1 January, 2011 by Kevin Hughes
To understand fully the risk of biological invasions, it is necessary to quantify propagule pressure along all introduction pathways. In the Antarctic region, importation of fresh produce is a potentially…1 January, 2011 by Richard Phillips
The long breeding period and high reproductive investment of seabirds make use of resource-rich foraging areas pivotal both during and between breeding seasons. We tracked adult Australasian Gannets (Morus serrator)…1 January, 2011 by David Barnes, Peter Convey
The available literature on marine debris and its impacts in the sub-Antarctic Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula and on the coasts of Antarctica was organized and interpreted here. A total of…Read more on Plastics in the Antarctic environment: Are we looking only at the tip of the iceberg?
1 January, 2011 by Joanne Johnson, Stephen Roberts
The northeast Antarctic Peninsula (NEAP) region is currently showing signs of significant environmental change, evidenced by acceleration of glacial retreat and collapse of both Larsen-A and -B ice shelves within…1 January, 2011 by Michael Rose
This paper details the design of a novel thermoelectric energy harvesting device, capable of powering sea-ice instrumentation during the polar winter, when other sources of energy are either unavailable or…Read more on Powering sea-ice instrumentation via the Seebeck Effect
1 January, 2011 by Thomas Bracegirdle
On the basis of ERA40 and NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis (NNR) and simulations from CCCma, CCSM, CSIRO, HadCM3, MIROC-MEDRES and GFDL, which support the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment…1 January, 2011 by David Barnes, Huw Griffiths
The Antarctic continental slope spans the depths from the shelf break (usually between 500 and 1000 m) to not, vert, similar3000 m, is very steep, overlain by ‘warm’ (2–2.5 °C)…Read more on Is there a distinct continental slope fauna in the Antarctic?
1 January, 2011 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
The water-ice-rich north polar layered deposits (NPLD) of Mars play a key role in the Martian climate through an active exchange of water vapor with the atmosphere. Conditions are not…1 January, 2011 by David Vaughan
Sea level rise, especially combined with possible changes in storm surges and increased river discharge resulting from climate change, poses a major threat in low-lying river deltas. In this study…1 January, 2011 by Hilmar Gudmundsson, Keith Makinson
We report on three GPS records of flow of the Larsen C Ice Shelf, spanning 2 months to 2 years. Variations in speed are evident at periods from a few…Read more on Nonlinear interaction between ocean tides and the Larsen C Ice Shelf system
1 January, 2011 by Amelie Kirchgaessner
A recent study on cloud observations reports an increase in total cloud cover at Faraday/Vernadsky since 1960 in the annual and wintertime data. The aim of this present study is…Read more on An analysis of precipitation data from the Antarctic base Faraday/Vernadsky
1 January, 2011
Migratory land birds perform extreme endurance flights when crossing ecological barriers, such as deserts, oceans and ice-caps. When travelling over benign areas, birds are expected to migrate by shorter flight…Read more on Great flights by great snipes: long and fast non-stop migration over benign habitats
1 January, 2011 by Jonathan Shanklin
The Antarctic ozone hole of 2010 is reviewed from a variety of perspectives, making use of various data and analyses. Based on total column ozone metrics, the 2010 ozone hole…1 January, 2011 by Richard Phillips
Seabirds in seasonal environments are often long-distance migrants and, for many species and populations, their ranges throughout the non-breeding period are unknown. As conditions during the non-breeding season often affect…1 January, 2011 by Peter Convey
Various microbial groups are well known to produce a range of extracellular enzymes and other secondary metabolites. However, the occurrence and importance of investment in such activities have received relatively…1 January, 2011 by Lloyd Peck, Simon Morley
Factors determining thermal niche separation of two sympatric infaunal bivalves (Laternula truncata and L. boschasina) occurring in a Singapore mangrove were examined by comparing experienced microhabitat temperature with the thermal…1 January, 2011 by Richard Phillips
Knowledge of the dynamics of long-distance migrations of pelagic seabirds is limited. Recent advances in tracking technology have yielded detailed, continuous accounts of the movements of individual seabirds over large…Read more on Dynamics of seasonal movements by a trans-Pacific migrant, the Westland petrel
1 January, 2011 by Eric Wolff
We have compiled 37 ice, marine and terrestrial palaeoclimate records covering the last 800 000 years in order to assess the pattern of glacial and interglacial strength, and termination amplitude.…1 January, 2011 by Jean-Baptiste Sallee
This study examines the subduction of the Subantarctic Mode Water in the Indian Ocean in an ocean–atmosphere coupled model in which the ocean component is eddy permitting. The purpose is…1 January, 2011
