Showing 13487 items
20 December, 2024 by Kate Hendry
Accelerated mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet leads to retreating glaciers and enhanced freshwater runoff to adjacent coastal regions, potentially providing additional essential nutrients, such as silicon, to downstream…19 December, 2024 by Andrew Meijers
Recent Antarctic sea-ice decline is a substantial source of concern, notably the record low in 2023 (ref. 1 ). Progress has been made towards establishing the causes of ice loss…Read more on Record-low Antarctic sea ice in 2023 increased ocean heat loss and storms
19 December, 2024 by Jonathan Adams, Joanne Johnson, Stephen Roberts
Constraining past West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) change helps validate numerical models simulating future ice sheet dynamics. Following rapid deglaciation during the mid-Holocene, ice near Thwaites Glacier was ∼35 m…17 December, 2024 by Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert, Thomas Daggitt
The density of low energy charged particles trapped in Earth's magnetic field can influence how higher energy trapped electrons are affected by natural radio waves within the magnetic field. We…17 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Despite increasing awareness of the threats they pose, exotic species continue to arrive in Antarctica with anthropogenic assistance, some of which inevitably have the potential to become aggressively invasive. Here,…17 December, 2024 by Xu Zhang
The Southern Ocean plays a key role in atmospheric CO2 sequestration, accounting for ~40-50% of the anthropogenic CO2 absorbed by the modern ocean (Landschützer et al., 2015; Gruber et al.,…17 December, 2024 by Lloyd Peck
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an emerging tool that could be leveraged to identify the effective conservation solutions demanded by the urgent biodiversity crisis. We present the results of our horizon…Read more on The potential for AI to revolutionize conservation: a horizon scan
16 December, 2024 by Tracy Moffat-Griffin
During austral winter, the southern high latitudes has some of the most intense stratospheric gravity wave (GW) activity globally. However, producing accurate representations of GW dynamics in this region in…15 December, 2024 by Anne-Pia Marty, Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark
The Antarctic seabed harbors significant biodiversity, and almost 90% of oceanic environments are permanently below 5 °C (i.e., deep sea and polar regions). However, organisms whose entire lifecycle occurs around…13 December, 2024 by Nigel Meredith
Auroral precipitation is the second major energy source after solar irradiation that ionizes the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Diffuse electron aurora caused by wave-particle interaction in the inner magnetosphere (L <…11 December, 2024 by Elizabeth Collingwood, Gareth Marshall, Hua Lu, John King
Improvement of subseasonal to seasonal North Atlantic winter forecasting requires better prediction of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the dominant mode of variability in the Northern Hemisphere. Despite recent research…Read more on Meridional Wind in the Upper Stratosphere: A Source of Winter NAO Predictability
10 December, 2024 by Jack Humby
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent anthropogenic contaminants, some of which are toxic and bioaccumulative. Perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFSAs) can form during the atmospheric…8 December, 2024 by Chester Sands, George Foot, Kevin Newsham, Will Goodall-Copestake
The occurrence of mycothalli, symbioses between liverworts and fungi bearing similarities to mycorrhizas, is poorly documented in sub-Antarctica, and biogeographical patterns in Serendipita, one of the main fungal genera forming…Read more on A cosmopolitan Serendipita forms mycothalli with sub-Antarctic leafy liverworts
7 December, 2024 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne
Relativistic electrons cause internal charging on satellites and are a significant space weather hazard. In this study we analyze approximately 20 years of data from the US Global Positioning System…Read more on Strong Relativistic Electron Flux Events in GPS orbit
6 December, 2024 by Emma Woodfield, Richard Horne
An abundant multi-MeV electron population beyond the orbit of Io is required to explain the intense inner radiation belt (electrons >50 MeV) at Jupiter and its synchrotron radiation. In order…6 December, 2024 by Emma Woodfield, Richard Horne
The spatial distribution of whistler-mode wave emissions in the Jovian magnetosphere measured during the first 45 perijove orbits of Juno is investigated. A double-belt structure in whistler-mode wave intensity is…Read more on Jupiter’s Whistler-mode Belts and Electron Slot Region
6 December, 2024 by Beverley Ager, Kevin Hughes
Antarctica is governed through consensus-based decision-making by the 29 Consultative Parties to the Antarctic Treaty. Another 28 ‘non-Consultative Parties’ have acceded to the Treaty and agreed to be bound by…5 December, 2024 by Caroline Holmes, Jeremy Wilkinson, Paul Holland, Thomas Bracegirdle
Most climate models do not reproduce the 1979–2014 increase in Antarctic sea ice cover. This was a contributing factor in successive Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports allocating low confidence…5 December, 2024 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is Earth's largest current flowing around Antarctica at all depths and connecting major ocean basins, thus representing an important component of Earth's climate. However, the…4 December, 2024 by Katrin Linse
