1 January, 2017 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Philip Leat, Tom Jordan
Gondwana breakup changed the global continental configuration, leading to opening of major oceanic gateways, shifts in the climate system and significant impacts on the biosphere, hydrosphere and cryosphere. Although of…1 January, 2017 by Peter Convey
Terrestrial environments of Antarctica include some of the most extreme on Earth, challenging the very existence of life itself. This article outlines briefly the geological and biological history of the…1 January, 2017 by Philip Leat, Teal Riley
The continental margin of Gondwana preserves a record of long-lived magmatism from the Andean Cordillera to Australia. The crustal blocks of West Antarctica form part of this margin, with Palaeozoic–Mesozoic…1 January, 2017 by Lloyd Peck
The scarcity of long instrumental series from the Southern Ocean limits our understanding of key climate and environmental feedbacks within the Antarctic system. We present an assessment for the Antarctic…1 January, 2017 by John Turner
We present projected changes in the speed and meridional location of the Subtropical Jet (STJ) during winter using output of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models. We…1 January, 2017 by Philip Trathan, Peter Fretwell
Detecting and predicting how populations respond to environmental variability are crucial challenges for their conservation. Knowledge about the abundance and distribution of the emperor penguin is far from complete despite…Read more on Looking for new emperor penguin colonies? Filling the gaps
1 January, 2017 by Richard Horne
Extreme space weather due to coronal mass ejections has the potential to cause considerable disruption to the global economy by damaging the transformers required to operate electricity transmission infrastructure. However,…1 January, 2017 by Elaine Fitzcharles, Huw Griffiths
Many Antarctic marine invertebrates are considered to be highly stenothermal, subjected to loss of functionality at increased temperatures and so at high risk of mortality in a rapidly warming environment.…Read more on First report of Laternula elliptica in the Antarctic intertidal zone
1 January, 2017 by Alex Burton-Johnson
The internal structure and emplacement mechanisms of composite plutons are investigated using new field data from the composite Late Miocene granitic intrusion of Mt Kinabalu in northern Borneo. The pluton…1 January, 2017 by Adrian Jenkins, Povl Abrahamsen
Pine Island Glacier (PIG) terminates in a rapidly melting ice shelf, and ocean circulation and temperature are implicated in the retreat and growing contribution to sea level rise of PIG…Read more on Mechanisms driving variability in the ocean forcing of Pine Island Glacier
1 January, 2017 by Andrew Clarke, Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
The rapid warming of the West Antarctic Peninsula region has led to reduced sea ice cover and enhanced glacial melt water input. This has potential implications for marine ecosystems, notably…1 January, 2017
Each austral summer large baleen whales migrate into the Southern Ocean to feed on krill. The melting of sea ice leads to algal blooms which allow rapid growth and development…1 January, 2017 by Gareth Chisham
Many empirical models and climatologies of high-latitude ionospheric processes, such as convection, have been developed over the last 40 years. One common feature in the development of these models is…1 January, 2017 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, David Vaughan, Ed King, Sebastian Rosier
Although 90% of Antarctica's discharge occurs via its fast-flowing ice streams, our ability to project future ice sheet response has been limited by poor observational constraints on the ice-bed conditions…Read more on Bed conditions of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica
1 January, 2017 by Mark Clilverd
A detailed comparison is undertaken of the energetic electron spectra and fluxes of two precipitation events that were observed in 18/19 January 2013. A novel but powerful technique of combining…1 January, 2017 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Samuel Seddon
The Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains are completely buried by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and hence are one of the most enigmatic tectonic features on Earth. The mountain range is underlain…Read more on Crustal structure of the Gamburtsev Province, East Antarctica, from airborne geophysics
19 December, 2016 by Constantino Listowski, Thomas Lachlan-Cope
Observations of clouds over the Antarctic Peninsula during summer 2010 and 2011 are presented here. The peninsula is up to 2500 m high and acts as a barrier to weather systems…Read more on The microphysics of clouds over the Antarctic Peninsula – Part 1: Observations
19 December, 2016 by Bianca Perren, Claire Allen, Dominic Hodgson, Louise Sime, Stephen Roberts, Thomas Bracegirdle
Latitudinal shifts in the Southern Ocean westerly wind jet could drive changes in the glacial to interglacial ocean CO2 inventory. However, whilst CMIP5 model results feature consistent future-warming jet shifts,…15 December, 2016 by Andrew Gray, Kevin Hughes
