1 March, 2019 by Peter Convey
In recent years, studies on psychrophilic lipases have become an emerging area of research in the field of enzymology. The study described here focuses on the cold-adapted organic solvent tolerant…1 March, 2019 by Fausto Ferraccioli
The lithospheric structure of Antarctica is still under‐explored. Moho depth estimate studies are in disagreement by more than 10 km in several regions, including for example the hinterland of the…Read more on Moho depths of Antarctica: comparison of seismic, gravity, and isostatic results
1 March, 2019 by Eugene Murphy, Geraint Tarling, Sally Thorpe
Larval recruitment in Antarctic krill is known to be episodic and regional. We consider the importance of a range of recruitment factors using an environmentally driven model of larval development…1 March, 2019 by Fausto Ferraccioli
Reconstructions of the bedrock topography of Antarctica since the Eocene‐Oligocene Boundary (approximately 34 Ma) provide important constraints for modeling Antarctic ice sheet evolution. This is particularly important in regions where…1 March, 2019 by Sophie Fielding
Recent technology developments have turned present-day unmanned systems into realistic alternatives to traditional marine animal survey methods. Benefits include longer survey durations, improved mission safety, mission repeatability, and reduced operational…Read more on A review of unmanned vehicles for the detection and monitoring of marine fauna
1 March, 2019 by Mark Clilverd
This paper describes the use of a class of non‐linear smoothers for the identification of interesting phenomena in narrowband very low frequency (VLF) transmission phase caused by perturbation events in…1 March, 2019 by Andrew Fleming
Copernicus is the European programme for monitoring the Earth. It consists of a set of systems that collect data from satellites and in-situ sensors, process this data and provide users…Read more on From Copernicus Big Data to Extreme Earth Analytics
28 February, 2019 by Gillian Young, Thomas Lachlan-Cope
Secondary ice production (SIP) commonly occurs in coastal Antarctic stratocumulus, affecting their ice number concentrations (Nice) and radiative properties. However, SIP is poorly understood and crudely parametrized in models. By…Read more on Radiative effects of secondary ice enhancement in coastal Antarctic clouds
25 February, 2019 by Kevin Newsham
Terrestrial ecosystems in the maritime Antarctic experienced rapid warming during the latter half of the 20th century. While warming ceased at the turn of the millennium, significant increases in air…23 February, 2019 by Luca Telesca
Environmental change is a major threat to marine ecosystems worldwide. Understanding the key biological processes and environmental factors mediating spatial and temporal species’ responses to habitat alterations underpins our ability…21 February, 2019 by Anna Belcher, Clara Manno, Geraint Tarling, Louise Ireland, Peter Fretwell, Sally Thorpe, Simeon Hill
The biological carbon pump drives a flux of particulate organic carbon (POC) through the ocean and affects atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide. Short term, episodic flux events are hard to…19 February, 2019 by Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
Biogenic dimethylsulfide (DMS) is a significant contributor to sulfur flux from the oceans to the atmosphere, and the most significant source of aerosol non sea-salt sulfate (NSS-SO42−), a key regulator…16 February, 2019 by David Pearce, Peter Convey
In recent years, studies on psychrophilic lipases have been an emerging area of research in the field of enzymology. This study focuses on bacterial strains isolated from anthropogenically-influenced soil samples…15 February, 2019 by Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
The distribution of terrestrial biodiversity within Antarctica is complex, with 16 distinct biogeographic regions (Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions) currently recognised within the Antarctic continent, Peninsula and Scotia Arc archipelagos of…15 February, 2019 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
14 February, 2019 by Peter Ward
The potential impact of global warming on plankton populations and processes in the Southern Ocean is cause for concern. Greatest attention has concentrated on Antarctic krill, a keystone macroplankton species…Read more on Mesozooplankton of the Scotia Sea: present, past and future
14 February, 2019 by Andy Smith, Dominic Hodgson, David Vaughan, Kelly Hogan, Peter Fretwell, Samuel Seddon, Tom Jordan
The recent rapid growth of rifts in the Brunt Ice Shelf appears to signal the onset of its largest calving event since records began in 1915. The aim of this…12 February, 2019 by Cecilia Liszka