Snow distribution is a dominating factor in sea-ice mass balance in the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica, through its roles in insulating the ice and contributing to snow-ice production. The wind has…1 January, 2011 by Anna Jones, Eric Wolff, Louise Sime
We know from the ice record that the concentration of atmospheric methane, [CH4], at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was roughly half that in the pre-industrial era (PI), buthow much…1 January, 2011 by Anna Jones, Eric Wolff, Louise Sime
The ice-core record of the carbon-13 content of atmospheric methane (δ13CH4) has largely been used to constrain past changes in methane sources. The aim of this paper is to explore,…1 January, 2011 by Thomas Bracegirdle
The sensitivity of the intensity of polar lows to changes in the sea-surface temperature (SST) is investigated. This is done by using an axisymmetric non-hydrostatic numerical model. It is found…Read more on Limited polar low sensitivity to sea-surface temperature
1 January, 2011 by Hua Lu
We have studied the characterization of the 11-year solar cycle (SC) signals in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) during the winter and spring using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)…1 January, 2011 by Philip Leat
Electron microprobe analyses are presented for phenocrysts and matrix glass in peralkaline, silica-oversaturated trachytes from the Menengai volcano, Kenya Rift Valley. The dominant phenocryst assemblage is alkali feldspar–hedenbergite–fayalite–titanomagnetite–apatite. Aenigmatite, amphibole…1 January, 2011 by Janet Silk, Richard Phillips, Vsevolod Afanasyev
Despite the recent burgeoning in predator tracking studies, few report on seabird activity patterns, despite the potential to provide important insights into foraging ecology and distribution. In the first year-round…1 January, 2011 by Adrian Jenkins, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Holland
An isopycnic coordinate ocean circulation model is applied to the ocean cavity beneath Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, investigating the role of tides on sub-ice shelf circulation and ice shelf basal mass…Read more on Influence of tides on melting and freezing beneath Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica
1 January, 2011
In October 2003 a campaign on board the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis had the objective to validate standard Aqua Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) sea-ice products. Additionally, the satellite laser…1 January, 2011 by Chester Sands, Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
We assessed the available morphological evidence to see if this corroborates the paraphyly in the Parachela (Tardigrada) as suggested by recent molecular data. We reconcile molecular phylogenetics with alpha morphology,…Read more on Phylum Tardigrada: A re-evaluation of the Parachela
1 January, 2011 by Gareth Marshall
This study examines regional atmospheric circulation changes associated with a reversal in the sign of the relationship between the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and near-surface temperatures at Halley station, East…1 January, 2011 by Louise Sime
We compare the present and last interglacial periods as recorded in Antarctic water stable isotope records now available at various temporal resolutions from six East Antarctic ice cores: Vostok, Taylor…Read more on A comparison of the present and last interglacial periods in six Antarctic ice cores
1 January, 2011
Lubchenco challenges scientists to: ‘‘ address the most urgent needs of society, in proportion to their importance; communicate their knowledge and understanding widely in order to inform decisions of individuals…1 January, 2011 by Peter Convey
The springtail Gomphiocephalus hodgsoni (Arthropoda: Collembola) has been the focus of extensive ecophysiological and molecular genetic work and is now arguably the most well-studied of the continental Antarctic springtails. Here,…1 January, 2011 by Povl Abrahamsen, Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), the densest water in the global overturning circulation, has warmed in recent decades, most notably in the Atlantic. Time series recorded within the boundary currents immediately…1 January, 2011 by Keith Nicholls, Michael Meredith
A serendipitous > 8-month time series of hydrographic properties was obtained from the vicinity of the South Orkney Islands, Southern Ocean, by tagging a southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonine) on…1 January, 2011
The ecology of Earth's first large organisms is an unsolved problem in palaeontology. This experience report discusses the determination of which ecosystems could have been feasible, by considering the biological…1 January, 2011 by Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark, Simon Morley
The limpet, Nacella concinna, collected from the Antarctic Peninsula (67 S), was incubated at -0.3 degrees C and 2.9 degrees C for 9 months to test if the previously reported…1 January, 2011 by Peter Convey
