Showing 11332 items
17 August, 2021 by Gareth Chisham
The aurora is a readily visible phenomenon of interest to many members of the public. However, the aurora and associated phenomena can also significantly impact communications, ground-based infrastructure, and high-altitude…Read more on Evaluating auroral forecasts against satellite observations
17 August, 2021 by Andrew Orr, Tony Phillips
We compare the performance of five different regional climate models (RCMs) (COSMO-CLM2, HIRHAM5, MAR3.10, MetUM, and RACMO2.3p2), forced by ERA-Interim reanalysis, in simulating the near-surface climate and surface mass balance…
16 August, 2021 by Leo Middleton
Double diffusion refers to a variety of turbulent processes in which potential energy is released into kinetic energy, made possible in the ocean by the difference in molecular diffusivities between…Read more on Estimating dissipation rates associated with double diffusion
16 August, 2021 by Richard Horne
Signals from very-low-frequency transmitters on the ground are known to induce energetic electron precipitation from the Earth's radiation belts. The effectiveness of this mechanism depends on the propagation characteristics of…Read more on Direct evidence reveals transmitter signal propagation in the magnetosphere
16 August, 2021 by Michael Meredith
Since the middle of the past century, the Western Antarctic Peninsula has warmed rapidly with a significant loss of sea ice but the impacts on plankton biodiversity and carbon cycling…
13 August, 2021 by Philip Trathan
As the global environmental crisis grows in scale and complexity, conservation professionals and policymakers are increasingly called upon to make decisions despite high levels of uncertainty, limited resources, and insufficient…11 August, 2021 by Mark Clilverd
Observational studies suggest that part of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) variability may be attributed to the spectral ultra-violet (UV) irradiance variations associated to the 11-year solar cycle. The observed…
5 August, 2021 by Jakob Thyrring, Lloyd Peck
Climate change has ecosystem‐wide cascading effects. Little is known, however, about the resilience of Arctic marine ecosystems to environmental change. Here we quantify and compare large‐scale patterns in rocky intertidal…
4 August, 2021 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Eugene Murphy, Geraint Tarling, Jennifer Jackson, Kevin Hughes, Nadine Johnston, Philip Trathan, Richard Phillips, Rachel Cavanagh, Ryan Saunders, Sally Thorpe
Southern Ocean ecosystems are globally important. Processes in the Antarctic atmosphere, cryosphere, and the Southern Ocean directly influence global atmospheric and oceanic systems. Southern Ocean biogeochemistry has also been shown…Read more on Global connectivity of Southern Ocean ecosystems
4 August, 2021 by Huw Griffiths
Thirty-seven holothuroid species, including six potentially new, are reported from the eastern Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Information regarding sea cucumbers in this dataset is based on Agassiz Trawl (AGT) samples…
3 August, 2021 by Clara Manno, Emily Rowlands, Sally Thorpe, Victoria Peck
In aquatic environments, plastic pollution occurs concomitantly with anthropogenic climate stressors such as ocean acidification. Within the Southern Ocean, Antarctic krill (Euphausia Superba) support many marine predators and play a…
1 August, 2021 by Philip Trathan, Victoria Warwick-Evans
The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on earth, and it is likely that the abundance and distribution of marine predators will change as a result.Procellariiform…
1 August, 2021 by Emily Venables, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker
Because ice shelves respond to climatic forcing over a range of time scales, from years to millennia, an understanding of their long-term history is critically needed for predicting their future…Read more on History of Larsen C Ice Shelf reconstructed from sub-ice shelf and offshore sediments
1 August, 2021 by Simeon Hill
Efforts to model marine food-webs are generally undertaken by small teams working separately on specific regions (
1 August, 2021
Cephalopods are an important component of Southern Ocean food webs but studies analysing their habitat and trophic ecology are scarce. Here, we use the Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni as a…
1 August, 2021 by Markus Frey
Elevated concentrations of atmospheric bromine are known to cause ozone depletion in the Arctic, which is most frequently observed during springtime. We implement a detailed description of bromine and chlorine…
1 August, 2021
For top consumers in marine environments, trophic discrimination factors (∆13C and ∆15N) between food and consumers’ tissues are expected to be similar among related species. However, few studies conducted in…
1 August, 2021 by Anna Belcher, Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Louise Ireland, Peter Fretwell, Sophie Fielding
Antarctic krill are the dominant metazoan in the Southern Ocean in terms of biomass; however, their wide and patchy distribution means that estimates of their biomass are still uncertain. Most…
1 August, 2021 by Jacob Opher, Alexander Brearley, Michael Meredith
The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is experiencing significant mass loss and freshwater discharge at glacier fronts. The freshwater input from Greenland will impact the physical properties of adjacent coastal seas,…Read more on Tracing glacial meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet to the ocean using gliders
1 August, 2021 by Carlos Martin Garcia