Understanding how ecological, environmental and geographic features influence population genetic patterns provides crucial insights into a species' evolutionary history, as well as their vulnerability or resilience under climate change. In…4 December, 2024 by Lloyd Peck
We discuss the outcomes of our 16th horizon scan of issues that are novel or represent a considerable step-change and have the potential to substantially affect conservation of biological diversity…Read more on A horizon scan of biological conservation issues for 2025
3 December, 2024 by Michael Meredith
High-latitude pelagic marine ecosystems are vulnerable to climate change because of the intertwining of sea/continental ice dynamics, physics, biogeochemistry, and food-web structure. Data from the West Antarctic Peninsula allow us…Read more on Antarctic pelagic ecosystems on a warming planet
2 December, 2024 by Jakob Thyrring, Lloyd Peck
The availability of online biodiversity data has increased in recent decades, aiding our understanding of diversity patterns and species richness–environment relationships across temporal and spatial scales. However, even the most…2 December, 2024 by Richard Phillips
Knowledge of how animals respond to weather and changes in their physical environment is increasingly important, given the higher frequency of extreme weather recorded in recent years and its forecasted…Read more on Strong winds reduce foraging success in albatrosses
2 December, 2024 by Huw Griffiths, Stephen Roberts
The Arctic is undergoing dramatic changes, including an unprecedented decline in sea ice. Previous studies have shown the severe structuring impact of sea ice scour upon polar intertidal communities. A…2 December, 2024 by Simon Morley
The Antarctic marine environment has a unique geologic and climatic history that has contributed to the evolution of high species diversity. Given the current trend of environmental warming, understanding the…1 December, 2024 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith
Although over 600 Antarctic subglacial lakes have been identified using radar and satellite observations, the bathymetry and bed properties, which are key to understanding conditions within the lake, have been…Read more on Bathymetry and bed conditions of Lago Subglacial CECs, West Antarctica
1 December, 2024 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Ronan Agnew
We present seismic measurements of the firn column at Korff Ice Rise, West Antarctica, including measurements of compressional-wave velocity and attenuation. We describe a modified spectral-ratio method of measuring the…1 December, 2024 by Jeremy Wilkinson
A major consideration for maritime activity in the Southern Hemisphere is the northern limit of icebergs, or the Southern Ocean Limit Of Known Ice (SOLOKI). This analysis of historical reports…1 December, 2024 by Liz Thomas
Stable water isotope records of six firn cores retrieved from two adjacent plateaus on the northern Antarctic Peninsula between 2014 and 2016 are presented and investigated for their connections with…1 December, 2024 by Kevin Newsham
The surface temperatures of Antarctic soils and bryophyte colonies can fluctuate from close to freezing point to approximately 20 °C under clear skies around solar noon during midsummer. However, whether diurnally…Read more on Diurnal temperature fluctuation inhibits the growth of an Antarctic fungus
1 December, 2024 by Cameron Fox-Clarke, Camille Toscani, Claire Stainfield, Jaume Forcada
Immune defenses are crucial for survival but costly to develop and maintain. Increased immune investment is therefore hypothesized to trade-off with other life-history traits. Here, we examined innate and adaptive…1 December, 2024
Background - Assessing the historical dynamics of key food web components is crucial to understand how climate change impacts the structure of Arctic marine ecosystems. Most retrospective stable isotopic studies…Read more on Insights on long-term ecosystem changes from stable isotopes in historical squid beaks
1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Species arrival sequence in new habitats impacts plant community development. This ‘priority-effect’ is documented, but mechanisms by which early arriving plants dominate future communities are less clear, complicating our ability…1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Microalgae are gaining considerable attention in the field of cosmeceuticals due to their unique profile. In particular, the diverse range of valuable bioactive compounds isolated from microalgae are known to…1 December, 2024 by Gaelle Veyssiere, Jeremy Wilkinson
Salt is often present in the snow overlying seasonal sea ice, and has profound thermodynamic and electromagnetic effects. However, its provenance and behaviour within the snow remain uncertain. We describe…1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Recent studies have demonstrated the presence of fungal taxa in the extreme ecosystems of Antarctica that are known to opportunistically infect humans and animals. Among these are members of the…1 December, 2024 by Alexandra Weiss, Daniel Beeden, Thomas Lachlan-Cope
The THINICE field campaign, based from Svalbard in August 2022, provided unique observations of summertime Arctic cyclones, their coupling with cloud cover, and interactions with tropopause polar vortices and sea…1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Arctic terrestrial invertebrate biodiversity is generally poorly known, but the archipelago of Svalbard has one of the most up-to-date inventories of its terrestrial and freshwater faunas of any Arctic region,…1 December, 2024 by Kevin Newsham
