1 November, 2014 by Keith Makinson, Paul Anker
The 2011/12 Antarctic field season saw the first use of a new British Antarctic Survey (BAS) ice-shelf hot-water drill system on the Larsen C and George VI ice shelves. Delivering…Read more on The BAS ice shelf hot water drill: design, methods and tools
1 November, 2014 by Peter Convey
The diversity of seaweed species of the south-western Antarctic Peninsula region is poorly studied, contrasting with the substantial knowledge available for the northern parts of the Peninsula. However, this is…1 November, 2014 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Tom Jordan
Several recent studies predict that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will become increasingly unstable under warmer conditions. Insights on such change can be assisted through investigations of the subglacial landscape,…1 November, 2014 by Ed King
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is becoming a commonly applied technique in geomorphology. However, its use in the study of subglacial bedforms has yet to be fully explored and exploited. This paper…Read more on Looking through drumlins: testing the application of ground-penetrating radar
1 November, 2014 by Dani Jones
The exchange of carbon dioxide between the ocean and the atmosphere tends to bring waters within the mixed layer toward equilibrium by reducing the partial pressure gradient across the air-water…1 November, 2014 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert, Tobias Kersten
Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) waves cause electron loss in the radiation belts by resonating with high energy electrons at energies greater than about 500 keV. However, their effectiveness has not…Read more on Electron losses from the radiation belts caused by EMIC waves
1 November, 2014 by Emma Woodfield, Richard Horne
Space weather has become a mature discipline for the Earth space environment. With increasing efforts in space exploration, it is becoming more and more necessary to understand the space environments…1 November, 2014 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter
Glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) account for > 35% of the total discharge of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and have thinned and retreated dramatically over…1 November, 2014 by Zhaomin Wang
Afforestation has been deployed as a mitigation strategy for global warming due to its substantial carbon sequestration, which is partly counterbalanced with its biogeophysical effects through modifying the fluxes of…Read more on The biogeophysical effects of extreme afforestation in modeling future climate
1 November, 2014 by Mark Clilverd
In this study we investigate the link between precipitating electrons from the Van Allen radiation belts and the dynamical plasmapause. We consider electron precipitation observations from the Polar Orbiting Environmental…31 October, 2014 by Michael Meredith, Paul Holland
The Antarctic shelf seas are a climatically and ecologically important region, and are at present receiving increasing amounts of freshwater from the melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and its…22 October, 2014
Cephalopods play an important ecological role in the Southern Ocean, being the main prey group of numerous top predators. However, their basic ecology and biogeography is still poorly known, particularly…16 October, 2014 by Ingrid Cnossen
We applied Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) for the first time to ionosonde data to study trends in the critical frequency of the F2 peak, foF2, and its height, hmF2,…15 October, 2014 by Emma Woodfield, Richard Horne
In order to conduct theoretical studies or modeling of pitch angle scattering of electrons by whistler mode chorus emission at Saturn, a knowledge of chorus occurrence and magnetic intensity levels,…14 October, 2014 by Mark Clilverd
Energetic electron precipitation (EEP) from the Earth’s outer radiation belt continuously affects the chemical composition of the polar mesosphere. EEP can contribute to catalytic ozone loss in the mesosphere through…6 October, 2014 by Geraint Tarling, Sophie Fielding
Thecosome pteropods are abundant upper-ocean zooplankton that build aragonite shells. Ocean acidification results in the lowering of aragonite saturation levels in the surface layers, and several incubation studies have shown…1 October, 2014 by Elisabeth Biersma, Peter Convey
Since the onset of glaciation following the Oligocene (30–28 Ma), the prevalence of increasingly cold conditions has shaped the evolution of the Antarctic biota. Two hypotheses, postglacial recruitment from extra-regional…1 October, 2014 by Howard Roscoe
Short-lived halocarbons were measured in Arctic sea-ice brine, seawater and air above the Greenland and Norwegian seas (∼81°N, 2 to 5°E) in mid-summer, from a melting ice floe at the…1 October, 2014 by Kevin Newsham
