1 November, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Life-history theory predicts that costs are associated with reproduction. One possible mediator of costs involves the secretion of glucocorticoid hormones, which in birds can be measured in feathers grown during…Read more on Corticosterone mediated costs of reproduction link current to future breeding
1 November, 2013 by Eric Wolff
We argue that, while Milanković variations in solar radiation undoubtedly have a major influence on the timing of the Quaternary ice ages, they are partly incidental to their underlying causes.…1 November, 2013
Here we demonstrate the ability of stochastic reduced order models to predict the statistics of non-stationary systems undergoing critical transitions. First, we show that the reduced order models are able…Read more on Predictions of critical transitions with non-stationary reduced order models
1 November, 2013 by Keith Nicholls, Paul Holland
The exchange between the open ocean and sub-ice shelf cavities is important to both water mass transformations and ice shelf melting. Here we use a high-resolution (500 m) numerical model…Read more on Eddy-driven exchange between the open ocean and a sub-ice shelf cavity
1 November, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Miniature geolocator loggers (Global Location Sensing, GLS) that provide daily locations of birds have revolutionised the study of winter ecology and migration patterns of seabirds. A long-term study of ringing…1 November, 2013 by Jeremy Wilkinson
The understanding of sea ice mass balance processes requires continuous monitoring of the seasonal evolution of the ice thickness. While autonomous ice mass balance buoys (IMB buoys) deployed over the…1 November, 2013 by Philip Trathan
Long-lived animals sometimes skip one or more breeding seasons; however, little is known about their movements and activities during such ‘sabbatical’ periods. Here we present novel data on year-round movements…Read more on Movements and activities of male black-tailed gulls in breeding and sabbatical years
1 November, 2013 by Mark Clilverd
BARREL is a multiple-balloon investigation designed to study electron losses from Earth’s Radiation Belts. Selected as a NASA Living with a Star Mission of Opportunity, BARREL augments the Radiation Belt…Read more on The Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL)
1 November, 2013 by Katrin Linse
The ecology of Antarctic deep-sea fauna is poorly understood and few studies have gone beyond assessing biodiversity when comparing deep regions of the Southern Ocean. Protobranch bivalves are ubiquitous in…1 November, 2013 by Richard Phillips
The Tristan albatross Diomedea dabbanena is Critically Endangered: >99% of adults breed at Gough Island, central South Atlantic Ocean, where chicks are threatened by introduced predators. At sea they mostly…1 November, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson
The introduction and establishment of non-indigenous species through human activities often poses a major threat to natural biodiversity. In many parts of the world management efforts are therefore focused on…1 November, 2013 by Geraint Tarling, Ryan Saunders, Sally Thorpe, Sophie Fielding
In this paper, we describe the variation in myctophid schools characteristics at South Georgia using multi-frequency acoustic data collected annually between November 2007 and January 2012. We studied the relationship…Read more on School characteristics of mesopelagic fish at South Georgia
1 November, 2013
This paper presents new 500 year interval palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the North West French coast from 11000 cal. BP to present. These models are used to calculate…Read more on New models of North West European Holocene palaeogeography and inundation
1 November, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson
Biological responses to climate and environmental changes in remote polar regions are of increasing interest in global change research. Terrestrial and marine polar ecosystems have suffered from impacts of both…30 October, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Carryover effects have been documented in many migratory bird species, but we know little about the physiological mechanisms that mediate those effects. Here we show that the energetic, endocrine, and…28 October, 2013 by Andrew Meijers
1] Ocean observations around the Australian-Antarctic basin show the importance of coastal latent heat polynyas near the Mertz Glacier Tongue (MGT) to the formation of Dense Shelf Water (DSW) and…28 October, 2013 by Eric Wolff, John Turner, Liz Thomas, Thomas Bracegirdle
We present a new stable isotope record from Ellsworth Land which provides a valuable 308-year record (1702-2009) of climate variability from coastal West Antarctica. Climate variability at this site is…Read more on A 308-year record of climate variability in West Antarctica
22 October, 2013 by Pierre Mathiot
An assessment of the performance of a state-of-the-art large-scale coupled sea ice - ocean model, including a new snow multilayer thermodynamic scheme, is performed. Four 29-years-long simulations are compared against…Read more on On the formulation of snow thermal conductivity in large-scale sea ice models
21 October, 2013 by Norman Ratcliffe, Philip Trathan, Stacey Adlard
