1 September, 2016 by Paul Holland
We derive the terms in the Antarctic sea ice concentration budget from the output of three models, and compare them to observations of the same terms. Those models include two…1 September, 2016 by Andrew Meijers, Dani Jones, Ewa Karczewska, Emily Shuckburgh
In several regions north of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), deep wintertime convection refreshes pools of weakly stratified subsurface water collectively referred to as Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW). SAMW ventilates…Read more on How does Subantarctic Mode Water ventilate the Southern Hemisphere subtropics?
1 September, 2016 by Carl Robinson, David Jones, Tom Jordan
The British Antarctic Survey regularly conducts airborne surveys with Twin Otter aircraft equipped with a variety of instruments. Each instrument captures its specific navigation requirements in a dedicated cockpit display…Read more on An avionics platform for multi-instrument survey navigation
1 September, 2016 by Michael Meredith
We analyzed 20 years (1993–2013) of observations of dissolved inorganic macronutrients (nitrate, N; phosphate, P; and silicate, Si) and chlorophyll a (Chl) at Palmer Station, Antarctica (64.8°S, 64.1°W) to elucidate how…1 September, 2016 by Gareth Marshall, Rebecca Vignols
The authors provide a detailed climatology and evaluation of recent climate change in the Kola Peninsula, Arctic Russia, a region influenced by both the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The…1 September, 2016 by Richard Phillips
Many seabird populations are threatened by interactions with commercial fisheries, and climate change. Understanding their prey requirements and dietary flexibility in this context is important for effective conservation and management.…1 September, 2016 by Robert Mulvaney
Low atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration1 during the Little Ice Age has been used to derive the global carbon cycle sensitivity to temperature2. Recent evidence3 confirms earlier indications4 that the…1 September, 2016 by Eugene Murphy, Jonathan Watkins, Janet Silk, Philip Trathan, Sally Thorpe, Simeon Hill, Sophie Fielding
Antarctic krill is a key prey species for many vertebrate and invertebrate predators in the Southern Ocean; it is also an abundant fishery resource in the Scotia Sea and southern…1 September, 2016 by Stephen Roberts
Antarctic soils are known to be oligotrophic and of having low buffering capacities. It is expected that this is particularly the case for inland high-altitude regions. We hypothesized that the…1 September, 2016 by Richard Horne
Electron precipitation down to the atmosphere due to wave-particle scattering in the magnetosphere contributes significantly to the auroral ionospheric conductivity. In order to obtain the auroral conductivity in global MHD…30 August, 2016 by Xin Yang
Mercury (Hg) is a worldwide contaminant that can cause adverse health effects to wildlife and humans. While atmospheric modeling traces the link from emissions to deposition of Hg onto environmental…24 August, 2016 by Tobias Kersten
Modern society relies substantially on satellite technology as it is involved in vital services like telecommunication services, Earth observation, navigation, and many more. There are more than 1000 operational satellites…18 August, 2016 by Michael Meredith
The distribution of noble gases and helium isotopes in the dense shelf waters of Antarctica reflect the boundary conditions near the ocean surface: air-sea exchange, sea ice formation and subsurface…16 August, 2016 by Louise Sime, Max Holloway
Several studies have suggested that sea-level rise during the last interglacial implies retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The prevalent hypothesis is that the retreat coincided with the…2 August, 2016 by Keith Nicholls
The average rate of melting at the base of the large Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in the southern Weddell Sea is currently low, but projected to increase dramatically within the next…1 August, 2016
The Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration spanned the period from 1895 to 1922. Medical men who took part in the expeditions of that period made significant contributions to the expeditions…Read more on Medical memorials of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration
1 August, 2016 by Alex Burton-Johnson, Martin Black, Peter Fretwell
As the accuracy and sensitivity of remote-sensing satellites improve, there is an increasing demand for more accurate and updated base datasets for surveying and monitoring. However, differentiating rock outcrop from…1 August, 2016 by Kevin Hughes
Antarctic non-native species legislation is contained within the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, with 2016 marking the 25th anniversary of its adoption. We take this opportunity to…1 August, 2016 by Alexander Tate, Peter Fretwell, Philip Leat, Robert Larter
The South Sandwich Islands and associated seamounts constitute the volcanic arc of an active subduction system situated in the South Atlantic. We introduce a map of the bathymetry and geological…Read more on Bathymetry and geological setting of the South Sandwich Islands volcanic arc
1 August, 2016