1. Wildfires are important natural disturbances with profound ecological impacts. However, our understanding of how to restore plant–soil microbiome interactions following wildfires remains limited, revealing a key knowledge gap in…1 December, 2024 by Keith Nicholls
The increase in iceberg discharge into the polar oceans highlights the importance of understanding how quickly icebergs are deteriorating and where the resulting freshwater injection is occurring. Recent advances in…1 December, 2024 by Ingrid Cnossen
The climate of the upper atmosphere, including the mesosphere, thermosphere and ionosphere, is changing. As data records are much more limited than in the lower atmosphere and solar variability becomes…1 December, 2024 by Claire Allen, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
Approximately 1,250,000 to 700,000 years ago, the pacing of glacial-interglacial cycles changed from 41,000 years to ∼100,000 years, a shift known as the ‘Mid-Pleistocene Transition’ (MPT). The cause – or…1 December, 2024 by Clara Manno, Emily Rowlands
The Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) play a critical role in promoting the so-called "blue carbon pathway" by producing a large amount of fast-sinking faecal pellets (FPs) which facilitate the transport…1 December, 2024 by Caroline Holmes, Hua Lu, Thomas Caton Harrison, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
In this study, available large ensemble datasets in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Phase 6 (CMIP6) archive were used to provide the first multi-variate overview of the evolution of extreme seasons…Read more on Antarctic extreme seasons under 20th and 21st century climate change
1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Wounds are generally caused by an injury to the skin such as a cut or a puncture. They can be considered in two groups, acute and chronic wounds. Poor wound…1 December, 2024 by Peter Convey
Interactions between a host organism and its associated microbiota, including symbiotic bacteria, play a crucial role in host adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Antarctica provides a unique environment for the…Read more on Wolbachia in Antarctic invertebrates: absent or undiscovered?
1 December, 2024 by Kate Hendry
Greenland's fjord ecosystems are strongly influenced by meltwater discharge from glaciers. Marine-terminating glaciers can significantly enhance primary production during the melt season (compared to land-terminating glaciers), but their impact on…1 December, 2024 by Jonathan Rosser
The Earth’s climate is a complex system including key components such as the Arctic Summer Sea Ice and the El Niño Southern Oscillation alongside climate tipping elements including polar ice…1 December, 2024 by Alex Brisbourne
Early borehole and surface distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) experiments have demonstrated the viability of the method in glacial settings and allowed new insights.29 November, 2024 by Adrian Fox, Ashley Bennison, Jamie Coleman, Louise Ireland, Martin Collins, Nathan Fenney, Philip Hollyman, Philip Trathan
Drones are being increasingly used to monitor wildlife populations; their large spatial coverage and minimal disturbance make them ideal for use in remote environments where access and time are limited.…29 November, 2024 by Peter Convey
Addressing the ever-increasing challenge of diseases is a never-ending struggle for humankind. While many therapeutic drugs are known, the rate of discovery or, alternatively, adoption into the clinical market, has…Read more on Chapter 36: Biomedical applications of algal-based products
28 November, 2024 by Alistair Crame
During an unexpected heatwave, just over 100 scientists, from more than 15 different countries attended 'Bivalves 2023–Where are we going?' held at the University of Cambridge (UK) between 5 and…Read more on Bivalves 2023—Where are we going? An overview of an international meeting
28 November, 2024 by Jennifer Jackson
The post-exploitation recovery of the south-west Atlantic southern right whale (SRW, Eubalaena australis) population has been affected by widespread calf mortalities, resulting in the development of an International Whaling Commission…26 November, 2024 by Martin Collins
Biologging has been used on a range of wild animals to document spectacular feats of migration and behaviour. We describe the pursuit, capture, and ingestion of an adult Atlantic bluefin…25 November, 2024 by Jeremy Wilkinson
This paper describes the overall design and recent deployments of the Heavyweight Ice Gateway Buoy (IGB-H), developed at the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory. IGB-H supports Arctic research both…Read more on Design and Field Testing of the Heavyweight Ice Gateway Buoy to Support Arctic Science
21 November, 2024 by Dominic Hodgson, Stephen Roberts
Anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emissions to the atmosphere have increased the concentration of this potent neurotoxin in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The magnitude of regional variation in atmospheric Hg pollution levels…Read more on Perspectives on using peat records to reconstruct past atmospheric Hg levels
21 November, 2024 by Jennifer Jackson