The biological carbon pump (BCP) exerts an important control on climate, exporting organic carbon from the ocean surface to interior. Zooplankton are a key component of the BCP and may…6 February, 2019 by Kaitlin Naughten
Government policies currently commit us to surface warming of three to four degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, which will lead to enhanced ice-sheet melt. Ice-sheet discharge was not…Read more on Global environmental consequences of 21st century ice sheet melt
2 February, 2019
The British Antarctic Survey Medical Unit works in a very remote area of the world, with several Antarctic bases receiving only a single annual resupply of consumable goods. Pharmaceuticals supplied…2 February, 2019 by Lloyd Peck
Our first horizon scan, conducted in 2009, aimed to identify novel but poorly known issues with potentially significant effects on global conservation of biological diversity. Following completion of the tenth…Read more on Ten years on: A review of the first global conservation horizon scan
1 February, 2019 by Peter Convey
Understanding the physiology of non-native species in Antarctica is key to elucidating their ability to colonise an area, and how they may respond to changes in climate. Eretmoptera murphyi is…1 February, 2019 by Clara Manno, Victoria Peck
Pteropods have been a key focus of ocean acidification studies during the last decade due to their fragile aragonite shells and key role they play in polar ecosystems. Pteropods collected…Read more on Impact of preservation techniques on pteropod shell condition
1 February, 2019 by Harriet Clewlow, Norman Ratcliffe
1.Interspecific competition can drive niche partitioning along multidimensional axes, including allochrony. Competitor matching will arise where the phenology of sympatric species with similar ecological requirements respond to climate change at…1 February, 2019 by Ali Massey, Janet Silk, Kevin Hughes, Richard Phillips
Despite their importance in ecosystems, population sizes and trends are unknown for many seabirds, including in the Antarctic. Here we report on the first comprehensive survey of south polar skuas…1 February, 2019 by Peter Convey
The vegetation of many terrestrial habitats across Antarctica is dominated by poikilohydric symbiotic lichens. Terrestrial habitats generally are characterised by extended exposure to desiccation and high irradiation. Physiological adaptation mechanisms…1 February, 2019 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Tom Jordan
The Recovery subglacial basin, with its largest glacier Recovery Glacier, has been identified as potentially the biggest contributor to future sea level rise from East Antarctica. Subglacial lakes along the…1 February, 2019 by Alex Burton-Johnson, Tom Jordan
Tectonic strain commonly overprints magmatic fabrics in AMS (Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility) data for plutonic rocks produced by both compressional and extensional regimes. Mt Kinabalu, Borneo, is a composite pluton…1 February, 2019 by Teal Riley
Low NbTa rhyolites from the Permian Tarim Large Igneous Province (LIP) represent the melting products of continental crust above a mantle plume. Zircon UPb dating reveals that the Kuchehe and…30 January, 2019 by Alessandro Cavallo, Lloyd Peck, Michael Thorne, Melody Clark
The pre-conditioning of adult marine invertebrates to altered conditions, such as low pH, can significantly impact offspring outcomes, a process which is often referred to as transgenerational plasticity (TGP). This…30 January, 2019 by Kelly Hogan
A glaciated margin is a continental margin that has been occupied by a large ice mass, such that glacial processes and slope processes conspire to produce a thick sedimentary record.…Read more on An introduction to glaciated margins: the sedimentary and geophysical archive
29 January, 2019 by Kelly Hogan
Major glaciations or ‘ice ages’ are known to have affected the Earth's surface over the past three billion years. The best preserved records of these glaciations are often found in…29 January, 2019 by Adrian Jenkins, Chen Cheng, Paul Holland
Persistent outflow of supercooled ice-shelf water (ISW) from beneath McMurdo Ice Shelf creates a rapidly growing sub-ice platelet layer (SIPL) with a unique crystallographic structure under the sea ice in…28 January, 2019 by Andrew Meijers, Eugene Murphy, Emma Young, Mark Belchier, Michael Meredith
In a recent Article, Cristofari et al.1 discuss the impact that movements of the Antarctic Polar Front have had on historical king penguin populations, and make future projections based on…Read more on The role of ocean dynamics in king penguin range estimation
24 January, 2019 by Clara Manno
