 by Dennis Mayk
Boron isotope (δ11B) analysis using bulk foraminifera samples is a widely used method to reconstruct paleo sea water pH conditions. Although, these analyses exhibit high analytical precision, short term information…
3 January, 2020 by James Pope, Thomas Bracegirdle
The gyres of the Iceland and Greenland Seas are regions of deep-water formation, driven by large ocean-to-atmosphere heat fluxes that have local maxima adjacent to the sea-ice edge. Recently these…
1 January, 2020 by David Barnes, Eugene Murphy, Iain Staniland, Katrin Linse, Simeon Hill
In this article, we analyze the impacts of climate change on Antarctic marine ecosystems. Observations demonstrate large-scale changes in the physical variables and circulation of the Southern Ocean driven by…
1 January, 2020 by Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
1. Biodiversity loss has increased globally in recent years. The major threat to Antarctica’s unique terrestrial biodiversity is the establishment of non-native species. Nonetheless, while preventing the introduction of non-native…Read more on Humans and wind, shaping Antarctic soil arthropod biodiversity
1 January, 2020 by Kevin Hughes, Lloyd Peck
Antarctica is one of the least anthropogenically-impacted areas of the world. Metal sources to the marine environment include localised activities of research stations and glacial meltwater containing metals of lithogenic…
1 January, 2020 by Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Sophie Fielding
The concentrations of total and proportions of organic mercury were measured in tissues of 355 individuals of 8 species of Southern Ocean squid (Alluroteuthis antarcticus, Bathyteuthis abyssicola, Filippovia knipovitchi, Galiteuthis…Read more on Mercury levels in Southern Ocean squid: Variability over the last decade
1 January, 2020 by Peter Convey
1. Rising human activity in Antarctica, combined with continued warming of the polar climate, means the risk of non‐native terrestrial species colonising and establishing in its biodiversity‐ and nutrient‐poor ecosystems…1 January, 2020 by Philip Trathan, Peter Fretwell
We argue the need to improve climate change forecasting for ecology, and importantly, how to relate long-term projections to conservation. As an example, we discuss the need for effective management…Read more on The emperor penguin – vulnerable to projected rates of warming and sea ice loss
1 January, 2020 by Peter Convey
Invasive alien species are among the most significant conservation threats for Antarctica, and the South Orkney Islands are highly exposed to this threat because of their location and intensity of…
1 January, 2020 by Claire Allen, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Louise Sime, Matthew Chadwick
The peak of the Last Interglacial, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (130–116 ka), provides a valuable ‘process analogue’ for validating the climatic feedbacks and forcings likely active under future anthropogenic…1 January, 2020 by Joseph Marlow
Coral reefs have experienced extensive degradation across the world over the last 50 years as a result of a variety of stressors operating at a range of spatial and temporal…1 January, 2020 by Lloyd Peck
In this horizon scan, we highlight 15 emerging issues of potential relevance to global conservation in 2020. Seven relate to potentially extensive changes in vegetation or ecological systems. These changes…Read more on A Horizon Scan of Emerging Global Biological Conservation Issues for 2020.
1 January, 2020 by Peter Convey
Pravastatin is a clinically useful cholesterol-lowering agent. The development of a one-step fermentation process using pravastatin-producing microfungi may be an attractive approach from an economic point of view. To facilitate…1 January, 2020 by Liz Thomas
Evidence from various climate proxies provides us with increasingly reliable proof that only in the past 10 millennia were natural systems more or less as we see them at the…Read more on The last three millions of unequal spring thaws
1 January, 2020 by Scott Hosking
Ensembles of geophysical models improve projection accuracy and express uncertainties. We develop a novel data-driven ensembling strategy for combining geophysical models using Bayesian Neural Networks, which infers spatiotemporally varying model…Read more on Ensembling geophysical models with Bayesian Neural Networks
1 January, 2020 by Simeon Hill
This is an update on the operation of and compliance with the ARK commitment during its second year of operation. The evaluation was completed by an expanded EP compared to…1 January, 2020 by Peter Ward, Will Goodall-Copestake
This chapter summarizes global patterns and mechanisms of both ecological and historical crustacean biogeography resulting in the contemporary species distributions described over the past decades. In the pelagic realm, hydrographic…
30 December, 2019 by Anna Jones, Markus Frey
The cryosphere, which comprises a large portion of Earth’s surface, is rapidly changing as a consequence of global climate change. Ice, snow, and frozen ground in the polar and alpine…27 December, 2019 by Mark Clilverd
A technique for analysing very low frequency (VLF) radiowave signals is investigated in order to achieve rapid, real‐time detection of large solar flares, through the monitoring of changes in VLF…26 December, 2019 by Alex Brisbourne
Using 8‐25s period Rayleigh and Love wave phase velocity dispersion data extracted from seismic ambient noise, we (i) model the 3D shear wave velocity structure of the West Antarctic crust…26 December, 2019 by Hayley Allison, Nigel Meredith, Sarah Glauert
Using a particle‐in‐cell code, we study the diffusive response of electrons due to wave‐particle interactions with whistler‐mode waves. The relatively simple configuration of field‐aligned waves in a cold plasma is…26 December, 2019 by Mark Clilverd
Many factors influence relativistic outer radiation belt electron fluxes, such as waves in the ultra low frequency (ULF) Pc5, very low frequency (VLF), and electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) frequency bands,…23 December, 2019 by Andrew Orr, Clare Allen, Daniel Bannister, Scott Hosking, Tony Phillips
The need to provide accurate estimates of precipitation over catchments in the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalaya mountain ranges for hydrological and water resource systems assessments is widely recognized, as…23 December, 2019 by Jakob Thyrring
Species expand towards higher latitudes in response to climate warming, but the pace of this expansion is related to the physiological capacity to resist cold stress. However, few studies exist…Read more on Local cold adaption increases the thermal window of temperate mussels in the Arctic
17 December, 2019 by Liz Thomas, Robert Mulvaney
We study a firn and ice core drilled at the new "Lock-In" site in East Antarctica, located 136 km away from Concordia station towards Durmont d'Urville. High resolution chemical and physical…Read more on Multi-tracer study of gas trapping in an East Antarctic ice core
17 December, 2019 by Tracy Moffat-Griffin
Atmospheric gravity waves play a key role in the transfer of energy and momentum between layers of the Earth's atmosphere. However, nearly all Global Circulation Models (GCMs) seriously under-represent the…13 December, 2019
Vampyroteuthis infernalis Chun, 1903, is a widely distributed deepwater cephalopod with unique morphology and phylogenetic position. We assessed its habitat and trophic ecology on a global scale via stable isotope…12 December, 2019 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Peter Fretwell
The Antarctic ice sheet has been losing mass over past decades through the accelerated flow of its glaciers, conditioned by ocean temperature and bed topography. Glaciers retreating along retrograde slopes…12 December, 2019
Rossia palpebrosa (Sepiolida) is the most abundant nekto-benthic cephalopod in the Arctic; however, its feeding and trophic ecology are largely unknown. This work aims to assess the role of this…10 December, 2019 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith
Reductions in the thickness and extent of Antarctic ice shelves are triggering increased discharge of marine-terminating glaciers. While the impacts of recent changes are well documented, their role in modulating…Read more on The marine geological imprint of Antarctic ice shelves