It has long been maintained that the majority of terrestrial Antarctic species are relatively recent, post last glacial maximum, arrivals with perhaps a few microbial or protozoan taxa being substantially…1 January, 2011
Delayed sleep phase (and sometimes free-run) is common in the Antarctic winter (no natural sunlight) and optimizing the artificial light conditions is desirable. This project evaluated sleep when using 17…1 January, 2011 by Andy Smith, Andrew Tait, Dominic Hodgson, David Pearce, Ed King, Hugh Corr, Keith Makinson, Linda Capper, Rachel Clarke, Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
The direct measurement and sampling of Ellsworth Subglacial Lake is a multidisciplinary investigation of life in extreme environments and West Antarctic ice sheet history. The project's aims are (1) to…Read more on Probe technology for the direct measurement and sampling of Ellsworth Subglacial Lake
1 January, 2011 by David Newnham, David Maxfield, Mark Clilverd, Richard Horne
We report the first ground-based passive microwave observations made from Troll station, Antarctica, which show enhanced mesospheric nitric oxide (NO) volume mixing ratio reaching levels of 1.2 ppmv, or 2–3…1 January, 2011 by Kevin Newsham
P>Dark septate endophytes (DSE) frequently colonize roots in the natural environment, but the effects of these fungi on plants are obscure, with previous studies indicating negative, neutral or positive effects…Read more on A meta-analysis of plant responses to dark septate root endophytes
1 January, 2011 by Kevin Newsham
Previous studies have shown the leafy liverwort Cephaloziella varians to associate consistently with fungi, typically the ericoid mycorrhizal symbiont Rhizoscyphus ericae, across a wide latitudinal gradient in the maritime and…1 January, 2011
Radar studies of firn on the ice sheets have revealed complex folds on its internal layering that form from the interplay of snow accumulation and ice flow. A mathematical theory…1 January, 2011 by Melody Clark, Simon Morley
Animal physiology, ecology and evolution are affected by temperature and it is expected that community structure will be strongly influenced by global warming. This is particularly relevant in the tropics,…Read more on Upper temperature limits of tropical marine ectotherms: global warming implications
1 January, 2011 by Vsevolod Afanasyev
Ten geolocators (light-level data loggers) were attached to Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) at a breeding site in the northeastern USA in 2007 and 2008; six were retrieved (five with useful…Read more on Migrations and winter quarters of five common terns tracked using geolocators
1 January, 2011 by David Barnes, Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark, Simon Morley
The Antarctic intertidal zone is one of the world's most extreme marine environments. As well as having a typically high annual temperature variation (~ 30 °C), it is affected by…Read more on Antarctic intertidal limpet ecophysiology: a winter-summer comparison
1 January, 2011 by Stephen Roberts
Quantitative climate reconstructions are fundamental to understand long-term trends in natural climate variability and to test climate models used to predict future climate change. Recent advances in molecular geochemistry have…1 January, 2011 by Lloyd Peck
There is great concern currently over environmental change and the biotic responses, actual or potential, to that change. There is also great concern over biodiversity and the observed losses to…Read more on Organisms and responses to environmental change
1 January, 2011 by Dominic Hodgson, Peter Convey
Cultivation techniques were used to study the heterotrophic bacterial diversity in two microbial mat samples originating from the littoral zone of two continental Antarctic lakes (Forlidas Pond and Lundstrom Lake)…1 January, 2011 by Richard Phillips
Considerable attention has focused on inter- and intraspecific variation in trophic niches of marine predators. Although this has revealed evidence for sexual segregation in distribution in some species, few studies…1 January, 2011 by Richard Phillips
Gadfly petrels are strictly oceanic seabirds that range very far from their breeding grounds. Foraging movements outside the breeding season are poorly described. We used global location sensing (GLS) to…1 January, 2011 by Michael Meredith
Antarctic coastal waters undergo major physical alterations during summer. Increased temperatures induce sea-ice melting and glacial melt water input, leading to strong stratification of the upper water column. We investigated…1 January, 2011 by Alistair Crame
We report on the discovery of a new outcrop of fossiliferous Neogene sediments on northern James Ross Island, northern Antarctic Peninsula. Approximately 100 specimens of the pectinid bivalve Austrochlamys anderssoni…1 January, 2011 by Geraint Tarling
We study the composition and biophysical properties of wax esters extracted from the Antarctic copepod, Calanoides acutus, to explore if these factors adjust buoyancy in diapausing copepods. Levels of wax…Read more on Phase transitions of wax esters adjust buoyancy in diapausing Calanoides acutus
1 January, 2011 by Peter Ward