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties are entitled to participate in consensus-based governance of the continent through the annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings. To acquire consultative status, an interested Party must demonstrate…6 December, 2016 by Jonathan Watkins, Philip Trathan, Simeon Hill, Sophie Fielding
This paper explains the management of the Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) fishery in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, and current knowledge about the state of the regional krill…
1 December, 2016 by Eugene Murphy
Climate change has significant implications for biodiversity and ecosystems. With slow progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, climate engineering (or ‘geoengineering’) is receiving increasing attention for its potential to limit…1 December, 2016 by Peter Convey
Antarctic ice-free inland sites provide a unique perspective on the strategies coevolving organisms have developed for survival at the limits of life. Here, we provide the first combined description of…1 December, 2016 by Ben Robinson, Chester Sands, David Barnes, James Smith, Oliver Hogg
Aim High-latitude biodiversity distributions can preserve signals of the timing and geography of past glaciations, and as such ground truth ice-sheet models. Discrete polar archipelagos offer the fewest confounding factors…Read more on Biodiversity signature of the Last Glacial Maximum at South Georgia, Southern Ocean
1 December, 2016 by Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Detailed bathymetric and sub-bottom acoustic observations in Bourgeois Fjord (Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula) provide evidence on sedimentary processes and glacier dynamics during the last glacial cycle. Submarine landforms observed in…1 December, 2016 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
Zoogeographical studies on Tardigrada are limited by the extent of our knowledge on tardigrade taxonomy and faunistics. In this paper we analyse the relationships between the tardigrade fauna of North,…1 December, 2016 by Eugene Murphy, Rachel Cavanagh, Susie Grant
Valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) is widely recognized as a useful, though often controversial, approach to conservation and management. However, its use in the marine environment, hence evidence…1 December, 2016 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
Antarctica is an ice-dominated continent and all its terrestrial and freshwater habitats are fragmented, which leads to genetic divergence and, eventually, speciation. Acutuncus antarcticus is the most common Antarctic tardigrade…1 December, 2016 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
This paper is the third 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 III: North America and Greenland
1 December, 2016 by David Vaughan, Jane Francis, John Hall, Steve Colwell, Tim Stockings
The Antarctic Roadmap Challenges (ARC) project identified critical requirements to deliver high priority Antarctic research in the 21st century. The ARC project addressed the challenges of enabling technologies, facilitating access,…Read more on Delivering 21st century Antarctic and Southern Ocean science
1 December, 2016 by Eugene Murphy, Nadine Johnston, Rachel Cavanagh, Susie Grant
The determinants of the structure, functioning and resilience of pelagic ecosystems across most of the polar regions are not well known. Improved understanding is essential for assessing the value of…1 December, 2016 by Rachel Cavanagh
Meeting the ever-increasing needs of the Earth’s human population without excessively reducing biological diversity is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity, suggesting that new approaches to biodiversity conservation are…Read more on Biodiversity in the Anthropocene: prospects and policy
1 December, 2016 by Keith Nicholls
Calving of glacial ice into the ocean from the Greenland Ice Sheet is an important component of global sea level rise. The calving process itself is relatively poorly observed, understood,…Read more on An Intensive Observation of Calving at Helheim Glacier, East Greenland
1 December, 2016 by Adrian Jenkins, Hilmar Gudmundsson, James Smith
Mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is driven by changes at the marine margins. In the Amundsen Sea, thinning of the ice shelves has allowed the outlet glaciers to…Read more on Decadal Ocean Forcing and Antarctic Ice Sheet Response: Lessons from the Amundsen Sea
1 December, 2016 by Keith Nicholls
Petermann Gletscher in North Greenland features the second largest floating ice shelf in the Northern Hemisphere. This paper describes the history of its exploration and presents new ocean and glacier…1 December, 2016 by Adrian Jenkins, Satoshi Kimura
Ice shelves around Antarctica are vulnerable to an increase in ocean-driven melting, with the melt rate depending on ocean temperature and the strength of flow inside the ice-shelf cavities. We…Read more on Ocean mixing beneath Pine Island Glacier ice shelf, West Antarctica