The dramatic increase in the application of genomic techniques to non-model organisms (NMOs) over the past decade has yielded numerous valuable contributions to evolutionary biology and ecology, many of which…1 August, 2016 by Claire Allen
The presence of a di-unsaturated highly branched isoprenoid (HBI) lipid biomarker (diene II) in Southern Ocean sediments has previously been proposed as a proxy measure of palaeo Antarctic sea ice.…1 August, 2016 by Jeremy Wilkinson
A comprehensive set of autonomous, ice-ocean measurements were collected across the Canada Basin to study the summer evolution of the ice-ocean boundary layer (IOBL) and ocean mixed layer (OML). Evaluation…1 August, 2016 by Catharine Horswill, Norman Ratcliffe, Philip Trathan, Richard Phillips
In the open ocean ecosystem, climate and anthropogenic changes have driven biological change at both ends of the food chain. Understanding how the population dynamics of pelagic predators are simultaneously…1 August, 2016 by Jaume Forcada, Michael Thorne
Background Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery is an important goal of many studies. However, the number of ‘putative’ SNPs discovered from a sequence resource may not provide a reliable indication…1 August, 2016 by John Isles, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne
Relativistic electrons can penetrate spacecraft shielding and can damage satellite components. Spacecraft in medium Earth orbit pass through the heart of the outer radiation belt and may be exposed to…1 August, 2016 by Jaume Forcada
Although the genetic basis of color variation has been extensively studied in humans and domestic animals, the genetic polymorphisms responsible for different color morphs remain to be elucidated in many…1 August, 2016 by Eugene Murphy, Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Peter Enderlein, Sophie Fielding
The ocean’s biological carbon pump plays a central role in regulating atmospheric CO2 levels. In particular, the depth at which sinking organic carbon is broken down and respired in the…1 August, 2016 by David Pearce, Peter Convey
Planococcus kocurii ATCC 43650T is a halotolerant and psychrotolerant bacterium isolated from the skin of a North sea cod. Here, we present the first complete genome and annotation of P.…1 August, 2016 by Andrew Orr
The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) instrument on board the ESA Envisat satellite operated from July 2002 until April 2012. The infrared limb emission measurements represent a unique…1 August, 2016 by Richard Phillips
Upwelling regions are highly productive habitats targeted by wide-ranging marine predators and industrial fisheries. In this study, we track the migratory movements of eight seabird species from across the Atlantic;…26 July, 2016 by David Newnham, Tracy Moffat-Griffin
Meteorological and atmospheric models are being extended up to 80 km altitude but there are very few observing techniques that can measure stratospheric–mesospheric winds at altitudes between 20 and 80 km to…15 July, 2016 by David Vaughan, Michael Meredith, Paul Holland
In recent decades, hundreds of glaciers draining the Antarctic Peninsula (63° to 70°S) have undergone systematic and progressive change. These changes are widely attributed to rapid increases in regional surface…Read more on Ocean forcing of glacier retreat in the western Antarctic Peninsula
15 July, 2016 by Paul Holland
In recent decades, Antarctic sea ice has expanded slightly while Arctic sea ice has contracted dramatically. The anthropogenic contribution to these changes cannot be fully assessed unless climate models are…Read more on Observed concentration budgets of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice
14 July, 2016 by Fausto Ferraccioli
Magnetic anomalies associated with new ocean crust formation in the Adare Basin off north-western Ross Sea (43 – 26 Ma) can be traced directly into the Northern Basin that underlies the…Read more on Synchronous oceanic spreading and continental rifting in West Antarctica
6 July, 2016 by Eric Wolff
Relief of iron (Fe) limitation in the surface Southern Ocean has been suggested as one driver of the regular glacial-interglacial cycles in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The proposed cause is…6 July, 2016 by Amelie Kirchgaessner
The SPectrometer for Ice Nuclei (SPIN) is a commercially available ice nucleating particle (INP) counter manufactured by Droplet Measurement Technologies in Boulder, CO. The SPIN is a continuous flow diffusion…Read more on The SPectrometer for Ice Nuclei (SPIN): an instrument to investigate ice nucleation
1 July, 2016
The remarkable rescue of Shackleton's men from Elephant Island, after the sinking of Endurance, and from Ross Island, has been recounted many times by both participants and historians. There has…1 July, 2016 by Jennifer Jackson, Michael Dunn, Richard Phillips, Stacey Adlard
The southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus) has a circumpolar distribution and breeds on subantarctic islands and a few continental Antarctic sites. Although this species has recently been down-listed to “Least…1 July, 2016 by Hilmar Gudmundsson, Paul Holland, Pierre Mathiot