After the near-complete cessation of commercial whaling, ship collisions have emerged as a primary threat to large whales, but knowledge of collision risk is lacking across most of the world’s…Read more on Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans
21 November, 2024
Background Evolutionary divergence and genetic variation are often linked to differences in microbial community structure and diversity. While environmental factors and diet heavily influence gut microbial communities, host species contributions…Read more on The gut microbiota of three avian species living in sympatry
20 November, 2024 by Peter Convey
During a 2019 Chilean Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ECA 55) studying crustose coralline algae (CCA) diversity on the Antarctic Peninsula, bleaching of these algae was observed for the first time in…19 November, 2024 by Geraint Tarling, Ryan Saunders
Introduction: In the Southern Ocean, myctophids are the most successful pelagic fish group in terms of diversity, biomass, and abundance. They play a crucial role in linking primary consumers and…19 November, 2024 by Philip Leat
Visokoi is a small volcanic island in the remote South Sandwich Islands and is unique in being dominated by the basaltic andesite products of highly explosive eruptions. Here, its geology…18 November, 2024 by Andrew Orr, Scott Hosking, Kenza Tazi
The rivers of High-mountain Asia provide freshwater to around 1.9 billion people. However, precipitation, the main driver of river flow, is still poorly understood due to limited in situ measurements…18 November, 2024 by Liz Thomas
Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) contribute to the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) through atmospheric oxidation. Previously detected SOA-markers in northern hemisphere ice cores from Alaska, Greenland, Russia, and…16 November, 2024 by Neil Cobbett, Tracy Moffat-Griffin
Meteoroids of sub-milligram sizes burn up high in the Earth's atmosphere and cause streaks of plasma trails detectable by meteor radars. The altitude at which these trails, or meteors, form…15 November, 2024 by Louise Sime
Stable water isotopes recorded in Antarctic ice cores have traditionally been used to infer past surface air temperatures (SATs). During the historical period (1850 onward), observational data and good-quality ice…14 November, 2024 by Jennifer Jackson
Little is known about Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) movement and migration. In many baleen whales, distinct populations arose due to inherited fidelity to migration routes between breeding and…13 November, 2024 by Tom Jordan
An array of information about the Antarctic ice sheet can be extracted from ice-sheet internal architecture imaged by airborne ice-penetrating radar surveys. We identify, trace and date three key internal…12 November, 2024 by Dieter Tetzner, Dorothea Moser, Liz Thomas
Peter I Island is situated in the Bellingshausen Sea, a region that has experienced considerable climate change in recent decades. Warming sea surface temperatures and reduced sea ice cover have…12 November, 2024 by Elizabeth Pearmain, Richard Phillips
The BirdLife Seabird Tracking Database (STDB) was established in 2004 to collate tracking data to address the incidental mortality of seabirds in fisheries and to contribute to identification of sites…11 November, 2024 by Anne-Sophie Bonnet-Lebrun, Norman Ratcliffe
Aim: Ecologically similar species living in sympatry are expected to segregate to reduce the effects of competition where re-sources are limiting. Segregation from heterospecifics commonly occurs in space, but it…8 November, 2024 by Rebecca Peel, Stephen Roberts
Microplastic pollution is a growing environmental problem. Consequently, an emerging area of research is the analysis of these micro-particles, to identify the distribution and impacts of plastic in the environment.…7 November, 2024 by Millie Bond
Emission of NOx and HONO from the snowpack can have a significant impact on the oxidising capacity of the boundary layer in the polar regions. This thesis presents work that…Read more on The mysteries of reactive nitrogen species above polar snow
7 November, 2024 by Katrin Linse
The benthic biodiversity of the abyssal Labrador Sea was investigated using Agassiz trawl and in situ imagery. A megafaunal scaphopod associated with an epizoic anemone was recovered from soft sediments.…7 November, 2024 by Michael Meredith
The Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has been experiencing rapid regional warming since at least the 1950s, however, the impacts of this warming at the local scale are variable and nuanced.…6 November, 2024 by Jaume Forcada
The Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) is an important top predator and indicator of the health of the Southern Ocean ecosystem. Although abundant, this species narrowly escaped extinction due to…6 November, 2024 by Jack Humby, Robert Mulvaney
Conventional methods of inorganic impurity analysis do not provide high enough depth resolution for many scientific questions in ice core science. In this study, we present a setup of laser…5 November, 2024 by John Slattery, Louise Sime
Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) events occurred throughout the last glacial period. Greenland ice cores show a rapid warming during each stadial to interstadial transition, alongside an abrupt loss of sea ice and…1 November, 2024 by Alistair Crame, Teal Riley