We have investigated how the microbially-driven processes of carbon (C) mineralization (respiration) and nitrogen (N) mineralization/immobilization in a soil from the northern Maritime Antarctic respond to differences in water availability…1 October, 2014 by David Pearce, Peter Convey
Despite their pivotal role as primary producers, there is little information as to the diversity and physiology of cyanobacteria in the meltwater ecosystems of polar regions. Thirty cyanobacterial mats from…1 October, 2014 by Andrew Orr, Scott Hosking, John Turner, Tony Phillips
During winter much of the Antarctic coast is susceptible to severe and hazardous strong wind events (SWEs) associated with the enhancement of katabatic winds by synoptic weather systems. In this…1 October, 2014 by Peter Convey
The meiobenthic community of Potter Cove (King George Island, west Antarctic Peninsula) was investigated, focusing on responses to summer/winter conditions in two study sites contrasting in terms of organic matter…Read more on Potter Cove, west Antarctic Peninsula, shallow water meiofauna: a seasonal snapshot
1 October, 2014 by Katrin Linse
The protobranch bivalves of the Southern Ocean are poorly understood ecologically, despite their high abundances in soft sediments from the shelf to the deep sea. The subclass has a long…1 October, 2014 by Katrin Linse
An extensive submarine cold-seep area was discovered on the northern shelf of South Georgia during R/V Polarstern cruise ANT-XXIX/4 in spring 2013. Hydroacoustic surveys documented the presence of 133 gas…1 October, 2014 by Scott Hosking, John Turner, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
The influence of changes in winds over the Amundsen Sea has been shown to be a potentially key mechanism in explaining rapid loss of ice from major glaciers in West…1 October, 2014 by Cheryl Knowland, Rachel Cavanagh, Simeon Hill, Susie Grant
In June 2014, the ICED programme, the British Antarctic Survey and WWF co-hosted a two day workshop entitled “Understanding the objectives for krill fishing and conservation in the Scotia Sea…1 October, 2014 by Richard Phillips
Recently-developed capabilities for tracking the movements of individual birds over the course of a year or longer has provided increasing evidence for consistent individual differences in migration schedules and destinations.…1 October, 2014 by Kevin Newsham, Will Goodall-Copestake
Forty-four herbarium specimens of the hepatic Barbilophozia hatcheri, collected from across the entire range of the species in Antarctica (54–68 °S), were examined for fungal colonisation. Mycothalli, consisting of hyaline…1 October, 2014 by Geraint Tarling
Marine planktonic copepods of the order Calanoida are central to the ecology and productivity of high latitude ecosystems, representing the interface between primary producers and fish. These animals typically undertake…1 October, 2014
Bird migration is generally scheduled to avoid other energetically expensive events in the annual cycle (e.g. moult) and seasons when survival can be difficult (e.g. northern winters). Purple Sandpipers winter…1 October, 2014 by Dominic Hodgson, Stephen Roberts
Palaeoclimate changes, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, are well-defined in the Northern Hemisphere during the past 2000 years. In contrast, these anomalies appear to…29 September, 2014 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
A 3-D model for solving the radiation belt diffusion equation in adiabatic invariant coordinates has been developed and tested. The model, named REM (for Radbelt Electron Model), obtains a probabilistic…28 September, 2014 by Povl Abrahamsen
Polar oceans present a unique set of challenges to sustained observations. Sea ice cover restricts navigation for ships and autonomous measurement platforms alike, and icebergs present a hazard to instruments…28 September, 2014 by Gareth Chisham, Mai Mai Lam, Mervyn Freeman
We use National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data to estimate the altitude and time lag dependence of the correlation between the interplanetary magnetic field component,…25 September, 2014 by Hilmar Gudmundsson, Sebastian Rosier
The tidal forcing of ice streams at their ocean boundary can serve as a natural experiment to gain an insight into their dynamics and constrain the basal sliding law. A…Read more on Insights into ice stream dynamics through modeling their response to tidal forcing
23 September, 2014 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
In the Earth's radiation belts the flux of relativistic electrons is highly variable, sometimes changing by orders of magnitude within a few hours. Since energetic electrons can damage satellites it…19 September, 2014 by Markus Frey
During the austral summer 2011/2012 atmospheric nitrous acid was investigated for the second time at the Concordia site (75°06' S, 123°33' E) located on the East Antarctic plateau by deploying…17 September, 2014 by Jonathan Watkins
The climate-induced changes presently seen in the ecosystems of the Antarctic region require a precautionary approach with respect to the human use of these ecosystems. In particular, resource harvesting requires…16 September, 2014 by John King, Thomas Lachlan-Cope
