1 April, 2013 by Paul Holland
An array of five moorings was deployed from February 2009 to February 2010 across the Antarctic shelf and slope in the southeastern Weddell Sea (~18°W). Observations demonstrate the key processes…1 April, 2013
In the literature of the exploration of the Antarctic in the early 20th century, there are many references to ‘medical comforts’. While ‘medical comforts’ was sometimes used as a euphemism…Read more on Medical comforts during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration
1 April, 2013 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
Satellites can be damaged by high energy charged particles in the Earth's radiation belts and during solar energetic particle (SEP) events. Here we review the growing reliance on satellite services,…1 April, 2013 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
High-energy charged particles in the van Allen radiation belts and in solar energetic particle events can damage satellites on orbit leading to malfunctions and loss of satellite service. Here we…1 April, 2013
Descriptions of intra- and interspecific variation in migratory patterns of closely related species are rare yet valuable because they can help assess how differences in ecology and life-history strategies drive…1 April, 2013
Little is known about the timing of migration, migration routes, and migratory connectivity of most of the >230 species of birds that breed at south temperate latitudes of South America…Read more on Long-distance bird migration within South America revealed by light-level geolocators
1 April, 2013 by Pierre Mathiot
Sea ice variability in the Southern Ocean has a complex spatio-temporal structure. In a global warming context, the Antarctic sea ice cover has slightly expanded over the recent decades. This…1 April, 2013 by Kevin Hughes
Currently, a substantial proportion of Antarctic research is carried out through deployment of field camps, but little detailed information on the running of these facilities is often available. The remoteness…1 April, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Although the Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, with many populations in serious decline, there is little…Read more on Migration strategies of the Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan
1 April, 2013 by Andrew Meijers, Emily Shuckburgh, Jean-Baptiste Sallee, Thomas Bracegirdle
The development of the deep Southern Ocean winter mixed layer in the climate models participating in the fifth Coupled Models Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) is assessed. The deep winter convection regions…1 April, 2013 by Andrew Meijers, Emily Shuckburgh, Jean-Baptiste Sallee, Thomas Bracegirdle
The ability of the models contributing to the fifth Coupled Models Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to represent the Southern Ocean hydrological properties and its overturning is investigated in a water mass…1 April, 2013 by Andy Smith, Fausto Ferraccioli, Tom Jordan
We interpret seismic reflection and airborne potential field data acquired on Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica and find variations in the subglacial geology which correlate with variations in ice dynamics.…1 April, 2013 by Geraint Tarling
The contribution of faecal pellet (FP) production by zooplankton to the downward flux of particulate organic carbon (POC) can vary from 70 m) occurred when diel VM took place. Simulated…Read more on Modelling the influence of copepod behaviour on faecal pellet export at high latitudes
1 April, 2013 by Katrin Linse
Recent expeditions have revealed high levels of biodiversity in the tropical deep-sea, yet little is known about the age or origin of this biodiversity, and large-scale molecular studies are still…30 March, 2013 by Thomas Bracegirdle
The observed acceleration of glaciers from West Antarctica into the Amundsen Sea is estimated to be contributing 6% to current sea-level rise with the estimated potential to add 0.24 m…30 March, 2013 by Michael Meredith
The Southern Ocean is fundamentally important to the Earth system, influencing global climate, biogeochemical and ecological cycles. Limited observations suggest the Southern Ocean is changing, yet chronic under-sampling makes the…Read more on The vision for a Southern Ocean Observing System
30 March, 2013 by Gareth Marshall, John Turner, Michael Meredith, Tony Phillips
Over 1979–2007 near-surface air temperatures on the maritime western side of the Antarctic Peninsula have increased throughout the year, with the greatest monthly temperature rise of 1.7 °C dec−1 occurring…29 March, 2013 by Deborah Pardo