The Fossil Bluff Group of eastern Alexander Island records the exceptional preservation of more than 8 km of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks deposited into an accretionary forearc basin that developed unconformably…1 November, 2024 by Alistair Crame
The superfamily Stromboidea is a clade of morphologically distinctive gastropods which include the iconic Strombidae, or ‘true conchs’. In this study, we present the most taxonomically extensive phylogeny of the…1 November, 2024 by Connor Bamford, Martin Collins, Philip Hollyman, Richard Phillips
Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) supports valuable fisheries across the Southern Ocean under the management of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The fishery at South Georgia…1 November, 2024 by Teal Riley
Helium isotopes are unrivalled tracers of the origins of melts in the Earth’s convecting mantle but their role in determining melt contributions from the shallower and rigid lithospheric mantle is…Read more on Systematic behaviour of 3He/4He in Earth’s continental mantle
1 November, 2024 by Geraint Tarling, Melody Clark
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana) is a keystone species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem, with ecological and commercial significance. However, its vulnerability to climate change requires an urgent investigation of…1 November, 2024 by Andrew Clarke, Lloyd Peck
The embryonic development of marine ectotherms has been shown to be strongly temperature dependent across the world's oceans. However, at the coldest sites, in the polar regions, development is even…1 November, 2024 by Tom Jordan, Teal Riley
The Dufek layered mafic intrusion represents the only exposed, deep-seated, part of the Ferrar Large Igneous Province, which extends >3500 km across Antarctica and into parts of Tasmania and New Zealand.…Read more on Reinvestigating the Dufek Intrusion, through joint gravity and magnetic models
1 November, 2024 by Kevin Hughes
Protection of specific species, generally through the implementation of an associated action plan, is a conservation tool used commonly in areas under national jurisdiction. The Antarctic Treaty area is under…1 November, 2024 by Alexander Tate, Alice Fremand, Helen Peat, James Byrne, Petra Ten Hoopen
This is a final report from the work undertaken by the NERC Environmental Data Service (EDS) funded by the UKRI Digital Research Programme grant: EDS UKRI DRI Phase 1b. The…1 November, 2024 by Ella Gilbert, Hua Lu, John King, Michael Haigh, Pierre Dutrieux, Ruth Price, Thomas Caton Harrison, Thomas Bracegirdle
Westerlies prevail at low levels over most of the Southern Ocean. Within about 400 km of Antarctica, the winds reverse direction and become the polar or coastal easterlies. Closer to the…Read more on Advances and Next Steps in Observing and Modeling Antarctica’s Coastal Winds
31 October, 2024 by Gareth Marshall
The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is an important pattern of Southern Hemisphere circulation variability: it accounts for between 15 and 30 or more percent of the total variability of the…31 October, 2024 by David Pearce
In this review, we delineate the unique set of characteristics associated with cryosphere environments (namely, ice and permafrost) which present both challenges and opportunities for studying ancient environmental microbiomes (AEMs).…Read more on Ancient environmental microbiomes and the cryosphere
30 October, 2024 by Hannah Cubaynes, Jaume Forcada, Peter Fretwell
Regular counts of walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) across their pan-Arctic range are necessary to determine accurate population trends and in turn understand how current rapid changes in their habitat, such as…30 October, 2024 by Antony Siahaan
A parameterization of the impact of internal waves on momentum transfer at the sea-ice–ocean interface based on previous work by McPhee has been implemented in a sea-ice model for the…26 October, 2024 by George Day
A species' demographic history gives important context to contemporary population genetics and a possible insight into past responses to climate change; with an individual's genome providing a window into the…Read more on Revealing the Demographic History of the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus)
21 October, 2024 by Louise Sime
Pleistocene Ice Ages display abrupt Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) climate oscillations that provide prime examples of Earth System tipping points—abrupt transition that may result in irreversible change. Greenland ice cores provide key…18 October, 2024 by Thomas Bracegirdle
We review how the international modelling community, encompassing integrated assessment models, global and regional Earth system and climate models, and impact models, has worked together over the past few decades…18 October, 2024 by Keith Nicholls
Bottom water formation in the Weddell Sea and mass loss from the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf are tightly linked by the supply of Warm Deep Water to the continental shelf. Heavy…17 October, 2024 by Philip Trathan
The Southern Ocean exhibits substantial spatio-temporal variation in biogeochemical processes that shape interactions and productivity across food webs. Stable isotopes in marine predators provide an opportunity to capture such variations,…17 October, 2024 by Ashley Bennison
The current highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 panzootic is having substantial impacts on wild birds and marine mammals. Following major and widespread outbreaks in South America, an incursion to Antarctica…