25 November, 2016 by Mai Mai Lam
We review recent research articles that present observations of the large-scale day-to-day dynamic tropospheric response to changes in the downward current density Jz of the global atmospheric electric circuit (GEC).…22 November, 2016
The British Antarctic Survey VLF database from Halley (L = 4.3) and Faraday (L = 2.3) stations, Antarctica, has been searched for clear examples of whistler-triggered emissions (WTEs). Dominant events…Read more on Numerical simulation of whistler-triggered VLF emissions observed in Antarctica
14 November, 2016 by Anna Jones, David Newnham
The sub-millimetre is an understudied region of the Earth's atmospheric electromagnetic spectrum. Prior technological gaps and relatively high opacity due to the prevalence of rotational water vapour lines at these…10 November, 2016 by Michael Thorne
The Antarctic nematode Panagrolaimus sp. DAW1 is one of the only organisms known to survive extensive intracellular freezing throughout its tissues. Although the physiological mechanisms of this extreme adaptation are…1 November, 2016
Iceberg calving and increased ice discharge from ice-shelf tributary glaciers contribute significant amounts to global sea-level rise (SLR) from the Antarctic Peninsula (AP). Owing to ongoing ice dynamical changes (collapse…1 November, 2016 by Katrin Linse
The Antarctic marine environment is a diverse ecosystem currently experiencing some of the fastest rates of climatic change. The documentation and management of these changes requires accurate estimates of species…Read more on DNA barcoding uncovers cryptic diversity in 50% of deep-sea Antarctic polychaetes
1 November, 2016 by Richard Phillips
Many marine predators migrate between breeding and non-breeding areas to target resources that are seasonal but spatio-temporally predictable, and so are vulnerable to climate-induced changes in prey phenology and abundance.…1 November, 2016 by Richard Phillips
The Arctic is a highly seasonal environment with a harsh climate and extensive sea ice cover during the winter. Consequently, most Arctic-breeding seabirds migrate south to reach more benign environmental…1 November, 2016 by Melody Clark, Victoria Sleight
The Antarctic clam Laternula elliptica lives almost permanently below 0 °C and therefore is a valuable and tractable model to study the mechanisms of biomineralisation in cold water. The present study…Read more on An Antarctic molluscan biomineralisation tool-kit
1 November, 2016
Summary 1.Heterozygosity–fitness correlations (HFCs) have been widely used to explore the impact of inbreeding on individual fitness. Initially, most studies used small panels of microsatellites, but more recently with the…Read more on inbreedR : an R package for the analysis of inbreeding based on genetic markers
28 October, 2016 by Adrian Jenkins, Povl Abrahamsen, Keith Nicholls
We present subannual observations (2009–2014) of a major West Antarctic glacier (Pine Island Glacier) and the neighboring ocean. Ongoing glacier retreat and accelerated ice flow were likely triggered a few…Read more on Sensitivity of Pine Island Glacier to observed ocean forcing
26 October, 2016 by Claire Waluda, Derren Fox, Jennifer Jackson, Michael Dunn, Stacey Adlard
We report long-term changes in population size of three species of sympatrically breeding pygoscelid penguins: Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae), chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and gentoo (Pygoscelis papua ellsworthii) over a 38 year…24 October, 2016 by Peter Convey
Most climate and environmental change models predict significant increases in temperature and precipitation by the end of the 21st Century, for which the current functional output of certain symbioses may…16 October, 2016 by Richard Horne
Magnetosonic waves and electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves are important for electron acceleration and loss from the radiation belts. It is generally understood that these waves are generated by unstable…16 October, 2016 by Paul Holland
Previous work have shown that sea ice variability in the South Pacific is associated with extratropical atmospheric anomalies linked to the Southern Oscillation (SO). Over a 32 year period (1982–2013), our…Read more on Linked trends in the South Pacific sea ice edge and Southern Oscillation Index
15 October, 2016 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Tom Jordan
The relative roles of climate and tectonics in mountain building have been widely debated. Central to this debate is the process of flexural uplift in response to valley incision. Here…Read more on Erosion-driven uplift in the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains of East Antarctica
14 October, 2016 by Eugene Murphy, John Turner, Philip Trathan
We compare and contrast the ecological impacts of atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns on polar and sub-polar marine ecosystems. Circulation patterns differ strikingly between the north and south. Meridional circulation…11 October, 2016 by Dani Jones, Sudipta Goswami