In this study, carbonate system properties were measured in the western Ross Sea (Antarctica) over the 2005–2006 and 2011–2012 austral summers with the aim of analysing their sensitivity to physical…22 January, 2019
Post-seismic deformation and glacial isostatic adjustment are two processes by which the Earth deforms viscoelastically. In both cases, the details of the deformation depend on the rheological structure of the…21 January, 2019 by Geraint Tarling, Laura Gerrish, Simeon Hill
High-latitude ecosystems are among the fastest warming on the planet1. Polar species may be sensitive to warming and ice loss, but data are scarce and evidence is conflicting2,3,4. Here, we…17 January, 2019 by David Barnes, Michael Dunn, Simon Morley
Understanding the mechanisms which determine the capacity of any species to adapt to changing environmental conditions is one of the foremost requirements in accurately predicting which populations, species and clades…Read more on Predicting which species succeed in climate-forced polar seas
17 January, 2019 by Richard Phillips
Differences in habitat use of sympatric species are influenced by variability in functional morphology and life history trade-offs and are expected to shape species resilience to environmental change. To determine…15 January, 2019 by Louise Sime
The 8.2 ka event is a well-known cooling event in the Northern Hemisphere, but is poorly understood in Madagascar. Here, we compare paleoclimate data and outputs from paleoclimate simulations to…
14 January, 2019
During the monsoon season, pollutants emitted by large coastal cities and biomass burning plumes originating from Central Africa have complex transport pathways over Southern West Africa (SWA). The Dynamics–Aerosol–Chemistry–Cloud–Interactions in…7 January, 2019 by Anna Belcher, Geraint Tarling, Ryan Saunders
Mesopelagic fish have recently been highlighted as an important, but poorly studied component of marine ecosystems, particularly regarding their role in the marine pelagic food webs and biogeochemical cycles. Myctophids…4 January, 2019 by Gabriele Stowasser
In recent years, pelagic tunicates (mostly salps, but potentially doliolids, appendicularians and pyrosomes as well) have been used in isotopic studies as a baseline consumer (trophic position 2) when recreating…Read more on Utility of salps as a baseline proxy for food web studies
4 January, 2019 by Kira Rehfeld
The pace of the transition to a low-carbon economy – especially in the fuels sector – is not high enough to achieve the 2 ∘C target limit for global warming by…Read more on ESD Ideas: Photoelectrochemical carbon removal as negative emission technology
1 January, 2019 by Claire Waluda, Jennifer Jackson, Jaume Forcada, Michael Dunn, Philip Trathan
Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua breed at a number of sites at the West Antarctic Peninsula, including Goudier Island, Port Lockroy—the longest studied location for tourist-penguin interactions in the Antarctic. These…1 January, 2019 by Peter Convey
Knowledge of the life cycles of non-native species in Antarctica is key to understanding their ability to establish and spread to new regions. Through laboratory studies and field observations on…1 January, 2019 by Harriet Clewlow, Norman Ratcliffe, Philip Trathan, Victoria Warwick-Evans
Tracking individual marine predators can provide vital information to aid the identification of important activity (foraging, commuting, rafting, resting, etc.) hotspots and therefore also to delineate priority sites for conservation.…1 January, 2019 by Clara Manno
Natural gradients of pH in the ocean are useful analogues for studying the projected impacts of Ocean Acidification (OA) on marine ecosystems. Here we document the in situ impact of…Read more on Condition of pteropod shells near a volcanic CO2 vent region
1 January, 2019 by Mervyn Freeman
We study how the probability distribution functions of power input to the magnetosphere Pα and of the geomagnetic ap and Dst indices vary with averaging timescale, τ, between 3 hours…1 January, 2019 by Richard Phillips, Thomas Clay, Thomas Clay
Divergent foraging strategies may emerge within a population due to a combination of physiological and environmental factors; yet to persist, neither strategy should offer a consistent selective advantage over the…1 January, 2019 by Liz Thomas
Changes in accumulated snowfall over the Antarctic Ice Sheet have an immediate and time-delayed impact on global mean sea level. The immediate impact is due to the instantaneous change in…1 January, 2019 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, David Vaughan