In long-lived species only a fraction of a population breeds at a given time. Non-breeders can represent more than half of adult individuals, calling in doubt the relevance of estimating…16 March, 2013 by Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
The lower limb of the Atlantic overturning circulation is renewed by dense waters from the Southern Ocean, a substantial portion of which flow through the Scotia Sea. We report dense…16 March, 2013 by Hua Lu, Mark Clilverd
We analyzed ERA-40 and ERA Interim meteorological re-analysis data for signatures of geomagnetic activity in zonal mean zonal wind, temperature, and Eliassen-Palm flux in the Northern Hemisphere extended winter (November–March).…15 March, 2013 by John Turner
The linkages between the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the sea ice extent (SIE) in the Weddell Sea (South Atlantic) and the Bellingshausen–Amundsen Sea (South-Eastern Pacific) sectors of the…15 March, 2013 by Peter Fretwell
This map presents the final outputs from the BEDMAp2 project as a double-sided poster map.It shows the new BEDMAP datasets of Antarctic ice thickness, surface height and bed elevation mapped…15 March, 2013 by Anna Jones, Eric Wolff, Markus Frey, Neil Brough
Atmospheric nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2) were observed at Dome C, East Antarctica (75.1° S, 123.3° E, 3233 m), for a total of 50 days, from 10 December 2009 to…15 March, 2013 by Eric Wolff, Louise Sime
The Southern Hemisphere (SH) westerly winds are thought to be critical to global ocean circulation, productivity, and carbon storage. For example, an equatorward shift in the winds, though its affect…1 March, 2013 by Hilmar Gudmundsson, Hugh Corr, Jan De Rydt
Full Stokes flow-line models predict that fast-flowing ice streams transmit information about their bedrock topography most efficiently to the surface for basal undulations with length scales between 1 and 20…Read more on Surface undulations of Antarctic ice streams tightly controlled by bedrock topography
1 March, 2013 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Marine ice-sheet stability is mostly controlled by the dynamics of the grounding line, i.e. the junction between the grounded ice sheet and the floating ice shelf. Grounding line migration has…Read more on Grounding line transient response in marine ice sheet models
1 March, 2013 by Robert Larter
Five quantitatively distinct gully types are identified on the Antarctic continental margin from swath bathymetric data of over 1100 individual features. The gullies differ in terms of length, width, depth,…1 March, 2013 by Peter Convey
We assessed culturable soil microfungal diversity in various habitats around Hornsund, Spitsbergen in the High Arctic, using potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. Thermal growth classification of the fungi obtained was…Read more on Studies on diversity of soil microfungi in the Hornsund area, Spitsbergen
1 March, 2013 by David Vaughan, Scott Hosking
Multidecadal meteorological station records and microwave backscatter time-series from the SeaWinds scatterometer onboard QuikSCAT (QSCAT) were used to calculate temporal and spatial trends in surface melting conditions on the Antarctic…1 March, 2013
Polar regions have great sensitivity to climate forcing; however, understanding of the physical processes coupling the atmosphere and ocean in these regions is relatively poor. Improving our knowledge of high-latitude…Read more on High-latitude ocean and sea ice surface fluxes: Challenges for climate research
1 March, 2013 by Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark
Brittle stars are included within a whole range of species, which contribute to knowledge in the medically important area of tissue regeneration. All brittle stars regenerate lose limbs, but the…Read more on Transcriptome pyrosequencing of the Antarctic brittle star Ophionotus victoriae
1 March, 2013 by Richard Phillips
The ability to predict the distribution of threatened marine predators is essential to inform spatially explicit seascape management. We tracked 99 individual black-browed albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris from two Falkland Islands’…1 March, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Albatrosses are among the world’s most endangered seabirds. Th reats during the nonbreeding period have major impacts on their population dynamics, but for most species, detailed information on distribution and…1 March, 2013
Wave-current interactions play a major role in the dynamics of shallow tidal inlets. This study investigates these interactions at a natural inlet, with a strong focus on current-induced changes on…Read more on Wave-current interactions in a wave-dominated tidal inlet
1 March, 2013 by Carlos Martin Garcia