Mesoscale model simulations are presented of a westerly föhn event over the Antarctic Peninsula mountain ridge and onto the Larsen C ice shelf, just south of the recently collapsed Larsen…15 September, 2014 by Dominic Hodgson, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Joanne Johnson, Robert Larter, Robert Mulvaney, Stephen Roberts, William Dickens
A robust understanding of Antarctic Ice Sheet deglacial history since the Last Glacial Maximum is important in order to constrain ice sheet and glacial-isostatic adjustment models, and to explore the…15 September, 2014 by Janet Silk, Richard Phillips
Until recent decades, details of the migratory movements of seabirds remained largely unknown owing to the difficulties in following individuals at sea. Subsequent advances in biologging technology have greatly increased…Read more on Trans-equatorial migration of Short-tailed Shearwaters revealed by geolocators
15 September, 2014 by Dominic Hodgson, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter, Robert Mulvaney
The Weddell Sea sector is one of the main formation sites for Antarctic Bottom Water and an outlet for about one fifth of Antarctica's continental ice volume. Over the last…15 September, 2014 by Dominic Hodgson, James Smith, Stephen Roberts, William Dickens
This paper is the maritime and sub–Antarctic contribution to the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) community Antarctic Ice Sheet reconstruction. The overarching aim…15 September, 2014 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Joanne Johnson, Robert Larter
Marine and terrestrial geological and marine geophysical data that constrain deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) of the sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) draining into the…15 September, 2014 by Dominic Hodgson, Stephen Roberts
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) is the largest continental ice mass on Earth, and documenting its evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is important for understanding its present-day…Read more on Retreat history of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet since the Last Glacial Maximum
15 September, 2014 by Ed King
Mega-scale glacial lineations (MSGLs) are a characteristic landform on ice stream beds. Solving the puzzle of their formation is key to understanding how ice interacts with its bed and how…15 September, 2014 by Dominic Hodgson, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Joanne Johnson, Robert Larter, Stephen Roberts
This paper compiles and reviews marine and terrestrial data constraining the dimensions and configuration of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet (APIS) from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) through deglaciation to…12 September, 2014 by James Smith
Grounding zones, where ice sheets transition between resting on bedrock to full floatation, help regulate ice flow. Exposure of the sea floor by the 2002 Larsen-B Ice Shelf collapse allowed…Read more on Boundary condition of grounding lines prior to collapse, Larsen-B Ice Shelf, Antarctica
5 September, 2014 by Louise Sime
About 23,000 years ago, the southern margins of the great Northern Hemisphere ice sheets across Europe and North America began to melt. The melt rate accelerated ∼20,000 years ago, and…2 September, 2014 by Claire Allen
The varied aspect ratios observed in the Antarctic marine diatom Eucampia antarctica are described and quantified. Data are compiled from detailed measurements of the gross morphology of winter stage specimens…1 September, 2014 by Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse
Despite recent progress in deep-sea biodiversity assessments in the Southern Ocean (SO), there remain gaps in our knowledge that hamper effi cient deep-sea monitoring in times of rapid climate change.…Read more on Challenges of deep-sea biodiversity assessments in the Southern Ocean
1 September, 2014 by Andrew Clarke
Aim We test the hypothesis that endotherm body temperature varies with diet. Location Global terrestrial ecosystems. Methods We compile data from the literature on diet and body temperature in mammals…1 September, 2014 by David Barnes, Eugene Murphy, Michael Meredith, Nadine Johnston, Philip Trathan
Antarctic and Southern Ocean (ASO) marine ecosystems have been changing for at least the last 30 years, including in response to increasing ocean temperatures and changes in the extent and…1 September, 2014 by Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Holland
Cold and dense Ice Shelf Water (ISW) emerging from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf cavity in the southwestern Weddell Sea flows northward through the Filchner Depression to eventually descend the continental…Read more on Hydrography and circulation in the Filchner Depression, Weddell Sea, Antarctica
1 September, 2014 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
