Found 13653 items
17 April, 2025 by Michael Meredith
This book presents a state-of-the-art overview of the role that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean play as integral parts of the Earth System. While often characterised as the last great…17 April, 2025 by Jamie Oliver, Michael Meredith
The diverse chapters in this book have each, and collectively, highlighted how Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are key features on Planet Earth, and how they exert a marked influence…17 April, 2025 by Jamie Oliver, Michael Meredith
Awe-inspiring and culturally unique, Antarctica’s remoteness and extreme conditions have long challenged exploration and understanding. Its vast ice sheet conceals secrets of ancient landscapes and harbours clues to Earth’s past…17 April, 2025 by Kevin Hughes, Michael Meredith, Rebecca Peel, Stephen Roberts
This chapter examines the historical legacy of human activities in and around Antarctica and assesses pollutants from the mid-late 20th century onwards that will have lasting impacts, potentially thousands of…17 April, 2025 by Kaitlin Naughten, Michael Meredith
One-third of the world’s ocean surface is located in the Southern Ocean, south of 30°S, encircling the Antarctic continent south of 30°S. The ocean circulation in this vast region has…15 April, 2025 by Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark
Antarctica is a very cold, isolated continent surrounded by frozen seas, yet these extreme environmental conditions have not restricted life and diversity in the sea. The marine environment is seasonally…Read more on Psychrotrophic Antarctic marine bacteria as reservoirs for novel antimicrobial genes
14 April, 2025 by Jasmine Lee, Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
Antarctica has been subject to direct human activity for a little over 200 years. In recent decades, the combination of sharp increases in human activity and regional climate change, particularly…Read more on Status assessment of non-native terrestrial species in Antarctica
14 April, 2025 by Kate Hendry
The Transpolar Drift (TPD) plays a crucial role in regulating Arctic climate and ecosystems by transporting fresh water and key substances, such as terrestrial nutrients and pollutants, from the Siberian…11 April, 2025 by Richard Horne
Plasma waves in the magnetosphere scatter electrons, causing them to precipitate into Earth’s atmosphere, imparting their temporal characteristics to diffuse auroras. In a case study of conjugate radar and satellite…10 April, 2025 by Povl Abrahamsen, Rachael Sanders
Two oceanographic moorings were recovered from Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough on 24-25 February 2025. Data have been downloaded from instruments and will be backed up on internal BAS…Read more on Recovery of moorings in South Sandwich Trench (Milestone MS10)
9 April, 2025 by Mark Clilverd
The characteristics of very low frequency (VLF) radio wave propagation in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide are determined particularly through dawn and dusk using phase and amplitude measurements of man-made signals propagating…Read more on Ionospheric D Region: Characteristics Near Dawn and Dusk
9 April, 2025 by Markus Frey
Sea salt aerosol (SSaer) significantly impacts aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions, and sublimated blowing snow is hypothesized to be an important SSaer source in polar regions. Understanding blowing snow and other…7 April, 2025 by Alexander Brearley, Kate Hendry, Natasha Lucas
Measurements from a robotic underwater vehicle reveal the impacts of meltwater from the giant iceberg A-68A on the properties of the surrounding Southern Ocean. In addition to increasing surface stratification…4 April, 2025 by Povl Abrahamsen, Geraint Tarling, Alexander Brearley, Kate Hendry, Michael Meredith, Natasha Lucas
Ice-sheet mass loss is one of the clearest manifestations of climate change, with Antarctica discharging mass into the ocean via melting or through calving. The latter produces icebergs that can…Read more on Giant iceberg meltwater increases upper-ocean stratification and vertical mixing
4 April, 2025 by Ellen Bowler, Marie Attard, Peter Fretwell, Richard Phillips
The Tristan albatross Diomedea dabbenena is a Critically Endangered species that breeds exclusively on remote islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. Although the population continues to decline, regular on-the-ground monitoring…3 April, 2025 by Peter Convey