The MITgcm (MIT General Circulation Model) is a numerical model designed for study of the atmosphere, ocean, and climate (Marshall et al. 1997a,b). Its non-hydrostatic formulation enables it to simulate…3 October, 2016 by Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse, Oliver Hogg
Global biodiversity is in decline, with the marine environment experiencing significant and increasing anthropogenic pressures. In response marine protected areas (MPAs) have increasingly been adopted as the flagship approach to…1 October, 2016 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Alistair Crame, Jane Francis, Rowan Whittle, Vanessa Bowman
The Paleocene (66–56 Ma) was a critical time interval for understanding recovery from mass extinction in high palaeolatitudes when global climate was warmer than today. A unique sedimentary succession from…1 October, 2016 by Jeremy Wilkinson
In ice-covered seas, traditional air-side oil spill detection methods face practical challenges. Conversely, under-ice remote sensing techniques are increasingly viable due to improving operational capabilities of autonomous and remotely operated…Read more on Broadband acoustic backscatter from crude oil under laboratory-grown sea ice
1 October, 2016 by Monique Grol
This study assessed the biodiversity of sponges within the Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia (IMCRA) bioregions of the Pilbara using datasets amalgamated from the Western Australian Museum and…Read more on Patterns of sponge biodiversity in the Pilbara, Northwestern Australia
1 October, 2016 by Elena Field
Remote sensing-based approaches to lithological mapping are traditionally pixel-oriented, with classification performed on either a per-pixel or sub-pixel basis with complete disregard for contextual information about neighbouring pixels. However, intra-class…1 October, 2016 by Liz Thomas
Since 1979 when continuous satellite observations began, Southern Ocean sea ice cover has increased, whilst global coupled climate models simulate a decrease over the same period. It is uncertain whether…1 October, 2016 by Andrew Meijers, Dani Jones, Povl Abrahamsen, Michael Meredith
The export of waters from the Weddell Gyre to lower latitudes is an integral component of the southern subpolar contribution to the three-dimensional oceanic circulation. Here we use more than…1 October, 2016 by Emma Woodfield, Richard Horne
Whistler mode chorus emission is important in the acceleration of electrons and filling of the radiation belts at Jupiter. In this work chorus magnetic intensity levels (frequency-integrated spectral density, PB)…Read more on Survey of whistler mode chorus intensity at Jupiter
1 October, 2016 by Anje-Margriet Neutel, Michael Thorne
The connectedness of species in a trophic web has long been a key structural characteristic for both theoreticians and empiricists in their understanding of community stability. In the past decades,…Read more on Beyond connectedness: why pairwise metrics cannot capture community stability
1 October, 2016 by Hilmar Gudmundsson, Samantha Royston
The dominant mass-loss process on the Antarctic Peninsula has been ice-shelf collapse, including the Larsen A Ice Shelf in early 1995. Following this collapse, there was rapid speed up and…1 October, 2016 by Claire Waluda, Hugh Venables, Sophie Fielding
Iron is an essential nutrient for phytoplankton, but low concentrations limit primary production and associated atmospheric carbon drawdown in large parts of the world’s oceans [ 1, 2 ]. Lithogenic…Read more on Zooplankton gut passage mobilizes lithogenic iron for ocean productivity
1 October, 2016 by Mark Belchier
The Patagonian toothfish, Dissostichus eleginoides, is a valuable fishery species and has a discontinuous distribution across the Southern Ocean. Identification of the genetic stock structure of toothfish would allow evaluation…Read more on Genetic structure of Patagonian toothfish populations from otolith DNA
1 October, 2016 by Adrian Jenkins
The Amundsen Sea is a key region of Antarctica where ocean, atmosphere, sea ice, and ice sheet interact. For much of Antarctica, the relatively warm water of the open Southern…1 October, 2016 by Adrian Jenkins, Paul Holland
The most rapid loss of ice from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is observed where ice streams flow into the ocean and begin to float, forming the great Antarctic ice shelves…Read more on Modeling Ice Shelf/Ocean Interaction in Antarctica: A Review
1 October, 2016 by Peter Convey
The search for cold-adapted and cold-active fungi in extreme environments provides the potential for discovering new species and novel bioactive compounds. In this study, soil samples were collected from Deception…Read more on Antimicrobial activity of microfungi from maritime Antarctic soil
29 September, 2016 by Emilie Capron
The last interglacial period (LIG, ~ 129–116 thousand years ago) provides the most recent case study for multi-millennial polar warming above pre-industrial level and a respective response of the Greenland…Read more on How warm was Greenland during the last interglacial period?