Despite the importance and regular occurrence of tardigrades in the Antarctic terrestrial ecosystem, taxonomic studies of, in particular, continental Antarctica species have advanced very slowly. During a large survey to…1 September, 2014 by Peter Ward
Estimating growth and production rates of mesozooplankton, and copepods in particular, is important in describing flows of material and energy though pelagic systems. Over the past 30 years, the Moult…Read more on Re-assessing copepod growth using the Moult Rate method
1 September, 2014 by Catharine Horswill, Helen Peat, Jaume Forcada, Michael Meredith, Mark Preston, Norman Ratcliffe, Philip Trathan
1. Understanding the demographic response of free-living animal populations to different drivers is the first step towards reliable prediction of population trends. 2. Penguins have exhibited dramatic declines in population…1 September, 2014 by Eugene Murphy
Arctic and Antarctic marine systems have in common high latitudes, large seasonal changes in light levels, cold air and sea temperatures, and sea ice. In other ways, however, they are…Read more on Krill, climate, and contrasting future scenarios for Arctic and Antarctic fisheries
1 September, 2014 by Mark Clilverd
Many solar wind and magnetosphere parameters correlate with relativistic electron flux following storms. These include relativistic electron flux before the storm, seed electron flux, solar wind velocity and number density…1 September, 2014 by Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark
Many studies into the responses of early life-stages to ocean acidification utilise offspring obtained from parents reared under present-day conditions. Their offspring are directly introduced to altered-pH conditions. This study…1 September, 2014 by Emily Venables, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker
Microstructure shear, temperature, and conductivity observations from a tethered profiler have been made beneath George VI Ice Shelf to examine processes driving vertical heat flux in the oceanic turbulent boundary…Read more on Measuring turbulent dissipation rates beneath an Antarctic ice shelf
1 September, 2014 by Susan Gregory
Studies on the phenology of harbour seal moult have been carried out in the Atlantic and Pacific, however there has been no research into this process in the Republic of…Read more on Moulting phenology of the harbour seal in south-west Ireland
1 September, 2014 by Philip Trathan, Richard Phillips
Seabirds are increasingly threatened worldwide, with population declines for many species that are faster than in any other group of birds. Here the Important Bird Area (IBA) criteria recommended by…1 September, 2014 by Jaume Forcada
The local population of common bottlenose dolphin in the Balearic Islands coastal waters, a mass tourism destination in the western Mediterranean subject to increasing anthropogenic pressures, was monitored over a…1 September, 2014 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Philip Leat, Tom Jordan
The Antarctic Peninsula (AP) consists of a long lived and uniquely well preserved magmatic arc system. The broad tectonic structure of the AP arc is well understood. However, magmatic processes…1 September, 2014 by Dominic Hodgson
Lacustrine microbial mats in Antarctic ice-free oases are considered modern analogues of early microbial ecosystems as their primary production is generally dominated by cyanobacteria, the heterotrophic food chain typically truncated…Read more on Organic and mineral imprints in fossil photosynthetic mats of an East Antarctic lake
1 September, 2014 by Jonathan Shanklin
In reply to Enrico Scchetti's photo feature "Science on ice", June pp.26-31.1 September, 2014 by Damien Guihen, Sophie Fielding
A combination of scientific, economic, technological and policy drivers is behind a recent upsurge in the use of marine autonomous systems (and accompanying miniaturized sensors) for environmental mapping and monitoring.…1 September, 2014 by Peter Convey, Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
Tardigrades are important members of the simple terrestrial ecosystems in the extreme environments in Antarctica. This study provides a baseline description of tardigrade species diversity and distribution pattern within the…29 August, 2014
Pine Island Glacier is one of the fastest and most dynamic glaciers in West Antarctica. The stability of the glacier may thus have profound impact on the overall stability of…28 August, 2014 by Richard Horne
It has been reported from Van Allen Probe observations that plasmaspheric hiss intensification in the outer plasmasphere, associated with a substorm injection on 30 September 2012, occurred with a peak…Read more on Generation of unusually low frequency plasmaspheric hiss
22 August, 2014 by Sabrina Heiser
The north-west Pacific kelp, Undaria pinnatifida, was first discovered in Europe on the Mediterranean coast of France (1971) and introduced to Brittany for aquaculture (1983). In the north-east Atlantic, it…22 August, 2014
