4 September, 2025 by Elizabeth Boyse, Melody Clark, Victoria Peck
To date, environmental conditions have been enough to act as an effective barrier to prevent non-indigenous species from arriving and establishing in Arctic Canada. However, rapidly changing climatic conditions are…4 September, 2025
Peter Fretwell is a senior scientist in the Mapping and Geographic Information Centre, at the British Antarctic Survey. Peter has pioneered the use of satellite imagery to study polar wildlife…Read more on 5th anniversary focus: author Peter Fretwell on penguins and climate change
4 September, 2025 by Michael Thorne
The Mekong is amongst the most important rivers in the world with regard to biodiversity and livelihood. Over the last few decades, however, the river has experienced dramatic hydrological changes,…3 September, 2025 by Aidan Hunter, Amanda Burson, Andrew Meijers, Anna Belcher, Clara Manno, Dave Munday, Elaina Ford, Emma Boland, Povl Abrahamsen, Emma Young, Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Huw Griffiths, Hugh Venables, Alexander Brearley, Jennifer Freer, Jessica Richt, Kate Hendry, Katrin Linse, Laura Taylor, Madeline Anderson, Michael Meredith, Nadine Johnston, Petra ten Hoopen, Rachael Sanders, Ruta Hamilton, Ryan Saunders, Sarah Coombs, Sally Thorpe, Simeon Hill, Sophie Fielding
The export of elements (particularly carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus) from the Poles critically supports global marine biodiversity and major fisheries as well as the sequestration of atmospheric carbon to the…2 September, 2025 by Philip Trathan
Information on cetacean population status is vital for determining fisheries management strategies, especially where they overlap spatiotemporally and target the same organism. This study aims to quantify distribution and abundance…2 September, 2025 by Hugo Rodrigues Guimaro
Monitoring of seabird population size and demography has for decades relied on observer-based methods. While such methods have allowed the accumulation of extensive, standardized time series, while typically involving both…Read more on Opportunities and challenges for new technologies in seabird population monitoring
1 September, 2025 by David Pearce
Glacial landsystems are geomorphological records produced by glaciers that provide important insights into past and present glacier dynamics. Here, we present a snapshot of the diversity in glacier landsystems in…1 September, 2025 by Peter Convey
We evaluated the fungal diversity present in ornithogenically-influenced soils of the polyextreme Brazilian Archipelago of São Pedro and São Paulo, using a DNA metabarcoding approach. We detected 1,596,919 fungal DNA…1 September, 2025 by Peter Convey
Petroleum spills pose a significant threat to ecosystems due to the presence of hydrocarbons, the primary toxic components. Bioremediation, particularly using hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, offers an eco-friendly solution for mitigating this…1 September, 2025 by John King
Endurance, one of the main vessels of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17, became stuck and eventually was crushed by sea ice, sinking to the bottom of the Weddell Sea;…Read more on The Role of the Weather in the Fate of Shackleton’s Endurance
1 September, 2025 by Dave Munday
Central to improving our knowledge of ocean temperature change on Antarctica’s continental shelf is a better understanding of how ocean circulation drives the onshore flux of warm deep waters across…1 September, 2025 by Matthew Lang
A coupled modeling framework is often used to forecast the near-Earth solar wind conditions. This consists of a coronal model for close to the Sun and a heliospheric model for…Read more on Using Solar Wind Data Assimilation Results to Drive Dynamic Solar Wind Models
1 September, 2025 by Richard Phillips
Emerging infectious diseases pose threats to wildlife, particularly in geographically isolated populations where hosts may lack prior exposure and immunity. Seabirds inhabiting remote islands in the southwest Atlantic and Southern…28 August, 2025 by Subir Mandal, Tracy Moffat-Griffin
In this study, we have investigated short-period ( 1 hr) atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) in the Arctic mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) region during January of 2014, 2015, and 2016. We used…28 August, 2025 by Markus Frey
