Found 14040 items
1 November, 2022 by Kevin Newsham
Fungi are highly diverse organisms, which provide multiple ecosystem services. However, compared with charismatic animals and plants, the distribution patterns and conservation needs of fungi have been little explored. Here…Read more on Global patterns in endemicity and vulnerability of soil fungi
1 November, 2022 by Jennifer Jackson, Philip Trathan, Sophie Fielding, Victoria Warwick-Evans
Following the cessation of whaling, the southwest Atlantic humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) population is thought to be close to pre-exploitation size, reversing 20th century changes in abundance. Using a model-based…1 November, 2022 by Simeon Hill
With rapid, sector-specific climatic changes impacting the Southern Ocean, we need circumpolar-scale biomass data of its plankton taxa to improve food web models, blue carbon budgets and resource management. Here,…1 November, 2022 by Bjorg Apeland, Clara Manno, Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Sophie Fielding
Estimating the amount of organic carbon leaving the upper water column and becoming sequestered in the deep ocean is a major challenge in our understanding the oceanic C cycle. This…1 November, 2022 by Geraint Tarling, Jennifer Freer, Martin Collins
Lanternfishes (Myctophidae) are one of the most species-rich families of mid-water fishes. They inhabit the mesopelagic zone, where physical barriers to dispersal and gene flow are permeable. Thus, modes of…1 November, 2022 by David Pearce
Parts of the Antarctic are experiencing dramatic ecosystem change due to rapid and record warming, which may weaken biogeographic boundaries and modify dispersal barriers, increasing the risk of biological invasions.…1 November, 2022 by Jennifer Freer, Philip Trathan, Sophie Fielding, Victoria Warwick-Evans
We used 22 years of seasonally and spatially consistent monitoring data to explore marine predator–prey numerical response relationships. Specifically, we tested whether indices of offspring performance (e.g. offspring mass near the…1 November, 2022 by Michael Meredith
Southern Ocean phytoplankton are especially subjected to pronounced seasonal and interannual changes in light availability. Although previous studies have examined the role of light in these environments, very few combined…1 November, 2022 by Mark Clilverd
Ground-based very low frequency (VLF) radio propagation in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide has enabled extensive electron number densities in the D region of the Earth’s ionosphere to be determined, by day…
27 October, 2022 by Anna Jones, Ella Gilbert, Oliver Marsh
26 October, 2022 by Jaume Forcada
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a group of genes comprising one of the most important components of the vertebrate immune system. Consequently, there has been much interest in characterising…19 October, 2022 by Andrew Wood, Richard Phillips
Advances in biologging techniques and the availability of high-resolution fisheries data have improved our ability to understand the interactions between seabirds and fisheries and to evaluate mortality risk due to…19 October, 2022 by Michael Meredith
Waters cooled below freezing point adjacent to Cape Darnley, Antarctica generate subsurface ice and produce dense waters that flood the global ocean abyss.Read more on Underwater Ice Boosts Production of the World Oceans’ Densest Waters
19 October, 2022 by Gareth Marshall
The vegetation at and beyond the northern edge of the world's boreal forest plays an important though imperfectly understood role in the climate system. This is particularly true within Russia,…18 October, 2022 by Katrin Linse
Gastropoda is the most speciose class in Mollusca, the second largest animal phylum, whose internal relationships remain largely unsettled, partly due to the insufficient data from key deep-water endemic lineages,…16 October, 2022 by Ingrid Cnossen
Climate change in the upper atmosphere (∼90 − 500 km altitude) has important impacts on practical applications. To prepare for these, realistic projections of future climate change are needed. The…Read more on A realistic projection of climate change in the upper atmosphere into the 21st century
15 October, 2022 by Bjorg Apeland, Clara Manno, Elisa Bergami, Peter Enderlein, Rad Sharma
Marine plastic pollution is a global and pervasive environmental issue. Knowledge on plastic degradation in natural settings is still very limited due to current technological limitations, hampering our understanding of…14 October, 2022 by Geraint Tarling, Helen Peat, Petra ten Hoopen, Peter Ward
Global access to accurate biodiversity data is a prerequisite to our progress in understanding biodiversity dynamics in ecosystems and any changes that are occurring. Despite recent major advancements in sharing…Read more on Polar biodiversity data: from a national marine platform to a global data portal
14 October, 2022 by Geraint Tarling, Petra ten Hoopen, Peter Ward
Scientific sampling of zooplankton in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean has been undertaken since the 1920s but few analysed datasets are available to the research community. We provide…14 October, 2022 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