We present a comprehensive approach (including field data, remote sensing and an anisotropic ice-flow model) to characterize Halvfarryggen ice dome in coastal Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. This is a potential…1 March, 2013
During the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, there was much discussion on the role of alcohol. The explorers expected to be able to consume alcohol, and the expeditions were supported…Read more on Use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration
1 March, 2013 by Peter Convey
Aim: Why are some species geographically restricted? Ecological explanations suggest that endemic species may have restricted distributions because limited phenotypic variability results in narrow niches. However, studying variability of traits…1 March, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson
We surveyed and dated the former shorelines of one lake in the Shackleton Range and two lakes in the Pensacola Mountains, situated inland of the Weddell Sea embayment Antarctica between…1 March, 2013 by Roger Worland
Differences in the level of cold acclimation and cryoprotection estimated as ice nucleation activity in snow algae (Chlamydomonas cf. nivalis and Chloromonas nivalis), lichen symbiotic algae (Trebouxia asymmetrica, Trebouxia erici…Read more on The ice nucleation activity of extremophilic algae
1 March, 2013 by Chester Sands, Elaine Fitzcharles, Jennifer Jackson, Katrin Linse
The phylogenetic relationships of seven Antarctic barnacle species, one verrucomorph and six scalpelliforms from the Scotia, Weddell and Ross seas were investigated using DNA sequences from two nuclear genes (18…Read more on Phylogenetic position of Antarctic scalpelliformes (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Thoracica)
1 March, 2013 by Andrew Clarke, Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
Climate change west of the Antarctic Peninsula is the most rapid of anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere, with associated changes in the rates and distributions of freshwater inputs to the…Read more on The freshwater system west of the Antarctic Peninsula: spatial and temporal changes
1 March, 2013
Changes in the metastability of the Southern Hemisphere 500-hPa circulation are examined using both cluster analysis techniques and split-flow blocking indices. The cluster methodology is a purely data-driven approach for…1 March, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Aim: Pelagic seabirds exploit large areas of ocean when acting as central-place foragers during the breeding season, and ranges are even more extensive outside the breeding period. Spatial niche partitioning…1 March, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson, Peter Convey
The extent of an external water layer around moss tissue influences CO2 assimilation. Experiments on the desiccation-tolerant moss Syntrichia ruralis assessed the real-time dependence of the carbon and oxygen isotopic…1 March, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson, Louise Sime, Peter Convey
Oxygen isotope palaeoclimate records, preserved in moss tissue cellulose, are complicated by environmental influences on the relationships between source water inputs and evaporative conditions. We carried out stable isotope analyses…1 March, 2013 by Gareth Marshall, Scott Hosking, John Turner, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
This paper examines the annual cycle and trends in Antarctic sea ice extent (SIE) for 18 models used in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) that were…Read more on An initial assessment of Antarctic Sea ice extent in the CMIP5 models
28 February, 2013 by Adrian Jenkins, Andy Smith, David Vaughan, Ed King, Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Hamish Pritchard, Peter Fretwell, Richard Hindmarsh, Tom Jordan, Richard Hindmarsh
We present Bedmap2, a new suite of gridded products describing surface elevation, ice-thickness and the seafloor and subglacial bed elevation of the Antarctic south of 60° S. We derived these…Read more on Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica
27 February, 2013 by Richard Phillips
The conservation of threatened seabirds that are highly pelagic, such as the gadfly petrels Pterodroma spp., depends on understanding the main oceanographic determinants of their movements in order to apply…Read more on Year-round distribution and habitat preferences of the Bugio petrel
26 February, 2013 by Vsevolod Afanasyev
Strong and predictable environmental variability can reward flexible behaviors among animals. We used long-term records of activity data that cover several lunar cycles to investigate whether behavior at-sea of swallow-tailed…21 February, 2013 by Emily Shuckburgh