Fuel spills pose significant pollution threats to Antarctic terrestrial environments. Biological remediation offers a sustainable solution for restoring these polluted sites. Indigenous microorganisms capable of degrading diesel hydrocarbons at low…2 April, 2025 by Jamie Coleman
Kller whales (Orcinus orca, Linnaeus 1758) are wide-ranging throughout the world's oceans (Forney & Wade, 2006)and can travel over large distances (Dahlheim et al., 2008; Durban & Pitman, 2012). In…1 April, 2025 by Alexander Whittle, Dominic Hodgson
Radiocarbon dating of basal peats has been a key factor in determining minimum ages for deglaciation on sub-Antarctic islands. On Marion Island, peat bogs dominate the landscape below 300 m a.s.l.,…1 April, 2025
In mammals, olfaction plays a key role in social behaviour, for example, in identifying mating opportunities and potential rivals. However, we still have a limited understanding of how social information…1 April, 2025 by Peter Convey
Lichens play important roles in habitat formation and community succession in polar and alpine ecosystems. Despite their significance, the ecological effects of lichen traits remain poorly researched. We propose a…1 April, 2025 by Danielle Buss, Jaume Forcada, Richard Phillips, William Mills
Annual variation in prey availability can influence seabird diets and hence their exposure to pollutants, including mercury (Hg). Among seabirds, those species that scavenge carrion of marine mammals and other…1 April, 2025 by Peter Convey
Rhizosphere microbial communities are intimately associated with plant root surfaces. The rhizosphere microbiome is recruited from the surrounding soil and is known to impact positively on the plant host via…1 April, 2025 by Ingrid Cnossen
Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions significantly impact the middle and upper atmosphere. They cause cooling and thermal shrinking and affect the atmospheric structure. Atmospheric contraction results in changes in key atmospheric…Read more on The Need for Better Monitoring of Climate Change in the Middle and Upper Atmosphere
1 April, 2025 by Peter Convey
Polar ecosystems are threatened by non-native plants, and this risk will increase with climate warming. Non-native plant growth depends on Antarctic environmental conditions and substrates, but these influences are poorly…1 April, 2025 by Matthew Lang
Comets tails can reveal information about the local solar wind conditions. They can exhibit various signatures of interactions with the solar wind including bending, developing kinks, and sometimes undergoing tail…1 April, 2025 by Ashley Bennison
Globally, seabirds remove a prey biomass equivalent to commercial fishery landings, suggesting likely competition for resources that will vary spatially and seasonally. Using extensive aerial surveys combined with species-specific energetic…31 March, 2025 by Alistair Crame, Jane Francis
The Cretaceous period is particularly well represented by a thick sequence of clastic sedimentary rocks exposed in the Antarctic Peninsula region of western Antarctica. This was an active margin throughout…Read more on Cretaceous stratigraphy of Antarctica and its global significance
31 March, 2025 by Ryan Williams
The Beaufort Gyre (BG) is an important feature of the Arctic Ocean. By accumulating or releasing freshwater, it influences ocean properties both within the Arctic and as far as the…Read more on The Arctic Beaufort Gyre in CMIP6 Models: Present and Future
31 March, 2025
Sporadically genetic material that originates from an organelle genome integrates into the nuclear genome. However it is unclear what processes maintain such integrations over evolutionary time. Recently it was shown…31 March, 2025 by Peter Convey
We report new oribatid records from the western Antarctic Peninsula region obtained during the XXIV and XXVI–XXVIII Ukrainian Antarctic expeditions. Five species (including 2 subspecies) representing five families of oribatid…Read more on New oribatid mite (Acari: Oribatida) records in the Antarctic Peninsula region
28 March, 2025 by Ramesh Karanam, Tracy Moffat-Griffin
Long-term variability and tendencies in monthly mean semidiurnal tide (12-hr) in zonal (U12) and meridional (V12) winds are investigated in northern polar mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT; ∼80–100 km) using…28 March, 2025 by Ayat Fekry, George Coombs, Harrison Abbot, Jonathan Smith, Maria Fox, Michael Thorne, Samuel Hall