Coupled ice sheet-ocean models capable of simulating moving grounding lines are just becoming available. Such models have a broad range of potential applications in studying the dynamics of marine ice…1 July, 2016 by Jaume Forcada, Michael Thorne, Philip Trathan
Custom genotyping arrays provide a flexible and accurate means of genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a large number of individuals of essentially any organism. However, validation rates, defined as…1 July, 2016 by Vsevolod Afanasyev
Scaly-sided Mergansers Mergus squamatus breed on freshwater rivers in Far East Russia, Korea, and China, wintering on similar habitat in China and Korea, but information on their post-breeding moulting habitats…1 July, 2016 by Dominic Hodgson, Peter Convey
The stable isotope compositions of moss tissue water (δ2H and δ18O) and cellulose (δ13C and δ18O), and testate amoebae populations were sampled from 61 contemporary surface samples along a 600-km…1 July, 2016 by Anna Jones, Markus Frey, Neil Brough
Surface ozone has been measured since 2004 at the coastal East Antarctic site of Dumont d'Urville (DDU), and since 2007 at the Concordia station located on the high East Antarctic…1 July, 2016 by Thomas Bracegirdle
Polar lows are intense mesoscale cyclones that occur at high latitudes in both hemispheres during winter. Their sometimes evidently convective nature, fueled by strong surface fluxes and with cloud-free centers,…1 July, 2016 by Hua Lu, Ingrid Cnossen
We study the effects of changes in the Earth's magnetic field between 1900 and 2000 on the whole atmosphere (0–500 km altitude), based on simulations with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate…1 July, 2016 by Robert Mulvaney
Atmospheric nuclear weapons testing (NWT) resulted in the injection of plutonium (Pu) into the atmosphere and subsequent global deposition. We present a new method for continuous semi-quantitative measurement of 239Pu…Read more on A method for continuous239Pu determinations in Arctic and Antarctic ice cores
1 July, 2016 by Iain Staniland
Sexual segregation in habitat use is widely reported in many taxa and can profoundly influence the distribution and behaviour of animals. However, our knowledge of the mechanisms driving sexual segregation…1 July, 2016 by Janet Silk, Michelle King, Richard Phillips, Thomas Clay, Thomas Clay
At-sea movements and activity patterns of brown skuas Stercorarius antarcticus lonnbergi from South Georgia were analysed in 2 winters, a decade apart, to examine the degree of consistency in migration…1 July, 2016 by Janet Silk, Louise Ireland, Richard Phillips, Thomas Clay, Thomas Clay
Many animals partition resources to avoid competition, and in colonially-breeding species this often leads to divergent space or habitat use. During the non-breeding season, foraging constraints are relaxed, yet the…Read more on Proximate drivers of spatial segregation in non-breeding albatrosses
1 July, 2016 by Mervyn Freeman
Substorms are fundamental and dynamic processes in the magnetosphere, converting captured solar wind magnetic energy into plasma energy. These substorms have been suggested to be a key driver of energetic…Read more on What effect do substorms have on the content of the radiation belts?
1 July, 2016 by Iain Staniland
Understanding the causes of population decline is crucial for conservation management. We therefore used genetic analysis both to provide baseline data on population structure and to evaluate hypotheses for the…1 July, 2016 by Gareth Marshall, Hua Lu, Ian White, Scott Hosking, John King, John Turner, Pranab Deb, Robert Mulvaney, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
Since the 1950s, research stations on the Antarctic Peninsula have recorded some of the largest increases in near-surface air temperature in the Southern Hemisphere1. This warming has contributed to the…1 July, 2016 by Liz Thomas
In this study, 3265 multiyear averaged in situ observations and 29 observational records at annual time scale are used to examine the performance of recent reanalysis and regional atmospheric climate…22 June, 2016 by Paul Holland
Ocean overturning circulation requires a continuous thermodynamic transformation of the buoyancy of seawater. The steeply sloping isopycnals of the Southern Ocean provide a pathway for Circumpolar Deep Water to upwell…17 June, 2016 by Philip Leat, Robert Larter
Ploughing by deep keels of floating icebergs is a common feature of high-latitude continental margins. Icebergs that have calved from glaciers or ice sheets produce a range of seafloor signatures,…Read more on Iceberg ploughmarks and associated sediment ridges on the southern Weddell Sea margin
17 June, 2016 by Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Within Earth's ice sheets, fast-flowing ice streams are the principal components through which ice and sediment are discharged, accounting for c. 90% of the ice lost from the Antarctic today…17 June, 2016 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Large ice streams that drain the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) into the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) are currently thinning, accelerating and retreating rapidly (e.g. Rignot et al. 2014). These…15 June, 2016 by Iain Staniland