Intra-specific foraging niche partitioning can arise due to gender differences or individual specialisation in behaviour or prey selection. These may in turn be related to sexual size dimorphism or individual…20 October, 2013 by Emilie Capron
The end of the Last Glacial Maximum (Termination I), roughly 20 thousand years ago (ka), was marked by cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, a weakening of the Asian monsoon, a…Read more on Two-phase change in CO2, Antarctic temperature and global climate during Termination II
18 October, 2013 by Richard Horne
The Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP)-Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) suite contains an innovative complement of particle instruments to ensure the highest quality measurements ever made in the…16 October, 2013 by Andrew Kavanagh, Steve Colwell, Tracy Moffat-Griffin
The gravity wave field in the lower stratosphere (between 15 km and 22 km altitude) above Mount Pleasant Airport (51°49’S, 58°26’W), on the Falkland Islands is studied using over 2100 high-resolution radiosonde…16 October, 2013 by Mark Clilverd
Observations have shown that mesospheric hydroxyl (OH) is affected by energetic electron precipitation (EEP) at magnetic latitudes connected to the outer radiation belt. It is not clear, however, if the…15 October, 2013 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith
Dynamical changes in contemporary ice sheets account for significant proportions of their current rates of mass loss, but assessing whether or not these processes are a natural part of ice-sheet…Read more on Glaciology and geological signature of the Last Glacial Maximum Antarctic ice sheet
15 October, 2013 by Michael Meredith, Paul Holland
Recent decadal changes in Southern Hemisphere climate have driven strong responses from the cryosphere. Concurrently, there has been a marked freshening of the shelf and bottom waters across a wide…Read more on Decadal freshening of the Antarctic Bottom Water exported from the Weddell Sea
15 October, 2013 by Paul Rodhouse
Southern Ocean squid are important predators and prey and are a potential fishery resource. Their future under climate change is analysed from predictions of change by 2100 and assessments of…15 October, 2013 by Hugh Corr, Jonathan Kingslake, Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Here we report Late Holocene ice sheet and grounding-line changes to the Weddell Sea sector of West Antarctica. Internal radio-echo layering within the Bungenstock Ice Rise, which comprises very slow-flowing…Read more on Late Holocene ice-flow reconfiguration in the Weddell sector of West Antarctica
7 October, 2013 by Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse
Information regarding the molluscs in this dataset is based on the Rauschert dredge samples collected during the Latitudinal Gradient Program (LGP) on board the R/V “Italica” in the Ross Sea…6 October, 2013 by Adrian Jenkins, Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Tom Jordan
Meltwater generated beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet exerts a strong influence on the speed of ice flow, in particular for major ice streams1, 2. The subglacial meltwater also influences ocean…4 October, 2013 by Gareth Chisham, Mai Mai Lam, Mervyn Freeman
The existence of a meteorological response in the polar regions to fluctuations in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) component By is well established. More controversially, there is evidence to suggest…Read more on The interplanetary magnetic field influences mid-latitude surface atmospheric pressure
2 October, 2013 by Eugene Murphy
Human societies, and their well-being, depend to a significant extent on the state of the ecosystems that surround them. These ecosystems are changing rapidly usually in response to anthropogenic changes…2 October, 2013 by Richard Phillips
As apex marine predators, seabirds are often sampled to monitor bioaccumulative persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the marine environment. Despite the restrictions on use and production of many POPs, concern…2 October, 2013 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
Tardigrades are important members of the Antarctic biota yet little is known about their role in the soil fauna or whether they are affected by anthropogenic factors. The German Federal…Read more on The impact of tourists on Antarctic tardigrades: an ordination-based model
2 October, 2013 by Emma Woodfield, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
Jupiter has the most intense radiation belts of all the outer planets. It is not yet known how electrons can be accelerated to energies of 10 MeV or more. It…1 October, 2013 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Robert Larter
Studies of the sedimentary architecture and characteristics of the Antarctic continental margin provide clues about past ice sheet advance-retreat cycles and help improve constraints for paleo-ice dynamic models since early…1 October, 2013 by Jane Francis, Vanessa Bowman
Development of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) during the Cenozoic is controversial in terms of timing and its role in major climate transitions. Some propose that the development of the…Read more on Paleogeographic controls on the onset of the Antarctic circumpolar current