When conducting marine seismic surveys, ocean currents noticeably perturb seismic streamers from their desired location. To accurately monitor a reservoir, the receivers in the streamers must be as close as…Read more on Inferring ocean currents from the shapes of towed seismic streamers. Extended abstract
19 February, 2013 by David Barnes
Comprehensive information on Antarctic macrobenthic community structure has been publicly available since the 1960s. It stems from trawl, dredge, grab, and corer samples as well as from direct and camera…Read more on Antarctic macrobenthic communities: a compilation of circumpolar information
15 February, 2013 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Despite their importance in understanding glaciological processes and constraining large-scale flow patterns in palaeo-glaciology, there is little consensus as to how drumlins are formed. Attempts to solve the ‘drumlin problem’…11 February, 2013 by Tom Jordan
High-resolution aeromagnetic surveys provide a geophysical tool to help image the subsurface structure of volcanoes and their tectonic framework. Here we interpret high-resolution aeromagnetic data and models for James Ross…11 February, 2013 by Fausto Ferraccioli
The Antarctic geomagnetics' community remains very active in crustal anomaly mapping. More than 1.5 million line-km of new air- and shipborne data have been acquired over the past decade by…Read more on Air and shipborne magnetic surveys of the Antarctic into the 21st century
11 February, 2013
Over the past decade, Australian, Norwegian and Russian marine surveys have collected integrated seismic, gravity and magnetic data in the southern Indian Ocean. The more than 350,000 line-km of new…Read more on New continental margin magnetic anomalies of East Antarctica
11 February, 2013 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Tom Jordan
The Wilkes Subglacial Basin, in the hinterland of the Transantarctic Mountains, represents one of the least understood continental-scale features in Antarctica. Aeromagnetic data suggests that this basin may be imposed…11 February, 2013 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Philip Leat, Tom Jordan
The Weddell Sea Rift was a major focus for Jurassic extension and magmatism during the early stages of Gondwana break-up and underlies the Weddell Sea Embayment, which separates East Antarctica…Read more on Inland extent of the Weddell Sea Rift imaged by new aerogeophysical data
11 February, 2013 by Fausto Ferraccioli
A combination of 1555 magnetic susceptibility measurements from the Antarctic Peninsula between 65°S to 72°S (for which the raw data are made available), and petrological, structural and metamorphic data, has…8 February, 2013 by Howard Roscoe, Jonathan Shanklin
A long-term ozone loss time series is necessary to understand the evolution of ozone in Antarctica. Therefore, we construct the time series using ground-based, satellite and bias-corrected multi-sensor reanalysis (MSR)…Read more on Antarctic ozone loss in 1979-2010: first sign of ozone recovery
8 February, 2013 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter
Increasing evidence for an elaborate subglacial drainage network underneath modern Antarctic ice sheets suggests that basal meltwater has an important influence on ice stream flow. Swath bathymetry surveys from previously…Read more on Paleo ice flow and subglacial meltwater dynamics in Pine Island Bay, West Antarctica
7 February, 2013 by Robert Mulvaney
Volcanism is a natural climate forcing causing short-term variations in temperatures. Histories of volcanic eruptions are needed to quantify their role in climate variability and assess human impacts. We present…6 February, 2013 by Anna Jones, Eric Wolff, Neil Brough
To probe the spatial extent of tropospheric ozone depletion events during Antarctic spring, a network of 10 autonomous ozone monitors was established around the Dronning Maud Land sector of Antarctica…1 February, 2013 by Anna Jones, Neil Brough
There are few observations of speciated inorganic bromine in polar regions against which to test current theory. Here we report the first high temporal resolution measurements of Br2, BrCl and…Read more on High temporal resolution Br2, BrCl and BrO observations in coastal Antarctica
1 February, 2013 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter
Inter-ice stream areas cover significant portions of Antarctica's formerly glaciated shelves, but have been largely neglected in past geological studies because of overprinting by iceberg scours. Here, we present results…1 February, 2013 by Keith Nicholls
Under ice measurements by seals carrying a miniaturized conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) instrument fill an important gap in existing observations. Here the authors present data from an instrumented Weddell seal that spent…Read more on Wintertime water mass modification near an Antarctic ice front