Fatty acid biomarker analysis of the Cyclopoid copepods Oithona similis and Oithona frigida sampled from the Southern Ocean during the austral summer has indicated differences in diet between the two…Read more on Importance of diatoms for Oithona in Antarctic waters
1 January, 2011 by Roger Worland
The Arctic springtail Megaphorura arctica (Tullberg, 1876) employs a strategy known as cryoprotective dehydration to survive winter temperatures as low as -25 degrees C. During cryoprotective dehydration, water is lost…1 January, 2011 by Martin Collins
We review information from scientific trawl surveys carried out between 1977 and 2002 in the Porcupine Seabight and Abyssal Plain area of the Northeast Atlantic (240-4865 m water depth). Since…1 January, 2011 by Andrew Fleming, Hamish Pritchard
Satellite remote sensing has come to dominate the measurement of glacier and ice-sheet change. Three independent methods now exist for assessing ice-sheet mass balance and we focus on progress in…Read more on Understanding ice-sheet mass balance: progress in satellite altimetry and gravimetry
1 January, 2011
Diatom-rich sediments are common in several oceanic regions, especially the Southern Ocean. Some of these are strongly affected by bottom currents and are expected to be sorted by the flow.…1 January, 2011 by Roger Worland, Melody Clark
Cold hardiness in the Arctic Collembola Megaphorura arctica (Tullberg), formerly Onychiurus arcticus, has been the subject of extensive studies over the last decade. This species employs an unusual strategy known…1 January, 2011 by Hilmar Gudmundsson
The determination of basal properties on ice streams from surface data is formulated as a Bayesian statistical inference problem. The theory is applied to a flowline on Rutford Ice Stream,…1 January, 2011 by Richard Phillips
Pelagic seabirds are highly mobile, reducing the likelihood of allopatric speciation where disruption of gene flow between populations is caused by physically insurmountable, extrinsic barriers. Spatial segregation during the non-breeding…1 January, 2011 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Robert Larter
Sediment cores from cross-shelf troughs on the NE Antarctic Peninsula shelf recovered tills with variable shear strengths that represent different subglacial depositional regimes. In addition to detailed qualitative micromorphological descriptions,…1 January, 2011 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Robert Larter
Acoustic sub-bottom profiler surveys on the northeast Antarctic Peninsula shelf indicate that parts of the seabed are underlain by an acoustically transparent layer that is thin on the inner shelf…1 January, 2011 by Anje-Margriet Neutel
Global and regional climate models, such as those used in IPCC assessments, are the best tools available for climate predictions. Such models typically account for large-scale land-atmosphere feedbacks. However, these…Read more on Local ecosystem feedbacks and critical transitions in the climate
1 January, 2011 by David Vaughan, Hugh Corr
We assess basal roughness beneath Pine Island Glacier (PIG), West Antarctica, based on a recent airborne radio-echo sounding dataset. We identify a clear relationship between faster ice flow and decreased…Read more on The basal roughness of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica
1 January, 2011
The diets of Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni and Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides were examined around the South Sandwich Islands in the Southern Ocean, one of few regions with overlapping populations…1 January, 2011 by Dominic Hodgson, Stephen Roberts
The recent disintegration of Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves, and the associated accelerated discharge and retreat of continental glaciers, has highlighted the necessity of quantifying the current rate of Antarctic ice…1 January, 2011 by Howard Roscoe
Previous work showed a near-continuous increase in stratospheric water vapour between the 1950s and 1990s from a variety of instruments, without recourse to fits between instruments. We reassess the trend…Read more on Revisiting the lower stratospheric water vapour trend from the 1950s to 1970s
1 January, 2011 by Andy Smith, Andrew Tait, Dominic Hodgson, David Pearce, Ed King, Hugh Corr, Keith Makinson, Linda Capper, Rachel Clarke, Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Ellsworth Subglacial Lake, first observed in airborne radio echo sounding data acquired in 1978, is located within a long, deep subglacial trough within the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands of West Antarctica.…1 January, 2011 by Andy Smith, Ed King, Hugh Corr, Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
We analyze Holocene ice flow using global positioning system and radio-echo sounding data acquired near the Amundsen-Weddell ice divide, between Pine Island Glacier and the Institute Ice Stream, West Antarctica.…Read more on Holocene stability of the Amundsen-Weddell ice divide, West Antarctica
1 January, 2011
Understanding the connectivity between breeding and nonbreeding populations of migratory birds is fundamental to our knowledge of biological phenomena such as population dynamics and dispersal. Moreover, our ability to quantify…1 January, 2011