Blowing snow plays a key role in the surface mass and energy budgets of polar regions and can be a significant source of water vapor to the atmosphere. In this…28 August, 2025 by Ashley Bennison, Elizabeth Mackley, Elizabeth Holmes, Richard Phillips, Rosamund Hall, Sarah Manthorpe
Marine ecosystems face multiple human threats, and many species are declining. The wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, black-browed albatross Thalassarche melanophris and grey-headed albatross T. chrysostoma are categorised globally as Vulnerable,…26 August, 2025 by Dave Munday
At the Antarctic coast, ice shelves flow from the ice sheet and are vulnerable to future changes in sub-surface ocean temperatures at the southern margins. A better understanding of how…26 August, 2025 by Petra ten Hoopen
The Southern Ocean is central to global ocean mixing and climate regulation via its disproportionate uptake of human-induced heat and carbon dioxide, yet the underlying processes are still poorly understood.…Read more on SOOSmap: Your gateway to Antarctic data discovery
25 August, 2025 by Nigel Meredith
Plasmaspheric hiss is an incoherent, broadband, whistler-mode emission that is found primarily in the Earth’s dense plasmasphere and is believed to be largely responsible for the formation of the slot…Read more on Evolution of dayside chorus into nightside plasmaspheric hiss
25 August, 2025 by Xu Zhang
During the last glacial period, the iconic Greenland ice-core records provide evidence of interstadial warmings with various durations ranging from a century to millennia. However, whether differences in interstadial duration…22 August, 2025 by Geraint Tarling, Jennifer Freer
High‐latitude zooplankton can sequester millions of tons of carbon due to their seasonal migration from the surface ocean to depth, and their respiration and mortality during overwintering. This seasonal vertical…Read more on Seasonally migrating zooplankton strongly enhance Southern Ocean carbon sequestration
22 August, 2025 by Martin Collins
We present a genome assembly of an individual Borostomias antarcticus (large-eye snaggletooth; Chordata; Actinopteri; Stomiiformes; Stomiidae). The genome sequence has a total length of 909.23 megabases. Most of the assembly…16 August, 2025 by Alison McLaren, Louise Sime, Qinggang Gao
The interpretation of water isotope records in Antarctic ice cores is crucial for our understandingof past climate changes. Here we use novel water tracers in an ECHAM6‐wiso simulation to investigatemoisture…16 August, 2025 by Xu Zhang
Paleoclimate reconstructions suggest that clusters of volcanic eruptions may trigger sustained cooling events, but the underlying mechanisms and their potential dependence on the mean climate state remain poorly understood. Here,…Read more on State‐Dependent North Atlantic Response to Volcanic Eruption Clusters
16 August, 2025 by Gareth Chisham
The high-latitude ionosphere can be divided into three regions dominated by different types of coupling and characterized by distinctive behaviors. These are the polar cap, the auroral region, and the…Read more on The Impact of Adaptive High-Latitude Coordinates
15 August, 2025 by Peter Convey
Seabirds like little auks (Alle alle) transfer chemical elements to terrestrial environments through faeces and other biological material, enriching Arctic soils with nutrients, organic matter, and marine-derived contaminants. We quantified…13 August, 2025 by John Slattery
We assess near‐surface temperature and sea surface temperature trends in 8 seasonal forecast systems in the Copernicus Climate Change Service archive, over the common hindcast period (1993–2016). All but one…Read more on The Representation of Surface Temperature Trends in C3S Seasonal Forecast Systems
13 August, 2025 by Jeremy Wilkinson
A dual-modality sensor combining ground-penerating radar and electromagnetic induction for the measurement of sea ice thickness is proposed. Though inductive sensing alone is widely used for ice thickness measurement over…Read more on Simulation of the Measurement of Arctic Snow Thickness Using Ground-Penetrating Radar
11 August, 2025
Deleterious mutations are ubiquitous in natural populations and, when expressed, reduce fitness. However, the specific nature of these mutations and the ways in which they impact fitness remain poorly understood.…8 August, 2025 by Katrin Linse
Phylogeographic analyses have advanced our understanding of evolutionary processes in the deep sea, yet patterns of genetic variation and population divergence at abyssal depths remain poorly understood. The bivalve Ledella…5 August, 2025 by Josephine Anselin, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Holland