1 February, 2013 by Keith Makinson
As Antarctic subglacial lake research progresses to in situ exploration an important topic is the lake’s probable gas concentration. Depending on hydrological setting, subglacial lakes may contain large amounts of…Read more on Estimating and managing blowout risk during access to subglacial Antarctic lakes
1 February, 2013 by Peter Convey
Bryophytes exhibit a decline in species richness with latitude across the sub-Antarctic islands, Antarctic Peninsula and Antarctic continent, but not within the Antarctic continent itself. We analyzed diversity and biogeographic…Read more on Diversity trends of Bryophytes in continental Antarctica
1 February, 2013 by Kevin Newsham
We investigated the effects of increased soil temperature, water and nutrient availability on soil bacterial communities at Wynn Knolls on Signy Island (60 °S) in the northern maritime Antarctic and…1 February, 2013 by Victoria Peck
The delivery of ice-rafted debris (IRD) from glaciated margins is a function of ice sheet dynamics. Shifts in supply and sourcing of IRD can therefore identify episodes of ice sheet…1 February, 2013 by Roger Worland, Melody Clark
The Arctic springtail, Megaphorura arctica, survives sub-zero temperatures in a dehydrated state via trehalose-dependent cryoprotective dehydration. Regulation of trehalose biosynthesis is complex; based in part on studies in yeast and…1 February, 2013 by Kevin Hughes, Michael Thorne, Roger Worland, Peter Convey
Antarctica is the continent least affected by invasive species, but climate change and increasing human activity are increasing this threat. Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems generally have low biodiversity with simple community…1 February, 2013 by Norman Ratcliffe, Philip Trathan
Krill consumption by natural predators represents a critical link between surveys and models of standing krill biomass and the design of a sustainable krill fishery for the Scotia Sea. Antarctic…1 February, 2013 by Helen Peat, Peter Convey
A small, inconspicuous lichen, Acarospora cf. badiofusca, was discovered colonizing ironstained quartz mica schists on the lower slope of Manhaul Rock, a recently exposed nunatak on the McLeod Glacier, Signy…Read more on Iron localization in Acarospora colonizing schist on Signy Island
1 February, 2013 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse
Ophiuroids are a conspicuous and often dominant component of the Antarctic continental shelf benthos. Here we report on the ophiuroids collected from the Burdwood Bank, off the Patagonian Shelf, through…Read more on Observations of the ophiuroids from the West Antarctic sector of the Southern Ocean
1 February, 2013
Despite the general view that the Antarctic intertidal conditions are too extreme to support obvious signs of macrofaunal life, recent studies have shown that intertidal communities can survive over annual…Read more on Zonation in a cryptic Antarctic intertidal macrofaunal community
30 January, 2013 by Andrew Meijers, Emily Shuckburgh, Jean-Baptiste Sallee, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
An assessment of the fifth Coupled Models Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) models' simulation of the near-surface westerly wind jet position and strength over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific sectors of the…30 January, 2013 by Simeon Hill
• The global summit on nutrition, health and human behaviour (GSNHHB) identified the objective of increasing “the availability of long chain Omega‐3 (especially docosahexaenoic acid) for human consumption in a…28 January, 2013
I review the hierarchy of approaches to complex systems, focusing particularly on stochastic equations. I discuss how the main models advocated by the late Benoit Mandelbrot fit into this classification,…24 January, 2013 by Emilie Capron, Eric Wolff, Robert Mulvaney
Efforts to extract a Greenland ice core with a complete record of the Eemian interglacial (130,000 to 115,000 years ago) have until now been unsuccessful. The response of the Greenland…Read more on Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core
24 January, 2013 by Jaume Forcada, Michael Thorne, Philip Trathan
Background Transcriptomes are powerful resources, providing a window on the expressed portion of the genome that can be generated rapidly and at low cost for virtually any organism. However, because…21 January, 2013 by Kevin Hughes
Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) represent the highest level of area protection within the Antarctic Treaty area. To reduce environmental impacts, ASPA visitors must comply with the Area's management plan…