An algorithm is presented for path-planning in a non-uniform spheroid mesh containing exclusion zones, vector and scalar fields. The mesh models physical environments such as ocean regions, together with a…Read more on Path-Planning on a Spherical Surface with Disturbances and Exclusion Zones
27 March, 2025 by Ryan Williams
February 2022 was an unusually stormy month over Northern Europe, including three extratropical cyclones impacting the United Kingdom and Ireland within a single week. The month also experienced an exceptionally…Read more on Strong polar vortex favoured intense Northern European storminess in February 2022
25 March, 2025 by Philip Trathan
Improved methods for identifying species at risk are needed to strengthen climate change vulnerability assessments, as current estimates indicate that up to one million species face extinction due to environmental…24 March, 2025 by Alison Cleary
Understanding how species survive at their poleward limits of distribution is of interest in species conservation, particularly in light of global warming and predictions of shifting distributions of both predators…22 March, 2025 by Povl Abrahamsen
Mooring deployments. Partner in charge of delivery of the milestone: UKRI-BAS.Read more on Deployment of moorings in South Sandwich Trench (Milestone MS9)
21 March, 2025 by Alex Brisbourne, Alvaro Arenas Pingarron, Carlos Martin Garcia, Carl Robinson, Hugh Corr, Tom Jordan, Alvaro Pingarron Arenas
Ground penetrating radar reveals subsurface geometry and ice stratigraphy that contains information about past and present dynamics of the cryosphere. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a processing technique based on…20 March, 2025 by Eugene Murphy, Patrick Keith, Simeon Hill
Climate change could irreversibly modify Southern Ocean ecosystems. Marine ecosystem model (MEM) ensembles can assist policy making by projecting future changes and allowing the evaluation and assessment of alternative management…20 March, 2025 by Alex Brisbourne, Rebecca Schlegel
Basal conditions that facilitate fast ice flow are still poorly understood and their parameterization in ice‐flow models results in high uncertainties in ice‐flow and consequent sea‐level rise projections. Direct observations…20 March, 2025 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, James Kirkham, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter, Svetlana Radionovskaya
Benthic foraminiferal assemblages are useful tools for paleoenvironmental studies but rely on the calibration of live populations to modern environmental conditions to allow interpretation of this proxy downcore. In regions…20 March, 2025 by Scott Hosking, Tom Andersson
Weather prediction is critical for a range of human activities including transportation, agriculture and industry, as well as the safety of the general public. Machine learning is transforming numerical weather…18 March, 2025 by Richard Horne
We investigate the propagation in the plasmasphere of Very Low Frequency (VLF) electromagnetic waves, such as natural lightning-generated whistler waves and waves produced by active experiments. An active experiment is…18 March, 2025 by Hannah Moulton, Lloyd Peck, Peter Convey, Peter Fretwell
Algal blooms play important roles in physical and biological processes on glacial surfaces. Despite this, their occurrence and impacts within an Antarctic context remain understudied. Here, we present evidence of…Read more on Surface darkening by abundant and diverse algae on an Antarctic ice cap
18 March, 2025 by Dieter Tetzner
The Cordillera Darwin Icefield (CDI) in Tierra del Fuego is one of the largest temperate ice bodies in the Southern Hemisphere. We simulate the climatic energy and mass balance of…15 March, 2025 by Teal Riley
The use of stone hammers to produce sharp stone flakes—knapping—is thought to represent a significant stage in hominin technological evolution because it facilitated the exploitation of novel resources, including meat…14 March, 2025 by Peter Convey
A major natural route of dispersal to Antarctica is often assumed to be atmospheric transport, although few studies have documented this in detail. Aerial dispersal to Antarctica is very challenging…14 March, 2025 by Sophie Fielding
Hypoxic (O2 < 60 μmol kg−1) waters are found below 27% of the ocean surface and are predicted to expand in the near future; however, the organic carbon cycle in…
13 March, 2025 by Claire Allen, Dieter Tetzner, Jack Humby, Liz Thomas
Low-concentration insoluble microparticles that are preserved in ice cores offer valuable information for reconstructing past environmental changes. However, their low concentrations and limited sample availability present challenges for extraction and…12 March, 2025