Individuals within populations often differ substantially in habitat use, the ecological consequences of which can be far reaching. Stable isotope analysis provides a convenient and often cost effective means of…14 June, 2016 by Philip Trathan
Defining reliable demographic models is essential to understand the threats of ongoing environmental change. Yet, in the most remote and threatened areas, models are often based on the survey of…Read more on Full circumpolar migration ensures evolutionary unity in the Emperor penguin
1 June, 2016 by Jonathan Watkins, Sophie Fielding
A fishery for Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) has existed for over 3 decades and the Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) manages this fishery using precautionary catch…1 June, 2016 by Andrew Wood, Richard Phillips
The population of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans at South Georgia is decreasing because of bycatch in longline fisheries. Until at least the early 1990s, the survival rate of females was…1 June, 2016 by Huw Griffiths
Aim To describe the distribution of biodiversity and biogeographical patterns of intertidal organisms in southern temperate and polar waters. We hypothesized that there would be differences in community structure between…1 June, 2016 by Cheryl Knowland, Rachel Cavanagh, Simeon Hill, Susie Grant
Information about stakeholder aspirations is a fundamental requirement for ecosystem-based management, but the detail is often elusive, and debates may focus on simplistic opposing positions. This is exemplified by the…Read more on Stakeholder perspectives on ecosystem-based management of the Antarctic krill fishery
1 June, 2016 by Philip Trathan
The chemical breakdown of marine derived reactive nitrogen transported to the land as seabird guano represents a significant source of ammonia (NH3) in areas far from other NH3 sources. Measurements…Read more on Measurement of ammonia emissions from temperate and sub-polar seabird colonies
1 June, 2016 by Melody Clark, Victoria Sleight
Mya truncata, a soft shell clam, is presented as a new model to study biomineralization through a proteomics approach. In this study, the shell and mantle tissue were analysed in…1 June, 2016 by Melody Clark, Tejaswi Yarra
The mantle is an organ common to all molluscs and is at the forefront of the biomineralisation process. The present study used the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) as a model…1 June, 2016 by Philip Trathan, Richard Phillips
It is a golden age for animal movement studies and so an opportune time to assess priorities for future work. We assembled 40 experts to identify key questions in this…Read more on Key Questions in Marine Megafauna Movement Ecology
1 June, 2016 by Alistair Crame, Jane Francis, Kevin Hughes
The prohibition of commercial mineral resource extraction through the Antarctic Treaty System has removed one significant source of potential damage to Antarctica's geological and geomorphological values. However, given the on-going…Read more on Antarctic geoconservation: a review of current systems and practices
1 June, 2016 by David Barnes
This study explores the abundance, diversity and assemblage structure of epifauna on the shells used by two hermit crab species (Pagurus bernhardus and P. pubescens) in the Arctic (Svalbard and…Read more on Factors affecting biodiversity on hermit crab shells
1 June, 2016 by Peter Convey
Traits of primary producers associated with tissue quality are commonly assumed to have strong control over higher trophic levels. However, this view is largely based on studies of vascular plants,…Read more on Impact of marine vertebrates on Antarctic terrestrial micro-arthropods
1 June, 2016 by Dave Munday
Observed and predicted increases in Southern Ocean winds are thought to upwell deep ocean carbon and increase atmospheric CO2. However, Southern Ocean dynamics affect biogeochemistry and circulation pathways on a…Read more on The influence of Southern Ocean winds on the North Atlantic carbon sink
1 June, 2016 by Povl Abrahamsen, Keith Nicholls
In August 2010, a 253 km2 ice island calved from the floating glacial tongue of Petermann Glacier in Northwest Greenland. Petermann Ice Island (PII)-B, a large fragment of this original…1 June, 2016 by David Pearce
It is surprising how little we really know about the microorganisms that live within the Arctic Ocean and in particular their role in the marine food web. A comprehensive food…1 June, 2016 by Adrian Fox
This study builds on existing literature of glacier change estimation in polar regions and is a continuation of efforts aimed at unlocking the information encapsulated in archival aerial photography of…1 June, 2016 by Lloyd Peck
Aim There is a general paradigm that marine predation pressure increases towards the tropics and decreases with depth. However, data demonstrating global trends are generally lacking. Rhynchonelliform brachiopods inhabit all…Read more on Latitudinal and depth gradients in marine predation pressure
1 June, 2016 by Mark Clilverd
Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves are believed to be an important source of pitch angle scattering driven relativistic electron loss from the radiation belts. To date, investigations of this precipitation…Read more on Confirmation of EMIC wave driven relativistic electron precipitation