The BRITICE-CHRONO consortium of researchers undertook a dating programme to constrain the timing of advance, maximum extent and retreat of the British–Irish Ice Sheet between 31 000 and 15 000 years before present.…13 October, 2022 by Johnathan Ross, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
Kinetic wave-particle interactions in Earth's outer radiation belt energize and scatter high-energy electrons, playing an important role in the dynamic variation of the extent and intensity of the outer belt.…Read more on Temporal variability of quasilinear pitch-angle diffusion
13 October, 2022
Meteor radars have become widely used instruments to study atmospheric dynamics, particularly in the 70 to 110 km altitude region. These systems have been proven to provide reliable and continuous…12 October, 2022 by Peter Convey
The presence of marine vertebrates in dense reproductive colonies and other aggregations contributes to the input of organic matter and nutrients into the local environment and it is believed that…10 October, 2022 by Iain Staniland
The Southeast Pacific (SEP) or Chilean blue whale population is largely distributed between Northern Chilean Patagonia and the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Off South Georgia (SG), the majority of blue whales…10 October, 2022 by Hugh Corr, Keith Nicholls
Ice shelves play a key role in the stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet due to their buttressing effect. A loss of buttressing as a result of increased basal melting…7 October, 2022 by Michael McCarthy, Michael McCarthy
The current Chilean megadrought has led to acute water shortages in central Chile since 2010. Glaciers have provided vital fresh water to the region’s rivers, but the quantity, timing and…Read more on Glacier contributions to river discharge during the current Chilean megadrought
7 October, 2022 by Adrian Jenkins, Antony Siahaan
The Antarctic Ice Sheet will play a crucial role in the evolution of global mean sea level as the climate warms. An interactively coupled climate and ice sheet model is…4 October, 2022 by Irena Vankova, Keith Nicholls
Fourteen phase-sensitive radars (ApRES) were deployed on the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf (FRIS) to measure variability in its basal melt rate. Melt rates from sites along the Ronne Depression vary seasonally,…4 October, 2022 by Michael Meredith
The Southern Ocean encircles Antarctica and extends north to abut the subtropics at ~30-35°S. The Southern Ocean is a difficult place to collect measurements because it is far from many…Read more on The warming of the Southern Ocean and its significance
2 October, 2022 by Claire Allen, Victoria Peck
Antarctica is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change on Earth and studying the past and present responses of this polar marine ecosystem to environmental change is a…Read more on Ancient marine sediment DNA reveals diatom transition in Antarctica
1 October, 2022 by Norman Ratcliffe
A wide range of biologging devices are now commonly deployed to study the movement ecology of birds, but deployment of these devices is not without its potential risks and negative…1 October, 2022 by Jasmine Lee
Antarctic biodiversity faces an unknown future with a changing climate. Most terrestrial biota is restricted to limited patches of ice-free land in a sea of ice, where they are adapted…1 October, 2022 by Peter Convey
Polar and alpine regions are changing rapidly with global climate change. Yet the impacts on biodiversity, especially on the invertebrate ectotherms which are dominant in these areas, remain poorly understood.…1 October, 2022 by Peter Convey
We report the first formal record of the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella from a location within the Antarctic Treaty area, with the capture of a live adult male within…1 October, 2022 by Peter Convey
We detected the fungal assemblages present in lake sediments on James Ross Island, Antarctica, using DNA metabarcoding. A total of 132 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were assigned, dominated by taxa…1 October, 2022 by Kevin Newsham
Mineral extraction is known to affect soil fungi in polar environments, but it is unknown how long these effects persist. Here, by amplifying the internal transcribed spacer regions of rRNA…1 October, 2022 by Mervyn Freeman
Nearly all studies of impulsive geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs, also known as magnetic perturbation events MPEs) that can produce dangerous geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) have used data from the northern hemisphere.…1 October, 2022 by Mark Clilverd, Richard Horne
Intervals of Pulsations of Diminishing Periods (IPDPs) are a subtype of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) waves that can be triggered by substorm onset. Pi1B waves are Ultra Low Frequency (ULF)…1 October, 2022 by Matthew Chadwick
Past warm periods serve as an analog for the impacts of future warming. Reconstructions of Antarctic sea ice from 130,000 years ago show a reduction in sea-ice extent relative to…Read more on Reconstructing Antarctic sea ice from 130,000 years ago
1 October, 2022 by Dominic Hodgson, Louise Sime, Richard Phillips