Ice sheet models should be able to accurately simulate palaeo ice sheets to have confidence in their projections of future polar ice sheet mass loss and resulting global sea level…Read more on Quantitative sub-ice and marine tracing of Antarctic sediment provenance (TASP v1.0)
10 March, 2025 by Lloyd Peck, Nicholas Barrett
Coastal freshening in the Southern Ocean is expected to increase under projected climate scenarios. As a major environmental stressor, prolonged reduced salinity could pose a significant challenge to Antarctica's endemic…10 March, 2025 by Alice Fremand, Andy Smith, David Vaughan, Ed King, Elena Field, Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Hamish Pritchard, James Kirkham, Peter Fretwell, Richard Hindmarsh, Tom Jordan, Richard Hindmarsh
We present Bedmap3, the latest suite of gridded products describing surface elevation, ice-thickness and the seafloor and subglacial bed elevation of the Antarctic south of 60 °S. Bedmap3 incorporates and…Read more on Bedmap3 updated ice bed, surface and thickness gridded datasets for Antarctica
10 March, 2025 by Peter Convey
Background and Methods: We assessed the prokaryotic and eukaryotic diversity present in non-vegetated and vegetated soils on King George Island, Maritime Antarctic, in combination with measurements of carbon dioxide fluxes.…10 March, 2025 by David Barnes
Blue Carbon (BC) refers to Nature-Based Solutions in marine environments that aim to reduce greenhouse gases through carbon sequestration using natural processes. Much of the BC focus to date has…Read more on Blue Carbon in an eastern boundary Upwelling Zone – A case study in Namibia
6 March, 2025 by Peter Convey
In the extreme conditions of Antarctica two native vascular plants are present, Colobanthus quitensis (Kunth) Bartl. (Caryophyllaceae) and Deschampsia antarctica Desv. (Poaceae), distributed along the western Antarctic Peninsula and the…6 March, 2025 by Paul Holland, Pierre Dutrieux
The retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is conventionally attributed to increased ocean melting of ice shelves, potentially enhanced by internal instability from grounding lines near retrograde bed slopes. Ocean…6 March, 2025 by Ashley Bennison, David Barnes, Emma Young, Martin Collins, Simon Morley, Stephanie Martin
ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) events are becoming more frequent and more intense as climate change continues. Although ENSO effects are known to propagate into the southwest Atlantic, knowledge of…Read more on Dramatic ENSO related Southwestern Atlantic ecosystem shifts
4 March, 2025 by Kate Hendry
Subglacial weathering releases biologically important nutrients into meltwaters that have the potential to influence downstream ecosystems. There is a need to understand how accelerated glacial retreat could impact biogeochemical cycling…Read more on High-Resolution Sensors Reveal Nitrate and Dissolved Silica Dynamics in an Arctic Fjord
4 March, 2025 by Elizabeth Boyse
A good understanding of biotic interactions is necessary to accurately predict the vulnerability of ecosystems to climate change. Recently, co-occurrence networks built from environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding data have arisen…4 March, 2025 by Michael Meredith
Phytoplankton play a pivotal role as the primary producers in polar marine ecosystems. Despite evidence suggesting that production rates and loss factors vary from year to year, and thus drive…3 March, 2025 by Aaron Hendry, Mark Clilverd
Previously the geomagnetic Ap index has been used as a proxy to produce empirical energetic electron precipitation (EEP) forcing representations suitable for incorporation into coupled-climate model runs. The long-running Ap…3 March, 2025 by Michael Thorne
For years, a main focus of ecological research has been to better understand the complex dynamical interactions between species which comprise food webs. Using the connectance properties of a widely…1 March, 2025 by Dominic Hodgson, Peter Fretwell, Richard Phillips
Knowledge of the spatial distribution of many polar seabird species is incomplete due to the remoteness of their breeding locations. Here, we compiled a new database of published and unpublished…1 March, 2025 by David Barnes
Microplastics, small pieces of plastic measuring less than five millimeters, have spread to all ecosystems, even those in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. In particular, microplastics have been found contaminating…Read more on Quantifying microplastics concentration of invertebrates from three Antarctic fjords