This study examines the interplay between water column structure, tidal currents, and basal melting at a site beneath Ronne Ice Shelf, using a 3-year data set of oceanographic measurements, and…3 August, 2025 by Emma Young
The Southern Ocean today is a globally relevant sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), where the biological uptake of carbon through primary productivity is largely controlled by widespread iron (Fe)…1 August, 2025 by Jo Cole, Kevin Hughes, Nadia Frontier
Reducing plastic pollution of the Antarctic environment is a priority for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP). Polyester flags mounted on…1 August, 2025 by Alexandra Weiss, Carl Robinson, Maximilian Lowe, Nathan Fenney, Tom Jordan
Airborne investigations are a keystone for understanding the Antarctic environment across many scientific disciplines. Over the past decade and more, the use of drones has been proposed as a means…1 August, 2025 by Lloyd Peck, Nicholas Barrett
For osmoconforming organisms, prolonged exposure to reduced salinity requires an adjustment to intracellular osmolyte levels to ensure an osmotic balance is maintained between the cell and external sea water. However,…1 August, 2025 by Kenza Tazi
High Mountain Asia (HMA) holds the highest concentration of frozen water outside the polar regions, serving as a crucial water source for more than 1.9 billion people. Precipitation represents the…1 August, 2025 by Paul Holland
The Amundsen Sea Undercurrent, off West Antarctica, transports warm Circumpolar Deep Water onto the continental shelf, driving basal melting when it reaches the ice shelves through troughs. However, vertical heat…1 August, 2025 by Louise Sime, Matthew Chadwick
Antarctic sea-ice cover reached historically low levels in 2023, consistent with the simulated decrease in sea-ice extent in response to anthropogenic warming. Antarctic sea ice is closely linked to multiple…1 August, 2025 by Andrew Clarke
The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) has been an important strand in ecology for almost a quarter of a century, renewing interest in the importance of body size and the…Read more on The contribution of metabolic theory to ecology
1 August, 2025 by Andrew Orr
PCAPS Open Session: Forecast value cycles for Polar Research Operations: A workshop was held as part of the annual Steering Group meeting of the WMO World Weather Research Program project…Read more on Toward Strengthened Forecasting Services for Polar Regions [Meeting Report]
1 August, 2025 by Steve Colwell
In 2024, atmospheric conditions over Antarctica exhibited significant anomalies, and were marked by major surface and stratospheric warming and pressure fluctuations. The first half of the year (January–June) featured persistent…Read more on State of the Climate in 2024. Antarctica and the Southern Ocean
31 July, 2025 by Peter Convey
Bryophytes play an important role as habitats for many organisms, especially invertebrates, however, few studies have focused on understanding the cryptic ecosystems associated with them. The use of molecular tools…30 July, 2025 by Xu Zhang
Projections of tropical rainfall under global warming remain highly uncertain, largely because of an unclear climate response to a potential weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). Although an…Read more on Tropical response to ocean circulation slowdown raises future drought risk
29 July, 2025 by Chester Sands, Peter Convey, Will Goodall-Copestake
To effectively manage biological assemblages, a sound knowledge of the biodiversity is essential. The Southern Ocean shelf benthic assemblages are typically comprised of species, the names of which are shared…29 July, 2025 by Peter Convey
In the light of the considerable global climatic changes observed over recent decades, and particularly their magnification in the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) region (maritime Antarctic), it is important to…Read more on New Collembola occurrence records from the western Antarctic Peninsula
28 July, 2025 by Kaitlin Naughten, Katherine Turner, Paul Holland
Increased ice shelf melting caused by ocean warming in the Amundsen Sea is likely committed for the coming century. However, the drivers behind this projected ocean warming are not yet…25 July, 2025 by Martin Collins