In the Amundsen sector of West Antarctica, the flow of glaciers accelerates when intrusion of warm ocean water onto the continental shelf induces strong melting beneath ice shelves and thinning…1 January, 2019 by Peter Davis
The southward freshwater flux though Nares Strait is an important component of the Arctic's freshwater budget. On short time scales, flow through the strait is dominated by the tides, and…Read more on Propagation and vertical structure of the tidal flow in Nares Strait
1 January, 2019 by David Newnham, Mark Clilverd, Tracy Moffat-Griffin
The subionospheric very low frequency (VLF) radio wave technique provides the possibility of investigating the response of the ionospheric D‐region to a diversity of transient and long‐term physical phenomena originating…1 January, 2019 by Keith Nicholls, Tun Jan Young
Temporal variations in ice sheet flow directly impact the internal structure within ice sheets through englacial deformation. Large‐scale changes in the vertical stratigraphy within ice sheets have been previously conducted…1 January, 2019 by Dominic Hodgson
Mumiyo deposits form in the vicinity of snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea) nesting sites and consist of fossil stomach oil (mumiyo), guano, and minerogenic material. Here we evaluate mumiyo deposits from…1 January, 2019 by Lloyd Peck
We present the results of our tenth annual horizon scan. We identified 15 emerging priority topics that may have major positive or negative effects on the future conservation of global…Read more on A horizon scan of emerging issues for global conservation in 2019
1 January, 2019 by Richard Phillips
Biological communities are shaped by competition between and within species. Competition is often reduced by inter- and intraspecific specialization on resources, such as differencet foraging areas or time, allowing similar…1 January, 2019 by Jaume Forcada
Background Restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) has revolutionized the study of wild organisms by allowing cost-effective genotyping of thousands of loci. However, for species lacking reference genomes, it can be…1 January, 2019 by Norman Ratcliffe
Habitat management to restore or create breeding sites may allow metapopulations to increase in size and reduce the risk of demographic stochasticity or disasters causing metapopulation extinction. However, if newly…1 January, 2019 by Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark
The evolution of antifreeze glycoproteins has enabled notothenioid fish to flourish in the freezing waters of the Southern Ocean.Whereas successful at the biodiversity level to life in the cold, paradoxically…Read more on Adaptation of proteins to the cold in Antarctic fish: A role for Methionine?
1 January, 2019 by David Vaughan
1 January, 2019 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Carlos Martin Garcia
The crystal orientation fabric of ice reflects its flow history, information which is required to better constrain projections of future ice sheet behavior. Here we present a novel combination of…1 January, 2019 by Jakob Thyrring
Arctic shipping and oil exploration are expected to increase, as sea ice extent is reduced. This enhances the risk for accidental oil spills throughout the Arctic, which emphasises the need…Read more on Acute oil exposure reduces physiological process rates in Arctic phyto- and zooplankton
1 January, 2019 by Mervyn Freeman
Paper 1 in this series (Lockwood et al., 2018a, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018SW001856) showed that the power input into the magnetosphere Pα is an ideal coupling function for predicting geomagnetic “range” indices that…1 January, 2019 by Chester Sands, David Barnes
As oceans warm, reducing the extent of sea-ice and-ice shelves, increased carbon capture by phytoplankton and storage by southern polar benthos (sea bed organisms), is potentially the largest negative feedback…Read more on Carbon storage by Kerguelen zoobenthos as a negative feedback on climate change.
1 January, 2019 by Jane Francis
Climate plays a significant role in determining the styles of depositional processes at different latitudes, which in turn influence the locations of hydrocarbon systems. Results of climate modeling may therefore…1 January, 2019 by Simeon Hill
In July 2018 ARK (the Association of Responsible Krill harvesting companies) launched a set of voluntary measures, known as ARK’s Commitment, which were proposed to improve the long-term sustainability of…1 January, 2019 by Norman Ratcliffe
The Tristan da Cunha archipelago comprises three main islands: Tristan, Inaccessible and Nightingale at 37ºS 12ºW, with Gough Island (40ºS 10ºW) the only other temperate oceanic island in the South…Read more on Three new seabird species recorded at Tristan da Cunha archipelago.