1 March, 2025 by Mark Clilverd
Sudden Stratospheric Warmings (SSW) and Elevated Stratopause (ES) events are mid-to-high latitudinal, atmospheric wave-driven phenomena leading to significant changes in wind, temperatures, and vertical mass transport, especially at stratospheric and…1 March, 2025 by Peter Convey
Polar microalgae are microscopic organisms adapted to survive in cold and extreme habitats such as sea-ice, glaciers, lakes and snow. These microorganisms provide an essential basis as primary food sources…Read more on Adaptations, Cultivation, and Commercial Prospects of Polar Microalgae
28 February, 2025 by Neil Brough
Water-insoluble organic material extracted from atmospheric aerosol samples collected in urban (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK) and remote (Halley Research Station, Antarctica) locations were shown to form stable thin…28 February, 2025 by Andrew Orr, Ruth Price
The Southern Ocean and offshore coastal Antarctica are key regions for global climate. Low level mixed-phase clouds strongly control the surface radiation budget of this region but remain challenging for…28 February, 2025 by Bianca Perren, Dominic Hodgson
Recent intensification of the Southern Hemisphere Westerlies has resulted in important changes to ocean circulation, Antarctic ice shelf stability and precipitation regimes in the continents abutting the Southern Ocean. Efforts…27 February, 2025 by Norman Ratcliffe, Ryan Saunders
The porbeagle shark Lamna nasus, a top predator in the North Atlantic, is vulnerable to anthropogenic stressors due to its life history characteristics. Understanding its biology, abundance and spatial ecology…Read more on Migration and space use by porbeagle sharks Lamna nasus in the northeast Atlantic
26 February, 2025 by Xu Zhang
The rainfall patterns in Eastern Asia are largely a consequence of the Asian winter and summer monsoons. On timescales 10 4 –10 6 of years, the position and strength of…25 February, 2025 by Clara Manno, Claire Waluda, Emily Rowlands, Kirstie Jones-Williams
Microplastic pollution in remote inland Antarctica is largely unknown. This study explored the plastic footprint of snow from remote Antarctic camps: Union Glacier, Schanz Glacier and the South Pole. Refined…Read more on Microplastics in Antarctica – a Plastic Legacy in the Antarctic Snow?
25 February, 2025 by Alison McLaren, Louise Sime, Qinggang Gao
There is an increasing need to understand how water is cycled and transported within the atmosphere to aid water management. Here, atmospheric water tracers are added to the Met Office…Read more on Implementation of Water Tracers in the Met Office Unified Model [EGUsphere preprint]
25 February, 2025 by Dominic Hodgson
Understanding past variability in Antarctic sea ice is of critical importance to determine how it regulates global climate processes and biogeochemistry, and Southern Ocean marine ecosystems. Records of changes in…25 February, 2025 by Paul Holland
Sea-ice floating in the Arctic ocean is a constantly moving, growing and melting layer. The seasonal cycle of sea-ice volume has an average amplitude of or 9 trillion tonnes of…21 February, 2025 by Oliver Marsh
We present a 1000 km transect of phase-sensitive radar measurements of ice thickness, basal reflection strength, basal melting, and ice-column deformation across the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS). Measurements were gathered…20 February, 2025 by Michael Meredith
As a net source of nutrients fuelling global primary production, changes in Southern Ocean productivity are expected to influence biological carbon storage across the global ocean. Following a high-emission, low-mitigation…19 February, 2025 by Martin Collins
We present a genome assembly from an individual female Electrona antarctica (the Antarctic lanternfish; Chordata; Actinopterigii; Myctophiformes; Myctophidae). The genome sequence has a total length of 1,427.40 megabases. Most of…19 February, 2025 by Markus Frey
Aerosols play a critical role in the Arctic's radiative balance, influencing solar radiation and cloud formation. Limited observations in the central Arctic leave gaps in understanding aerosol dynamics year-round, affecting…16 February, 2025 by Richard Phillips
Aim: To identify the broad‐scale oceanic migration routes (‘marine flyways’) used by multiple pelagic, long‐distance migratory seabirds based on a global compilation of tracking data. Location: Global. Time Period: 1989–2023.…15 February, 2025 by Dominic Hodgson, James Smith, Joanne Johnson, Teal Riley