We present a genome assembly from an individual female Electrona antarctica (the Antarctic lanternfish; Chordata; Actinopterigii; Myctophiformes; Myctophidae). The genome sequence has a total length of 1,427.40 megabases. Most of…25 July, 2025
A compilation is presented of impacts (interference and damage) realized on long-line telegraph and telephone systems across North America during the 13–16 May 1921 magnetic storm. Impacts occurred primarily during…Read more on The Impact of the May 1921 Superstorm on American Telecommunication Systems
25 July, 2025 by Petra ten Hoopen
Understanding how environmental and ecological factors shape variability in soil-associated microbial communities is a complex problem, particularly on islands, which contain a wide range of diverse and unique geology, fauna,…24 July, 2025 by Oliver Marsh, Robert Arthern
Tabular iceberg calving reduces ice-shelf extent, affecting ocean circulation and ice-sheet stability. Here we present detailed observations of a rift on the Brunt Ice Shelf, East Antarctica, from 2017-2023 and…Read more on Ocean tides trigger ice shelf rift growth and calving
24 July, 2025 by Danielle Buss, Gabriele Stowasser, Jennifer Jackson, Michael Dunn, Will Goodall-Copestake
Baleen whales are key marine predators that were heavily exploited throughout the 20th century, resulting in reductions in population size for many species. Whilst population recovery is evident for some…Read more on Historical Niche Partitioning of Baleen Whales in the Western South Atlantic
24 July, 2025 by Geraint Tarling
Locating the spawning grounds of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba is key to understanding their population dynamics and managing the commercial krill fishery. In the shelf waters of the Antarctic Peninsula…23 July, 2025 by Dieter Tetzner
The pattern of atmospheric and climate changes recorded by coastal Antarctic ice core sites and the processes they illustrate highlight the importance of multiproxy studies on ice cores drilled from…23 July, 2025 by Chester Sands
Our knowledge of biogeographic patterns and processes in the deep sea has been limited by the lack of integrated datasets that cover its vast extent1. Here we analyse a new…Read more on Spatiotemporal faunal connectivity across global seafloors
21 July, 2025 by Andrew Orr, Scott Hosking, Marc Girona-Mata, Tony Phillips
This study introduces a novel approach to post-processing (i.e. downscaling and bias-correcting) reanalysis-driven regional climate model daily precipitation outputs that can be generalised to ungauged mountain locations by leveraging sparse…18 July, 2025 by Peter Convey
Inferring general biogeographic patterns in the sub-Antarctic region has been challenging due to the disparate geological origins of its islands and archipelagos—ranging from Gondwanan fragments to uplifted seafloor and more…Read more on Tracing the biogeographic history of the world’s most isolated insular floras
18 July, 2025 by David Pearce, Peter Convey
Colonization of remote ecosystems by new microorganisms poses a significant threat to the diversity and function of native microbial communities. In the polar regions, including Antarctica, airborne microbial communities are…Read more on Daily turnover of airborne bacterial communities in the sub-Antarctic
18 July, 2025 by Federico Covi
Refreezing is a critical component of the mass balance of glaciers in Svalbard, yet the processes and changes under a warming climate are not fully understood. Here, we investigate changes…17 July, 2025 by James Kirkham
Based on a regional 3D seismic data set and a small high‐resolution 3D seismic data set (~40 km 2 ) we have mapped a buried glacially eroded trough on the…17 July, 2025 by Jasmine Lee, Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
This report presents outcomes from the international workshop "Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) Framework for Terrestrial Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Ecosystems," held in Cambridge, UK, from 18–20 September 2024, with significant online…16 July, 2025
This thesis addresses several key questions aimed at understanding host-microbial and host-helminth dynamics within Southern Ocean penguin populations. The overall thesis aim is to characterise microbial and helminth diversity in…16 July, 2025 by Tracy Moffat-Griffin
The mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) comprise a highly variable region that forms the transition region between the middle and upper atmosphere. The variability of this region is driven by…16 July, 2025 by Claire Allen, Dieter Tetzner, Liz Thomas