Where snow petrels forage is predominantly a function of sea ice. They spit stomach oil in defence, and accumulated deposits at nesting sites are providing new opportunities to reconstruct their…Read more on Snow petrel stomach-oil deposits as a new biological archive of Antarctic sea ice
1 October, 2022 by Louise Sime
The 16 models that simulated the Last Interglacial climate as part of the CMIP6/PMIP4 exercise consistently produce a smaller Arctic summer sea-ice area compared to the pre-industrial period, but their…30 September, 2022
At high-latitudes, diurnal and semidiurnal variations of temperature and neutral wind velocity can originate both in the lower atmosphere (UV or infrared absorption) or in the thermosphere-ionosphere (ion convection, EUV…25 September, 2022 by Johnathan Ross, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
The banded structure of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) wave spectra and their resonant interactions with radiation belt electrons depend on the cold ion composition. However, there is a great deal…Read more on The importance of ion composition for radiation belt modeling
23 September, 2022 by Andrew Orr
Regional climate models (RCMs) and reanalysis datasets provide valuable information for assessing the vulnerability of ice shelves to collapse over Antarctica, which is important for future global sea level rise…19 September, 2022 by Hamish Pritchard
Seasonal melting of glaciers and snow from the western Third Pole (TP) plays important role in sustaining water supplies downstream. However, the future water availability of the region, and even…16 September, 2022 by Markus Frey
Previous Antarctic summer campaigns have shown unexpectedly high levels of oxidants in the lower atmosphere of the continental plateau and at coastal regions, with atmospheric hydroxyl radical (OH) concentrations up…16 September, 2022 by Diana Vladimirova, Jack Humby, Liz Thomas
In this study, we used the stable water isotope record (δ18O) from an ice core drilled in Palmer Land, southern Antarctic Peninsula (AP). Utilizing δ18O we identified two climate regimes…16 September, 2022 by Thomas Bauska
Here we use high-precision carbon isotope data (δ13C-CO2) to show atmospheric CO2 during Marine Isotope Stage 4 (MIS 4, ~70.5-59 ka) was controlled by a succession of millennial-scale processes. Enriched…15 September, 2022 by Xin Yang
Bromine explosion events (BEEs) are important processes that influence the atmospheric oxidation capacity, especially in the polar troposphere during spring. Although sea ice surface is thought to be a significant…Read more on Study of an Arctic blowing snow-induced bromine explosion event in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard
15 September, 2022 by Louise Sime
Southern Ocean bathymetry constrains the path of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), but the bathymetric influence on the coupled ocean–atmosphere system is poorly understood. Here, we investigate this impact by…12 September, 2022 by Anne-Sophie Bonnet-Lebrun, Norman Ratcliffe
Density-dependent prey depletion around breeding colonies has long been considered an important factor controlling the population dynamics of colonial animals. Ashmole proposed that as seabird colony size increases, intraspecific competition…Read more on Foraging range scales with colony size in high-latitude seabirds
12 September, 2022 by Hugh Venables
Tides significantly affect polar coastlines by modulating ice shelf melt and modifying shelf water properties through transport and mixing. However, the effect of tides on the marine carbonate chemistry in…10 September, 2022 by Robert Mulvaney
The response of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to past intervals of oceanic and atmospheric warming is still not well constrained but is critical for understanding both past and future…9 September, 2022 by Alexander Bradley, David Bett, Paul Holland, Pierre Dutrieux
The combination of the Pine Island Ice Shelf (PIIS) draft and a seabed ridge beneath it form a topographic barrier, restricting access of warm Circumpolar Deep Water to a cavity…Read more on The influence of Pine Island Ice Shelf calving on basal melting
8 September, 2022 by Nadia Frontier
1. Climate change can alter ecological communities both directly, by driving shifts in species distributions and abundances, and indirectly by influencing the strength and direction of species interactions. Within benthic…7 September, 2022 by Gareth Marshall, John King, Steve Colwell, Tony Phillips
We use meteorological measurements from three drifting buoys to evaluate the performance of the ERA-Interim and ERA5 atmospheric reanalyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts over the Weddell…6 September, 2022 by Rob Shore
The response of the Earth’s magnetotail current sheet to the external solar wind driver is highly time-dependent and asymmetric. For example, the current sheet twists in response to variations in…6 September, 2022 by Michael McCarthy, Michael McCarthy
Glaciers are key components of the mountain water towers of Asia and are vital for downstream domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses. The glacier mass loss rate over the southeastern Tibetan…5 September, 2022 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Understanding the recent history of Thwaites Glacier, and the processes controlling its ongoing retreat, is key to projecting Antarctic contributions to future sea-level rise. Of particular concern is how the…Read more on Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era