1 October, 2013 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse, Peter Enderlein
In 2008 the BIOPEARL II expedition on board of RRS James Clark Ross sailed to the eastern Amundsen Sea Embayment and Pine Island Bay, one of the least studied Antarctic…1 October, 2013 by Gareth Chisham, Mervyn Freeman
We present observations from the Falkland Islands Super Dual Auroral Radar Network radar of the propagation of HF radio waves via the Weddell Sea Ionospheric Anomaly (WSA), a region of…1 October, 2013 by Mark Clilverd
Daily profiles of phase measurements as observed on fixed VLF-paths generally show a transient phase advance, followed by a phase delay, for about 90 minutes after sunrise hours. This is indicative…1 October, 2013 by John Turner
The first climatology of strong wind events (SWEs) at McMurdo station, Antarctica based on the in situ observations and reanalysis fields is presented. SWEs occur throughout the year, but with…Read more on A climatology of strong wind events at McMurdo station, Antarctica
1 October, 2013 by Mark Clilverd
The primary sources of energetic electron precipitation (EEP) which affect altitudes 30 keV) are expected to be from the radiation belts, and during substorms. EEP from the radiation belts should be…1 October, 2013 by Roger Worland, Peter Convey
In the Maritime Antarctic and High Arctic, soil microhabitat temperatures throughout the year typically range between -10 and +5°C. However, on occasion, they can exceed 20°C, and these instances are…1 October, 2013 by Simon Morley
Quaternary glaciations in Antarctica drastically modified geographical ranges and population sizes of marine benthic invertebrates and thus affected the amount and distribution of intraspecific genetic variation. Here, we present new…1 October, 2013 by Eugene Murphy, Philip Trathan, Simeon Hill, Susie Grant
Ecosystem services are the benefits that mankind obtains from natural ecosystems. Here we identify the key services provided by the Southern Ocean. These include provisioning of fishery products, nutrient cycling,…Read more on Ecosystem services of the Southern Ocean: trade-offs in decision-making
1 October, 2013 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert, Tobias Kersten
Global models of the Van Allen radiation belts usually include resonant wave-particle interactions as a diffusion process, but there is a large uncertainty over the diffusion rates. Here we present…Read more on A new diffusion matrix for whistler mode chorus waves
1 October, 2013 by Richard Phillips
The distribution of Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) from Skellig Michael, south-west Ireland, was investigated using geolocation loggers between the 2010 and 2011 breeding seasons. All tracked birds travelled rapidly west…1 October, 2013 by David Jones, Hilmar Gudmundsson
There remain large regions of scientific interest in the Antarctic that are not instrumented. These include highly dynamic ice streams and glaciers that are difficult or impossible to reach safely…1 October, 2013 by Jonathan Kingslake
Glacier-dammed lakes can yield subglacial outburst floods (jo¨kulhlaups) repeatedly. Predicting flood timing is crucial for hazard mitigation, but incomplete understanding of flood-initiation physics makes this challenging. Here we examine the…1 October, 2013 by Philip Leat
The ∼2000 m thick clastic and volcaniclastic sedimentary rock pile of the Mesoproterozoic Ritscherflya Supergroup is located near the eastern margin of the Archaean Grunehogna Craton of Dronning Maud Land…1 October, 2013 by Ed King
On RADARSAT imagery, the southern margin of the onset zone of Bindschadler Ice Stream, West Antarctica, manifests a multi-banded feature, with brightness varying across the bands and oscillating along each…1 October, 2013 by Kevin Hughes
A single colony of the non-native grass Poa pratensis L., which was introduced inadvertently to Cierva Point, Antarctic Peninsula, during the 1954–1955 season, was still present during a survey in…1 October, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Populations of flesh-footed shearwaters on Lord Howe Island, Tasman Sea, have declined recently, with mortality in longline fisheries likely to be one of the major causes. It is therefore imperative…1 October, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Although mercury bio-amplifies through the food chain and accumulates in top predators, mercury concentrations in tissues of the wandering albatross are greater than in any other vertebrate, including closely related…1 October, 2013 by Jennifer Jackson
Regional populations of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) around New Zealand are genetically isolated from each other and the species was recently classified as nationally endangered based on relatively small population…1 October, 2013 by Adrian Jenkins
Thermodynamic flowline and plume models for the ice-shelf/ocean system simplify the ice and ocean dynamics sufficiently to allow extensive exploration of parameters affecting ice-sheet stability while including key physical processes.…1 October, 2013 by Melody Clark
Polar marine ecosystems have global ecological and economic importance because of their unique biodiversity and their major role in climate processes and commercial fisheries, among others. Portugal and Spain have…1 October, 2013 by Ed King, Paul Holland