In recent decades, the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds have strengthened and migrated south, attributed to greenhouse gas emissions and stratospheric ozone depletion. However, the onset and acceleration of these drivers…16 July, 2025 by Jeremy Wilkinson
Antarctic sea ice has seen recent rapid declines in extent, but it remains unclear whether this isaccompanied by thinning. Due to the relative abundance and complexity of overlying snow on…16 July, 2025 by Xu Zhang
The interhemispheric relation of deep-water ventilation and surface-ocean productivity may have played a prominent role in past atmospheric CO2 regulation. However, how these processes vary on orbital-millennial timescales remains poorly…16 July, 2025 by Maximilian Lowe, Tom Jordan, Teal Riley
The Antarctic Peninsula is a unique sector of the circum-Pacific continental margin arc where subduction ceased due to a series of ridge-trench collisions, preserving a relatively un-deformed magmatic arc. This…15 July, 2025 by Andy Smith, David Vaughan
Since the 1990s, satellites have shown accelerating ice-loss driven by ocean change in the neighbouring glacier basins that drain more than one-third of West Antarctica into the Amundsen Sea. The…15 July, 2025 by Joseph Ulanowski
A new modular multi-sensor aerological dropsonde system for high and fast-flying research aircraft has been developed for studying atmospheric processes. This new system allows us to drop release containers with…Read more on A new versatile dropsonde for atmospheric soundings – the KITsonde
14 July, 2025 by Kaitlin Naughten
The Amundsen Sea region in Antarctica is a critical area for understanding future sea level rise due to its rapidly changing ice dynamics and significant contributions to global ice mass…13 July, 2025
Despite growing awareness of the importance of researcher diversity, barriers to inclusion and equity persist in science and at academic conferences. As hosts of the 37th International Ethological Congress, “Behaviour…11 July, 2025 by Tom Jordan
Antarctic bed topography influences how the overlying ice sheet responds to climate change and provides a record of long-term glacial history. However, knowledge of the processes that governed the development…10 July, 2025
Human activities are affecting marine biodiversity globally by accelerating extinction rates, altering ecosystem conditions and changing community structures. These changes can only be understood through establishing the ecosystem state prior…9 July, 2025 by Martin Collins, Mark Belchier
Humans have transformed ecosystems through habitat modification, harvesting, species introduction, and climate change. Changes in species distribution and composition are often thought to induce biotic homogenization, defined as an increase…Read more on Marine communities do not follow the paradigm of increasing similarity through time
9 July, 2025 by Peter Convey
Antarctica is characterized by extreme conditions including low temperatures, strong winds, desiccation, high UV radiation, high salinity, freeze-thaw cycles and pH variations. As a result, the resident diversity is dominated…8 July, 2025 by Richard Phillips
Incidental capture (bycatch) of seabirds in longline and trawl fisheries is one of the main threats to many albatrosses and large petrels. The White‐chinned Petrel ( Procellaria aequinoctialis ) has…8 July, 2025 by Adriana Giles, Alice Clement, David Barnes, Simon Morley
The physical environment of nearshore Southern Ocean (coastal Antarctica) is altering rapidly in response to climate change, but also has other long cyclicity due to El Nino Southern Oscillation and…7 July, 2025 by Andrew Meijers, Dani Jones
In the South Pacific Subantarctic mode water (SAMW) formation region, central and eastern pools of SAMW have been found to be linked to winter mixed-layer thicknesses that vary strongly interannually…Read more on Local versus far-field control on South Pacific Subantarctic mode water variability
4 July, 2025 by Ella Gilbert
Surface meltwater is predicted to become increasingly important for Antarctic mass loss as atmospheric temperatures rise, due to its potential to influence ice dynamic, hydrofracture and radiative processes. However, our…2 July, 2025 by Jaume Forcada
Comparative studies of microbial communities occupying different body sites in wild vertebrates are scarce, but they are crucial for advancing our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping animal…2 July, 2025 by Peter Convey