1 September, 2022 by Joseph Ulanowski
Cloud representation is one of the largest uncertainties in the current weather and climate models. In this article, the observations and modeling of the radiative effect on (cloud) microphysics (REM)…Read more on The Radiative Effect on Cloud Microphysics from the Arctic to the Tropics
1 September, 2022 by Peter Convey
Snow is an important driver of ecosystem processes in cold biomes. Snow accumulation determines ground temperature, light conditions, and moisture availability during winter. It also affects the growing season's start…Read more on Winters are changing: Snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems
1 September, 2022 by Richard Phillips
1. Timing of breeding, an important driver of fitness in many populations, is widely studied in the context of global change, yet despite considerable efforts to identify environmental drivers of…1 September, 2022 by Claire Allen, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter, Zoe Roseby
Following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca. 23-19 calibrated [cal.] kyr before present [BP]), atmospheric and oceanic warming, together with global sea-level rise, drove widespread deglaciation of the Antarctic Ice…1 September, 2022 by Philip Trathan
Direct observation of foraging behavior is not always possible, especially for marine species that hunt underwater. However, biologging and tracking devices have provided detailed information about how various species use…1 September, 2022 by Lara Perez Miguel, Robert Larter
The present-day morpho-stratigraphy of the Ross Sea is the result of Cenozoic tectonic and cryospheric events, and constitutes a key record of Antarctica's cryospheric evolution. An enduring problem in interpreting…1 September, 2022 by Jane Francis
The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) annual Medals and Awards recognise achievements in researching, communicating and teaching a wide range of geographical knowledge. The speeches and citations are a record…Read more on Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Medals and Awards celebration 2022 [Speech]
1 September, 2022 by Claire Allen, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter, Zoe Roseby
Reconstructing the advance and retreat of past ice sheets provides important long-term context for recent change(s) and enables us to better understand ice sheet responses to forcing mechanisms and external…1 September, 2022 by Paul Holland
The satellite-observed sea ice thickness records from 2003 to 2020 identify an extreme sea ice thickness loss during 2010–2011. Ice thickness budget analysis demonstrates that the thickness loss was associated…1 September, 2022 by Dave Munday
Including the ocean surface current in the calculation of wind stress is known to damp mesoscale eddies through a negative wind power input and have potential ramifications for eddy longevity.…Read more on The response of a baroclinic anticyclonic eddy to relative wind stress forcing
1 September, 2022 by Richard Phillips
Seabirds are among the most threatened of all vertebrate groups. Here we review their conservation status and key aspects of the main threats and some emerging threats. Bycatch in fisheries…Read more on Chapter 2 – Conservation status and overview of threats to seabirds
1 September, 2022 by Keith Nicholls
Ocean-driven melt of Antarctic ice shelves is an important control on mass loss from the ice sheet, but is complex to study due to significant variability in melt rates both…Read more on Data initiatives for ocean-driven melt of Antarctic ice shelves
1 September, 2022 by Alexander Bradley, David Bett, Paul Holland, Pierre Dutrieux
Sea level rise contributions from the Pine Island Glacier (PIG) are strongly modulated by the backstress that its floating extension – Pine Island Ice Shelf (PIIS) – exerts on the…Read more on The ice dynamic and melting response of Pine Island Ice Shelf to calving
1 September, 2022 by Alex Brisbourne
The density structure of firn has implications for hydrological and climate modelling and for ice shelf stability. The firn structure can be evaluated from depth models of seismic velocity, widely…30 August, 2022 by Dave Munday, Dani Jones, Rachel Furner
There has been much recent interest in developing data-driven models for weather and climate predictions. However, there are open questions regarding their generalizability and robustness, highlighting a need to better…Read more on A sensitivity analysis of a regression model of ocean temperature
24 August, 2022 by Robert Mulvaney
Crystallographic preferred orientations (CPOs) are particularly important in controlling the mechanical properties of glacial shear margins. Logistical and safety considerations often make direct sampling of shear margins difficult, and geophysical…24 August, 2022 by Ashley Bennison
Body-mounted accelerometers provide a new prospect for estimating power use in flying birds, as the signal varies with the two major kinematic determinants of aerodynamic power: wingbeat frequency and amplitude.…Read more on The role of wingbeat frequency and amplitude in flight power
23 August, 2022 by Mark Clilverd, Mervyn Freeman