Antarctic ice shelves are fed primarily by the glaciers flowing into them. Downstream of promontories separating these glaciers, supercooled water can rise and freeze into suture zones, leading to the…26 September, 2013 by Andrew Fleming, Adrian Jenkins, David Vaughan, Hugh Corr, Paul Holland, Pierre Dutrieux
By thinning and accelerating, West Antarctic ice streams are contributing about 10% of the observed global sea level rise. Much of this ice loss is from Pine Island Glacier, which…Read more on Pine Island Glacier ice shelf melt distributed at kilometre scales
26 September, 2013 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
Radiocarbon and uranium-thorium dating results are presented from a genus of calcitic Antarctic cold-water octocorals (family Coralliidae), which were collected from the Marie Byrd Seamounts in the Amundsen Sea (Pacific…23 September, 2013 by Ingrid Cnossen
The nondipolar portions of the Earth's main magnetic field constitute substantial differences between the two hemispheres. Beside the magnetic flux densities and patterns being different in the Northern Hemisphere (NH)…22 September, 2013 by Paul Rodhouse
Doryteuthis gahi (Orbigny, 1835) is a relatively small squid typically attaining 13–17 cm mantle length that inhabits the shelves around the southern tip of South America from southern Peru in…22 September, 2013 by Claire Waluda, Paul Rodhouse
Illex argentinus, a close relative of the other North Atlantic Illex species, concentrates on the Patagonian shelf edge and spreads over the shelf from Southern Brazil to the Falkland Islands.…22 September, 2013 by Claire Waluda, Paul Rodhouse
Dosidicus gigas (Humboldt or jumbo squid) (Orbigny, 1835) is the largest ommastrephid squid, reaching up to 1.2m mantle length and 65kg in weight. This pelagic squid is endemic to the…20 September, 2013 by Tracy Moffat-Griffin
Abundant short‒period, small‒scale gravity waves have been identified in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere over Halley, Antarctica, via ground‒based airglow image data. Although many are observed as freely propagating at…19 September, 2013 by Michael Meredith
Diapycnal mixing (across density surfaces) is an important process in the global ocean overturning circulation. Mixing in the interior of most of the ocean, however, is thought to have a…17 September, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Investigating the foraging ecology of seabirds is especially challenging given their wide-ranging movements and the practical difficulties of obtaining unbiased information on their feeding behavior. Despite the development of animal-borne…15 September, 2013 by Claire Waluda, Iain Staniland
Between November 1989 and March 2013, 1033 Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella were observed entangled in marine debris at Bird Island, South Georgia. The majority of entanglements involved plastic packaging…Read more on Entanglement of Antarctic fur seals at Bird Island, South Georgia
13 September, 2013 by David Pearce
Deep water samples (ca. 4,200 m) were taken from two hydrologically-similar sites around the Crozet islands with highly contrasting surface water productivities. Site M5 was characteristic of high productivity waters…13 September, 2013 by Hugh Corr
Ice shelves play a key role in the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheets by buttressing their seaward-flowing outlet glaciers; however, they are exposed to the underlying ocean and…11 September, 2013
Climate change poses challenges for decision makers across society, not just in preparing for the climate of the future but even when planning for the climate of the present day.…Read more on Mapping climate change in European temperature distributions
9 September, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson, Peter Convey
Annual temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth, have risen by up to 0.56°C per decade since the 1950s [1]. Terrestrial and marine…Read more on Plants and soil microbes respond to recent warming on the Antarctic Peninsula
8 September, 2013 by Jaume Forcada
Many species have been heavily exploited by man leading to local extirpations, yet few studies have attempted to unravel subsequent recolonization histories. This has led to a significant gap in…6 September, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson, David Pearce, Michael Thorne
Since the first descriptions of Antarctic subglacial lakes, there has been a growing interest and awareness of the possibility that life will exist and potentially thrive in these unique and…Read more on Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica
5 September, 2013 by Markus Frey
The first measurements of atmospheric nitric oxide (NO) along with observations of ozone (O3), hydroperoxides (H2O2 and MHP) and snow nitrate (NO3–) on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) were…3 September, 2013 by Jaume Forcada
Brucellosis is a worldwide infectious zoonotic disease caused by Gram-negative bacteria of the genus Brucella, and Brucella infections in marine mammals were first reported in 1994. A serosurvey investigating the…3 September, 2013 by Philip Trathan