29 September, 2016 by Emilie Capron
Recent data compilations of the early Last Interglacial period have indicated a bipolar temperature response at 130 ka, with colder-than-present temperatures in the North Atlantic and warmer-than-present temperatures in the…Read more on Impact of melt water on high latitude early Last Interglacial climate
28 September, 2016 by Gareth Marshall
Understanding the causes of recent climatic trends and variability in the high-latitude Southern Hemisphere is hampered by a short instrumental record. Here, we analyse recent atmosphere, surface ocean and sea-ice…Read more on Assessing recent trends in high-latitude Southern Hemisphere surface climate
16 September, 2016 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Ed King, Hugh Corr, Jonathan Kingslake, Robert Arthern
We date a recent ice-flow reorganization of an ice divide in the Weddell Sea Sector, West Antarctica, using a novel combination of inverse methods and ice-penetrating radars. We invert for…12 September, 2016 by David Newnham, Mark Clilverd
This study presents a new ion-neutral chemical model coupled into the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). The ionospheric D region (altitudes ~ 50–90 km) chemistry is based on the…9 September, 2016 by Eugene Murphy, Katrin Linse, Michael Meredith
The Antarctic marine ecosystem is strongly dependent on the regional circulation and climate of the ocean, and is important because of its role in the global carbon cycle, fisheries, and…Read more on Impacts and effects of ocean warming on Antarctic ecosystems and species
1 September, 2016 by Simeon Hill
The diets of marine predators are a potential source of information about range shifts in their prey. For example, the short-finned squid Illex argentinus, a commercially fished species on the…1 September, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Recent work has confirmed that grounded ice reached the shelf break in central West Greenland during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Here we use a combination of marine sediment-core data,…Read more on Deglaciation of a major palaeo-ice stream in Disko Trough, West Greenland
1 September, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
The deglacial history and oceanography of Uummannaq Trough, central West Greenland continental shelf, was investigated using foraminiferal, sedimentological, and bathymetric records together with a radiocarbon chronology, providing a timeline for…1 September, 2016 by Sophie Fielding
Target identification remains a challenge for acoustic surveys of marine fauna. Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, are typically identified through a combination of expert scrutiny of echograms and analysis of differences…Read more on Classification of Southern Ocean krill and icefish echoes using random forests
1 September, 2016 by Clara Manno, Geraint Tarling
Biogeochemical and diatom export fluxes are presented from two bathypelagic sediment trap deployments in the Antarctic Zone of the Southern Ocean. One of the sediment traps was deployed in very…1 September, 2016 by Richard Phillips
Seabirds are amongst the most globally-threatened of all groups of birds, and conservation issues specific to albatrosses (Diomedeidae) and large petrels (Procellaria spp. and giant petrels Macronectes spp.) led to…Read more on The conservation status and priorities for albatrosses and large petrels
1 September, 2016 by Eugene Murphy, Huw Griffiths, Sophie Fielding
Reliable statements about variability and change in marine ecosystems and their underlying causes are needed to report on their status and to guide management. Here we use the Framework on…