The Hudson Mountains are situated in the eastern Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, adjacent to Pine Island Glacier. They form a volcanic field of 17 stratovolcanoes…Read more on Glacial geology of the Hudson Mountains, Amundsen Sea sector, West Antarctica
12 February, 2025 by Andrew Kavanagh, Jade Reidy, Jade Reidy
The mesosphere/lower-thermosphere/ionosphere (MLTI) region is a critical boundary in the coupling of the atmosphere, climate and space weather, however it is one of the least understood regions, making it hard…12 February, 2025 by Peter Convey
The Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica, is a unique insect endemic to Antarctica. It has a 2-year life cycle, with larvae overwintering in two different instars and adults emerging the following…11 February, 2025
Ice cores provide an un-matched high-resolution archive into paleoclimate reconstruction that other environmental archives (e.g. coral, sediment cores, and tree rings) do not. Limited research has focussed on terrestrial organic…11 February, 2025 by Andrew Orr, Ella Gilbert
We explore how atmospheric rivers (ARs) in a summer and winter case interact with the topography of the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, and deposit significant precipitation amounts. To do…11 February, 2025 by Gareth Marshall
Utilising the 20th Century Reanalysis version 3 (20CRv3), we examine changes in the extent and rate of autumn Eurasian snow cover (SC) advance and the temporal variability in the SC–Arctic…10 February, 2025 by Andrew Orr
Since the late 1990s, summer surface melt across ice shelves in the Ross-Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica increased significantly, as demonstrated by satellite measurements and MetUM simulations. This contrasts…8 February, 2025 by Michael Meredith
Background: The west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a region of rapid environmental changes, with regional differences in climate warming along the north–south axis of the peninsula. Along the WAP, Palmer…7 February, 2025 by Louise Sime, Qinggang Gao, Rahul Sivankutty, Xu Zhang
Given relatively abundant paleo-proxies, the study of the last interglacial (LIG, ∼ 129–116 000 years ago, ka) is valuable to understanding the responses and feedback of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in…7 February, 2025
Cephalopods are crucial to the Southern Ocean ecosystem, connecting top predators with mid-trophic organisms, yet their ecology in the Pacific sector is not well understood. This research used stable isotope…Read more on Evidence of eastern rockhopper penguin feeding on a key commercial arrow squid species
7 February, 2025 by Philip Leat
Mechanisms regulating material transfer from subducted slabs to arc magmas remain debated, centered on metasomatized mantle wedge interactions versus mélange mobilization at the slab-mantle interface. The South Sandiwch Islands arc…Read more on Mélange dehydration and melting beneath South Sandwich Islands arc
6 February, 2025 by Patrick Keith
The Southern Ocean is experiencing major environmental and ecological changes which could drastically alter communities and impact ecosystem functioning. We still have a poor understanding of the structure of Southern…Read more on Drivers of Southern Ocean food web structure and impacts of environmental change
6 February, 2025 by Huw Griffiths, Kevin Hughes, Lloyd Peck, Peter Convey
Antarctica harbors many distinctive features of life, yet much about the diversity and functioning of Antarctica’s life remains unknown. Evolutionary histories and functional ecology are well understood only for vertebrates,…5 February, 2025 by Rebecca Peel
This thesis details the development and application of a pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) method for the quantification of microplastic pollution in terrestrial samples. Initial analysis of plastic standards using Py-GC/MS…5 February, 2025
Many studies have reported the paradoxical observation of high concentrations of low‐density microplastics (plastic particles < 5 mm) in deep‐sea sediments despite their buoyancy. The incorporation of buoyant microplastics into…5 February, 2025 by Hua Lu
Significant changes have occurred during the last few decades across the North Atlantic climate system, including in the atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere. These large-scale changes play a vital role in…