Biogenic influences on the composition and characteristics of aerosol were investigated on Bird Island (54°00' S, 38°03' W) in the South Atlantic during November and December 2010. This remote marine…Read more on Sub-Antarctic marine aerosol: significant contributions from biogenic sources
1 September, 2013 by Teal Riley
Primitive rocks that are related to continental flood basalts are rare, but often reveal crucial information on the ultimate sources of these huge outpourings of mantle-derived magma. Here we present…1 September, 2013 by Alexander Tate, Philip Leat
New multibeam bathymetry data are presented for the South Sandwich intra-oceanic arc which occupies the small Sandwich plate in the South Atlantic, and is widely considered to be a simple…1 September, 2013
Boundary-layer measurements from the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica are analyzed to determine flux–profile relationships. Dimensionless quantities are derived in the standard approach from estimates of wind shear, potential temperature gradient,…Read more on Investigation of the stable atmospheric boundary layer at Halley Antarctica
1 September, 2013 by Eric Wolff
Sea ice is an important component of the Earth system with complex dynamics imperfectly documented from direct observations, which are primarily limited to the last 40 years. Whereas large amplitude…1 September, 2013 by Hugh Corr, Robert Arthern
Translating satellite measurements of ice sheet volume change into sea level contribution requires knowledge of the profile of density as a function of depth within the ice sheet, and how…Read more on Inversion for the density-depth profile of polar firn using a stepped-frequency radar
1 September, 2013 by Gareth Chisham, Mervyn Freeman
The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is a network of HF radars used to study phenomena in the Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, and upper atmosphere. Phenomena in the upper mesosphere…1 September, 2013 by David Pearce, Peter Convey
A range of small- to moderate-scale studies of patterns in bacterial biodiversity have been conducted in Antarctica over the last two decades, most suggesting strong correlations between the described bacterial…Read more on Spatial pattern in Antarctica: what can we learn from Antarctic bacterial isolates?
1 September, 2013 by Michael Thorne, Melody Clark
Understanding the environmental responses of an invasive species is critical in predicting how ecosystem composition may be transformed in the future, especially under climate change. In this study, Crassostrea gigas,…1 September, 2013 by Andrew Clarke
The metabolic status of dinosaurs has long been debated but remains unresolved as no consistent picture has emerged from a range of anatomical and isotopic evidence. Quantitative analysis of dinosaur…Read more on Dinosaur energetics: setting the bounds on feasible physiologies and ecologies
1 September, 2013 by Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
The extent, duration, and seasonality of sea ice and glacial discharge strongly influence Antarctic marine ecosystems. Most organisms' life cycles in this region are attuned to ice seasonality. The annual…Read more on West Antarctic Peninsula: An ice-dependent coastal marine ecosystem in transition
1 September, 2013 by Roger Worland, Peter Convey
The collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus Willem is potentially exposed to habitat salinities equal to (or greater than) sea water, as a result of sea spray, drying of littoral habitats, dispersal or…1 September, 2013 by Adrian Jenkins, David Vaughan, Pierre Dutrieux, Robert Larter
Ice shelves are critical features in the debate about West Antarctic ice sheet change and sea level rise, both because they limit ice discharge and because they are sensitive to…1 September, 2013 by Mervyn Freeman
We present a survey of medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) observed by a Super Dual Auroral Radar Network HF radar located in the Falkland Islands between May 2010 and April…1 September, 2013 by Emilie Capron
Air and water stable isotope measurements from four Greenland deep ice cores (GRIP, GISP2, NGRIP and NEEM) are investigated over a series of Dansgaard–Oeschger events (DO 8, 9 and 10),…1 September, 2013 by Andrew Orr, Gareth Marshall, Scott Hosking, John Turner, Tony Phillips
In contrast to earlier studies, the authors describe the climatological deep low pressure system that exists over the South Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, referred to as the Amundsen–Bellingshausen…1 September, 2013 by Pierre Dutrieux
The large and complex Getz Ice Shelf extends along nearly half of the West Antarctic coastline in the Amundsen Sea, and is exposed to a more variable ocean environment than…Read more on Getz Ice Shelf melting response to changes in ocean forcing
1 September, 2013 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, David Pearce, Huw Griffiths
In the Southern Ocean, that is areas south of the Polar Front, long-term oceanographic cooling, geographic separation, development of isolating current and wind systems, tectonic drift and fluctuation of ice…1 September, 2013 by Katrin Linse
Microsatellite loci have been developed for three undescribed species discovered at hydrothermal vents on the East Scotia Ridge (ESR) in the Southern Ocean: a yeti crab, Kiwa sp. (Kiwaidae), a…