5 December, 2018 by Kevin Hughes, Susie Grant
Antarctica’s terrestrial ecosystems are vulnerable to impacts resulting from climate change and local human activities. The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) provides for the designation of protected areas through the Protocol…1 December, 2018 by Peter Convey
A filamentous benthic cyanobacteria strain isolated from a tropical man-made pond in Malaysia was characterised using combined phenotypic and genetic approaches. Morphological and ultrastructural observations were performed together with growth…1 December, 2018
The life histories of cephalopods are still not well described. Stable isotopic analysis of cephalopod beaks is an effective method to study the habitat and trophic ecology of this group…1 December, 2018 by Harriet Clewlow, Louise Ireland, Norman Ratcliffe, Philip Trathan, Victoria Warwick-Evans
Aim: To predict the at-sea distribution of chinstrap penguins across the South Orkney Islands and to quantify the overlap with the Southern Ocean krill fishery. Location: South Orkney Islands, Antarctica.…1 December, 2018 by Nadescha Zwerschke
1.The introduction of a non‐native species frequently has adverse direct effects on native species. The underlying mechanisms, however, often remain unclear, in particular where native and invasive species are taxonomically…1 December, 2018 by Lloyd Peck
Carcasses of South Polar Skuas (Catharacta maccormicki) and Kelp gulls (Larus dominicanus) were opportunistically collected around of Rothera Research station (67°35′8″S and 68°7′59″W) during the 2016/2017 austral summer. Samples of…1 December, 2018 by Michael Dunn, Richard Phillips
The mechanisms that determine patterns of species dispersal are important factors in the production and maintenance of biodiversity. Understanding these mechanisms helps to forecast the responses of species to environmental…1 December, 2018 by Michael Dunn, Norman Ratcliffe, Philip Trathan, Richard Phillips
Knowing the spatial scales at which effective management can be implemented is fundamental for conservation planning. This is especially important for mobile species, which can be exposed to threats across…Read more on Spatial scales of marine conservation management for breeding seabirds
1 December, 2018 by Carlos Martin Garcia
We use ice flow modelling to simulate the englacial stratigraphy of Blåskimen Island, an ice rise in Dronning Maud Land and elucidate the evolution of this data-sparse region. We apply…1 December, 2018 by Dominic Hodgson, Peter Convey
The Antarctic Peninsula experienced a rapid rise in regional temperature during the second half of the 20th century, but the regional pattern of multi-centennial temperature changes and their dynamical drivers…1 December, 2018 by Louise Sime
Arctic heat and freshwater budgets are highly sensitive to volume transports through the Arctic‐Subarctic straits. Here we study the interconnectivity of volume transports through Arctic straits in three models; two…Read more on Interconnectivity between volume transports through Arctic straits
1 December, 2018 by Kira Rehfeld
Fire is a natural component of global biogeochemical cycles and closely related to changes in human land use. Whereas climate-fuel relationships seem to drive both global and subcontinental fire regimes,…1 December, 2018 by Hugh Corr, Keith Nicholls
The detection and monitoring of meltwater within firn presents a significant monitoring challenge. We explore the potential of small wireless sensors (ETracer+, ET+) to measure temperature, pressure, electrical conductivity and…Read more on Prototype wireless sensors for monitoring subsurface processes in snow and firn
1 December, 2018 by Thomas Bracegirdle
Purpose of Review Dynamic manifestations of climate change, i.e. those related to circulation, are less well understood than are thermodynamic, or temperature-related aspects. However, this knowledge gap is narrowing. We…Read more on Polar climate change as manifest in atmospheric circulation
1 December, 2018 by Marta Misiak
Polar regions are subjected to rapid climate change, with increased air temperatures and precipitation being predicted during future decades. Rising temperatures and precipitation will have an effect on saprotrophic soil…Read more on Soil fungal responses to warming in polar regions
30 November, 2018 by Philip Trathan
Since at least the middle-Miocene, the Antarctic Polar Front (APF) and the Subtropical Front (STF) appear to have been the main drivers of diversification of marine biota in the Southern…Read more on Contrasting phylogeographic pattern among Eudyptes penguins around the Southern Ocean
29 November, 2018 by Emma Woodfield, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
At Saturn electrons are trapped in the planet’s magnetic field and accelerated to relativistic energies to form the radiation belts, but how this dramatic increase in electron energy occurs is…Read more on Formation of electron radiation belts at Saturn by Z-mode wave acceleration