Variability of the geomagnetic field induces anomalous Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs) in grounded conducting infrastructure. GICs represent a serious space weather hazard, but are not often measured directly and the…19 August, 2022 by Ryan Saunders
Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have…Read more on Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology
17 August, 2022 by Victoria Peck
The carbon cycle is a key regulator of Earth’s climate. On geological time-scales, our understanding of particulate organic matter (POM), an important upper ocean carbon pool that fuels ecosystems and…16 August, 2022 by Amelie Kirchgaessner, Anna Jones
Atmospheric aerosols are important drivers of Arctic climate change through aerosol–cloud–climate interactions. However, large uncertainties remain on the sources and processes controlling particle numbers in both fine and coarse modes.…15 August, 2022 by Lara Perez Miguel, Victoria Peck
Early Pleistocene Marine Isotope Stage (MIS)-31 (1.081 to 1.062 Ma) is a unique interval of extreme global warming, including evidence of a West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) collapse. Here we…12 August, 2022 by Andrew Orr, Nadine Johnston
The aim of this workshop was to discuss the needs and challenges in using high-resolution climate model outputs for impacts-relevant modeling. Development of impacts-relevant climate projections in the polar regions…10 August, 2022 by Amy King, Jack Humby, Liz Thomas, Robert Mulvaney
A new ice core was drilled in West Antarctica on Skytrain Ice Rise in field season 2018/2019. This 651 m ice core is one of the main targets of the WACSWAIN…10 August, 2022 by Mervyn Freeman, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert, Thomas Daggitt
We analyse a set of events in which both electron flux dropouts caused by magnetopause shadowing and geosynchronous magnetopause crossings (GMCs) are observed. These observations are compared to event-specific last…10 August, 2022 by Matthew Chadwick
Antarctic sea ice forms a critical part of the Southern Ocean and global climate system. The behaviour of Antarctic sea ice throughout the last glacial-interglacial (G-IG) cycle (12 000–130 000 years) allows…4 August, 2022 by Ingrid Cnossen
Rocket emissions and debris from spacecraft falling out of orbit are having increasingly detrimental effects on global atmospheric chemistry. Improved monitoring and regulation are urgently needed to create an environmentally…Read more on Atmospheric impacts of the space industry require oversight [Comment]
3 August, 2022 by Peter Convey
1. Antarctic winters are challenging for terrestrial invertebrates, and species that live there have specialised adaptations to conserve energy and protect against cold injury in the winter. However, rapidly occurring…3 August, 2022 by Ben Robinson, Simon Morley
Living specimens of the macroalga Palmaria decipiens were collected from 100 m depth, representing a new confirmed depth record, considerably exceeding the previous record of 42 m depth. Previous deeper…3 August, 2022 by Peter Convey
Increased research attention is being given to bacterial diversity associated with lichens. Rock tripe lichens (Umbilicariaceae) were collected from two distinct Antarctic biological regions, the continental region near the Japanese…2 August, 2022 by Claire Allen, Louise Sime, Matthew Chadwick
Antarctic sea ice plays a critical role in the Earth system, influencing energy, heat and freshwater fluxes, air–sea gas exchange, ice shelf dynamics, ocean circulation, nutrient cycling, marine productivity and…1 August, 2022 by Michael Thorne
Instability in Jacobians is determined by the presence of an eigenvalue lying in the right half plane. The coefficients of the characteristic polynomial contain information related to the specific matrix…1 August, 2022 by Peter Convey
We assessed the potentially pathogenic fungi in Antarctic permafrost and the overlying active layer on King George, Robert, Livingston and Deception Islands in the South Shetland Islands archipelago, maritime Antarctica.…1 August, 2022 by Clara Manno, Claire Waluda
The polar plastics research community have recommended the spatial coverage of microplastic investigations in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean be increased. Presented here is a baseline estimate of microplastics in…Read more on A record of microplastic in the marine nearshore waters of South Georgia
1 August, 2022 by Dominic Hodgson
The Southern Hemisphere westerly wind belt (SHWW) is a major feature of Southern Hemisphere, midlatitude climate that is closely linked with the sequestration and release of CO2 in the Southern…1 August, 2022 by Simon Morley
Aim: The Antarctic Circumpolar Current imparts significant structure to the Southern Ocean biota. The Antarctic Polar Front is a major barrier to dispersal, with separate species (or sometimes intraspecific clades)…1 August, 2022 by James Smith, Joanne Johnson, Liz Thomas
The rate and magnitude of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) contribution to global sea-level rise beyond 2100 CE remains highly uncertain. Past changes of the AIS, however, offer opportunities to…Read more on Stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the pre-industrial Holocene