Surface cross-stream eddy diffusion in the Southern Ocean is estimated by monitoring dispersion of particles numerically advected with observed satellite altimetry velocity fields. To gain statistical significance and accuracy in…Read more on Mean-flow and topographic control on surface eddy-mixing in the Southern Ocean
1 January, 2011 by Jean-Baptiste Sallee
The divergence of the eddy mass flux in the surface layer of the Southern Ocean makes an important contribution to subduction of fluid through the base of the mixed layer.…Read more on Parameterization of eddy-induced subduction in the Southern Ocean surface-layer
1 January, 2011
We use the 3-D FinROSE chemistry transport model (CTM) and Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) observations to study connections between atmospheric dynamics and middle atmospheric NOx (NOx =…1 January, 2011
The question of whether Pliocene climate was warm enough to support a substantial vegetation cover on Antarctica is of great significance to the ongoing and controversial debate on the stability…1 January, 2011
Variscan Central Iberian Zone lamprophyre dikes cut synorogenic to late orogenic peraluminous S-type granitoids marking an important shift in regional tectonic regime from earlier, 350-290 Ma, extension-related crustal melting to…1 January, 2011 by Claire Allen, Geraint Tarling, Sophie Fielding
A compilation of more than 30 studies shows that adult Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) may frequent benthic habitats year-round, in shelf as well as oceanic waters and throughout their circumpolar…1 January, 2011 by Jonathan Shanklin
1 January, 2011 by Richard Horne
The outer radiation belt is often enhanced during storms while the inner belt is usually considered to be unaffected by geomagnetic activity. During the most recent Halloween superstorms, the extreme…Read more on Profound change of the near-Earth radiation environment caused by solar superstorms
1 January, 2011 by Emily Shuckburgh
The modulation of air-sea heat fluxes by geostrophic eddies due to the stirring of temperature at the sea surface is discussed and quantified. It is argued that the damping of…Read more on Mixed layer lateral eddy fluxes mediated by air-sea interaction
1 January, 2011 by Eric Wolff, Louise Sime
The resemblance of the orbitally filtered isotope signal from the past 340 kyr in Antarctic ice cores to Northern Hemisphere summer insolation intensity has been used to suggest that the…1 January, 2011 by Hugh Corr, Louise Sime, Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
We present a novel automated processing method for obtaining layer dip from radio-echo sounding (RES) data. The method is robust, easily applicable and can be used to process large (several…Read more on Automated processing to derive dip angles of englacial radar reflectors in ice sheets
1 January, 2011 by David Barnes, Lloyd Peck
Significant warming has been observed in every ocean, yet our ability to predict the consequences of oceanic warming on marine biodiversity remains poor. Experiments have been severely limited because, until…Read more on Turning on the heat: ecological response to simulated warming in the sea
1 January, 2011
Late Miocene (c. 13-5 Ma) volcanic sequences of the Hallett Volcanic Province (HVP) crop out along > 250 km of western Ross Sea coast in northern Victoria Land. Eight primary…1 January, 2011 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter
The Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) drains approximately 35% of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and is one of the most rapidly changing parts of the cryosphere. In order to…Read more on Deglacial history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the western Amundsen Sea Embayment
1 January, 2011
The study of Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) is gaining an increasingly im-portant role within the geophysical community. Understanding the response of the Earth to loading is crucial in various contexts,…Read more on A benchmark study for glacial-isostatic adjustment codes
1 January, 2011
The 2007 International Polar Year (IPY) in the Antarctic was distinguished by strong regional and seasonal ice-atmosphere-ocean anomalies associated with an overall weakening of the prevailing westerly circulation. Here we…1 January, 2011 by Iain Staniland, Jaume Forcada
We compared Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella breeding at 2 contrasting sites on South Georgia: one high density colony at Bird Island and one lower density colony at Cooper Bay.…1 January, 2011 by Robert Mulvaney
Ice-core records of climate from Greenland and Antarctica show asynchronous temperature variations on millennial timescales during the last glacial period(1). The warming during the transition from glacial to interglacial conditions…1 January, 2011
Rhyolite eruptions in Iceland mostly take place at long-lived central volcanoes, examples of which are found associated with each of the present-day rift-zone ice caps. Subglacial eruptions at Kerlingarfjöll central…Read more on Explosive rhyolite tuya formation: classic examples from Kerlingarfjoll, Iceland