Fjords in the Arctic are changing rapidly due to multiple factors including increasing air temperatures, the influx of Atlantic Water (Atlantification), sea-ice loss, retreat of tidewater glaciers, increased freshwater discharges,…2 July, 2025 by Peter Convey
The flexibility of movement behaviour was investigated in the non-native carabid beetle, Merizodus soledadinus, by comparing individuals from well-established populations (residents) to those at the invasion front (dispersers) in the…2 July, 2025 by Simon Morley
Subtidal marine ectotherm physiological responses vary with ocean warming. Predicting these responses is important for ecosystem assessments to inform management and conservation strategies. Falkland Islands coastal species representing different mobility,…2 July, 2025 by Alex Brisbourne, Alvaro Arenas Pingarron, Carlos Martin Garcia, Alvaro Pingarron Arenas
Ice crystal orientation fabric strongly affects the viscous deformation of glacier ice. A popular technique to investigate ice fabric is radar polarimetry, often analysed using the coherence method. However, in…1 July, 2025 by James Smith
This paper presents new marine geophysical data and radiocarbon dated sediment cores to reconstruct the maximum extent of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) during the last glaciation and the…1 July, 2025 by Anna Belcher
Oceanic mesoscale structures, such as eddies, play a fundamental role in ocean circulation, ocean biogeochemical cycles and plankton ecology. They cause lateral and vertical advection, as well as interact with…1 July, 2025 by Peter Convey
Polar regions are heavily impacted by climate change. Yet, vulnerability assessments suggest little concern about heat-related challenges for polar terrestrial ectotherms. These conclusions are based, however, on assumptions and extrapolation…Read more on Polar ectotherms more vulnerable to warming than expected
1 July, 2025 by George Day
Migratory birds are inherently vagile, a strategy that may reduce the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on genetic diversity. However, specialist resource requirements and range-edge distribution can counteract these…1 July, 2025 by Louise Sime, Paul Holland
We present the first CMIP6-era multi-model intercomparison of the Southern Ocean (SO) temperature and sea-ice response to substantial Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) weakening. Results are based on analysis of…1 July, 2025 by Peter Convey
Aim: To integrate the historical and contemporary connectivity of Branchinecta gaini (B. gaini), in order to better predict future distribution changes within its fragmented, dynamic and isolated habitat range. Location:…1 July, 2025 by Hugh Venables
The ocean contributes to regulating atmospheric CO2 levels via the biological carbon pump (BCP). One critical aspect of the BCP is the depth at which sinking particulate organic carbon (POC)…1 July, 2025 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
Mass loss from polar ice sheets is poorly constrained in estimates of future global sea-level rise. Today, the marine-based West Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing mass at an accelerating rate,…30 June, 2025 by Xu Zhang
Proxy-based reconstructions and climate model simulations of Holocene global annual mean temperatures exhibit divergent trends, leading to the well-known “Holocene temperature conundrum (HTC)”. This discrepancy is most pronounced in the…30 June, 2025 by Ashley Bennison
Determining the distribution and population size of marine species is crucial for conservation and management. However, for many species, the abundance and at sea distribution are poorly known because of…28 June, 2025 by Adrian Fox, Ashley Bennison, Jamie Coleman, Louise Ireland, Martin Collins, Nathan Fenney, Philip Hollyman, Philip Trathan
Drones are being increasingly used to monitor wildlife populations; their large spatial coverage and minimal disturbance make them ideal for use in remote environments where access and time are limited.…28 June, 2025 by Bianca Perren, Claire Allen, Dieter Tetzner, Dorothea Moser, Jack Humby, Liz Thomas, Shaun Miller
The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds (SHWWs) (45–65°S) are important regulators of the Southern Hemisphere climate. The scarcity of observational records at the core of the wind belt hinders our understanding…