1 June, 2016 by Adrian Jenkins
Ocean-forced basal melting has been implicated in the widespread thinning of Antarctic ice shelves, but our understanding of what determines melt rates is hampered by our limited knowledge of the…Read more on A simple model of the ice-shelf-ocean boundary layer and current
1 June, 2016 by Andrew Orr
The glaciers within the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE), West Antarctica, are amongst the most rapidly retreating in Antarctica. Meteorological reanalysis products are widely used to help understand and simulate the…1 June, 2016 by Michael Meredith
The Southern Ocean is riddled with mesoscale eddies. Although just a few km in size, these loops and vortices are key parts of the climate system, and are important in…Read more on Understanding the structure of changes in the Southern Ocean eddy field
1 June, 2016 by Rob Shore
We perform a reanalysis of hourly mean magnetic data from ground-based observatories spanning 1997-2009 inclusive, in order to isolate (after removal of core and crustal field estimates) the spatiotemporal morphology…Read more on Decadal period external magnetic field variations determined via eigenanalysis
1 June, 2016 by Claire Tancell, Richard Phillips
Tracking of seabirds at sea is valuable for marine spatial planning. Many seabirds are of conservation concern, including albatrosses and large petrels (Procellariiformes) which face a major threat from mortality…1 June, 2016 by Steve Colwell
Determining the timing and impact of anthropogenic climate change in data-sparse regions is a considerable challenge. Arguably, nowhere is this more difficult than the Antarctic Peninsula and the subantarctic South…1 June, 2016 by Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark, Tejaswi Yarra
The calcareous shells secreted by bivalve molluscs display diverse and species specific structural compositions, which indicates possible divergent biomineralization processes. Thus, studying multiple mollusc species will provide a more comprehensive…29 May, 2016 by Sally Thorpe
Polar oceans are particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification due to their low temperatures and reduced buffering capacity, and are expected to experience extensive low pH conditions and reduced carbonate mineral…28 May, 2016 by Liz Thomas
Antarctic sea ice has been increasing in recent decades, but with strong regional differences in the expression of sea ice change. Declining sea ice in the Bellingshausen Sea since 1979…Read more on Ice core reconstruction of sea ice change in the Amundsen-Ross Seas since 1702 A.D.
27 May, 2016 by Michael Thorne, Melody Clark
Background Flatfish metamorphosis denotes the extraordinary transformation of a symmetric pelagic larva into an asymmetric benthic juvenile. Metamorphosis in vertebrates is driven by thyroid hormones (THs), but how they orchestrate…26 May, 2016 by Alistair Crame, Jane Francis, Rowan Whittle, Vanessa Bowman
Debate continues about the nature of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction event. An abrupt crisis triggered by a bolide impact contrasts with ideas of a more gradual extinction involving flood…19 May, 2016 by Keith Nicholls
Hauling out is an essential component of pinniped life-history. Haul-out behaviour may be affected by biological (e.g. sex, age and condition) and physical factors (e.g. food availability and environmental conditions),…16 May, 2016 by Thomas Bracegirdle
Climate models are the main tool for making quantitative estimates of how Antarctic climate may change over the 21st century. There is high agreement on some aspects of the predictions…Read more on Predicting Antarctic climate using climate models
16 May, 2016 by Clara Manno, Geraint Tarling, Victoria Peck
The effects of ocean acidification (OA) on the early recruitment of pteropods in the Scotia Sea, was investigated considering the process of spawning, quality of the spawned eggs and their…Read more on Pteropod eggs released at high pCO2 lack resilience to ocean acidification
16 May, 2016 by Hilmar Gudmundsson, Sebastian Rosier
The flow of many Antarctic ice streams is known to be significantly influenced by tides. In the past, modeling studies have implemented the tidal forces acting on a coupled ice…1 May, 2016
The migration of the great snipe Gallinago media was previously poorly known. Three tracks in 2010 suggested a remarkable migratory behaviour including long and fast overland non-stop flights (Klaassen et…1 May, 2016 by Clara Manno, Geraint Tarling, Victoria Peck
Scarred shells of polar pteropod Limacina helicina collected from the Greenland Sea in June 2012 reveal a history of damage, most likely failed predation, in earlier life stages. Evidence of…1 May, 2016 by Anna Belcher, Clara Manno, Geraint Tarling
Fecal pellets (FP) are a key component of the biological carbon pump, as they can, under some circumstances, efficiently transfer carbon to depth. Like other forms of particulate organic carbon…1 May, 2016 by Geraint Tarling, Natalie Ensor, Peter Ward, Victoria Peck
The polar oceans are experiencing some of the largest levels of ocean acidification (OA) resulting from the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2). Our understanding of the impacts this is…