The L * invariant coordinate depends on the global electromagnetic field topology at a given instance and the standard method for its determination requires a computationally expensive drift contour tracing. This…22 August, 2014 by Mark Clilverd
Phase and amplitude measurements of VLF radio signals on a short, nearly all-sea path between two Hawaiian Islands are used to find the height and sharpness of the lower edge…Read more on Low-latitude ionospheric D region dependence on solar zenith angle
22 August, 2014 by Mark Clilverd
Measurements from the Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES) Medium Energy Proton and Electron Detector (MEPED) instrument are widely used in studies into radiation belt dynamics and atmospheric coupling. However, this instrument…20 August, 2014 by John King
Ice shelves in the Antarctic Peninsula have significantly disintegrated during recent decades. To better understand the atmospheric contribution in the process, we have analysed the inter-annual variations in radiative and…18 August, 2014
The volatilisation of iodine from the ocean and release to the atmosphere in the ice-covered polar regions has been studied. Laboratory experiments involving sea ice- and ice associated- diatoms have…16 August, 2014 by Adrian Jenkins, Hugh Corr, Keith Nicholls, Pierre Dutrieux
Ocean waters melt the margins of Antarctic and Greenland glaciers, and individual glaciers' responses and the integrity of their ice shelves are expected to depend on the spatial distribution of…16 August, 2014 by Povl Abrahamsen, Keith Nicholls
We study a mechanism of iceberg breakup that may act together with the recognized melt and wave-induced decay processes. Our proposal is based on observations from a recent field experiment…Read more on The ‘footloose’ mechanism: iceberg decay from hydrostatic stresses
15 August, 2014
Observations suggest that properties of Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) are changing. An understanding of how changes in the ocean may interact with the atmosphere is crucial for understanding how Earth’s…Read more on Global climate impacts from changes in Antarctic Intermediate Water
15 August, 2014 by Jane Francis, Vanessa Bowman
Fluctuations in Late Cretaceous climate were already influencing biotic change prior to the environmental upheaval at the Cretaceous – Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary, but their general nature, magnitude and timing remain…15 August, 2014 by Joanne Johnson
The Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica hosts one of the most rapidly changing sectors of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. With the fastest-flowing ice streams in Antarctica, the region…14 August, 2014 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Tobias Kersten
Gyroresonant wave particle interactions with electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves are a potentially important loss process for relativistic electrons in the Earth's radiation belts. Here we perform a statistical analysis…Read more on Global morphology and spectral properties of EMIC waves derived from CRRES observations
12 August, 2014 by Andrew Clarke, Eugene Murphy, John Turner
The record of winter fast-ice in the South Orkney Islands, northern Weddell Sea, Antarctica is over a century long and provides the longest observational record of sea-ice variability in the…Read more on Variability of sea-ice in the northern Weddell Sea during the 20th century
6 August, 2014 by Michael Thorne, Melody Clark
Isolated and established in culture from the Antarctic in 1988, the nematode Panagrolaimus davidi has proven to be an ideal model for the study of adaptation to the cold. Not…Read more on Molecular analysis of the cold tolerant Antarctic nematode, Panagrolaimus davidi
4 August, 2014 by Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
A multi-year, all-season time series of water column physical properties and sea ice conditions in Ryder Bay, at the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), is used to assess the effects on…3 August, 2014 by Richard Phillips
Carry-over effects have major implications for individual fitness and population and evolutionary dynamics. The strength of these effects is dependent on an individual's intrinsic performance and the environmental conditions it…1 August, 2014 by Richard Phillips
Top predators are critical to ecosystem function, exerting a stabilising effect on the food web. Brown skuas are opportunistic predators and scavengers. Although skuas are often the dominant land-based predator…1 August, 2014 by Roger Worland, Peter Convey
Polar terrestrial invertebrates are suggested as being vulnerable to temperature change relative to lower latitude species, and hence possibly also to climate warming. Previous studies have shown Antarctic and Arctic…1 August, 2014 by Lloyd Peck
1.Understanding the extent to which organisms are affected by climate change and are capable of adapting to warming is essential for managing biodiversity. Recent macrophysiological analyses suggest that range-related responses…Read more on Lack of coherence in the warming responses of marine crustaceans