Crary Ice Rise formed after the Ross Ice Shelf re-grounded ~1 kyr BP. We present new ice-penetrating radar data from two systems operating at center frequencies of 7 and 750…1 August, 2021 by Elisa Bergami
Marine nano-ecotoxicology has emerged with the purpose to assess the environmental risks associated with engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) among contaminants of emerging concerns entering the marine environment. ENMs’ massive production and…1 August, 2021 by James France
Biological oxidation of methane in landfill cover material can be calculated from the carbon isotopic signature (δ13CCH4) of emitted CH4. Enhanced microbial consumption of methane in the aerobic portion of…
28 July, 2021 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
Major ice loss in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is hypothesized to have triggered ice sheet collapses during past warm periods such as those…Read more on Evidence for a highly dynamic West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Pliocene
28 July, 2021 by Simon Morley
Marine mammal sightings were recorded during research cruises to three remote, mid-ocean British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean. In March to April 2018 and 2019, the…27 July, 2021 by Philip Trathan
Wild penguins are facing increased threats to their populations and their welfare as a consequence of human activities. Understanding the perception of animal welfare is essential to identify ethical concerns…Read more on A citizen science trial to assess perception of wild penguin welfare
27 July, 2021 by James France
Atmospheric ethane can be used as a tracer to distinguish methane sources, both at the local and global scale. Currently, ethane can be measured in the field using flasks or…23 July, 2021 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Sofia-Katerina Kufner
Antarctic ice sheet history is imprinted in the structure and fabric of the ice column. At ice rises, the signature of ice flow history is preserved due to the low…Read more on Downhole distributed acoustic seismic profiling at Skytrain Ice Rise, West Antarctica
22 July, 2021 by Dani Jones
Progress within physical oceanography has been concurrent with the increasing sophistication of tools available for its study. The incorporation of machine learning (ML) techniques offers exciting possibilities for advancing the…22 July, 2021 by Gareth Marshall
Arctic surface temperature has increased at approximately twice the global rate over the past few decades and is also projected to warm most in the 21st century. However, the mechanism…
21 July, 2021 by Gareth Chisham, Mervyn Freeman, Rob Shore
The archive of plasma velocity measurements from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) provides a rich dataset for investigation of magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling. However, systematic gaps in this archive exist…20 July, 2021 by James France
Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are contaminants of emerging Arctic concern and are present in the marine environments of the polar regions. Their input to and fate within the marine…
19 July, 2021 by Luca Telesca
Mussels belonging to the Mytilus species complex (M. edulis, ME; M. galloprovincialis, MG; and M. trossulus, MT) often occur in sympatry, facilitating introgressive hybridisation. This may be further promoted by…17 July, 2021 by Caitlin Frankish, Richard Phillips
1. Many seabirds dive to forage, and the ability to use this hunting technique varies according to such factors as morphology, physiology, prey availability, and ambient light levels. Proficient divers…
16 July, 2021 by Alex Brisbourne, Andy Smith, Sofia-Katerina Kufner
Icequakes, microseismic earthquakes at glaciers, offer insights into the dynamics of ice sheets. For the first time in the Antarctic, we explore the use of fiber optic cables as Distributed…
15 July, 2021 by Peter Convey
We describe seasonal changes in the biogeochemistry, microbial community and ecosystem production of two glacial snowpacks in the maritime Antarctic during a cold summer. Frequent snowfall and low, intermittent melt…
14 July, 2021 by James France
In regions where there are multiple sources of methane (CH4) in close proximity, it can be difficult to apportion the CH4 measured in the atmosphere to the appropriate sources. In…12 July, 2021 by Cameron Fox-Clarke, Camille Toscani, Claire Stainfield, Jaume Forcada
Tracking studies of juveniles are rare compared to those of adults, and consequently little is known about the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on activity during this critical life…
9 July, 2021 by Emma Woodfield
Jupiter’s rapidly rotating, strong magnetic field provides a natural laboratory that is key to understanding the dynamics of high-energy plasmas. Spectacular auroral x-ray flares are diagnostic of the most energetic…Read more on Revealing the source of Jupiter’s x-ray auroral flares
8 July, 2021 by Mervyn Freeman
We examine how Sudden Commencements (SCs) and Storm Sudden Commencements (SSCs) influence the occurrence of high rates of change of the magnetic field (R) as a function of geomagnetic latitude.…
1 July, 2021 by Peter Convey
We assessed fungal diversity present in air samples obtained from King George Island, Antarctica, using DNA metabarcoding through high-throughput sequencing. We detected 186 fungal amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) dominated by…1 July, 2021 by Oliver Marsh
Surface crevasses covered by snow bridges can be mapped remotely on ice sheets and glaciers using active microwave synthetic aperture radar. They are highlighted against the surrounding snow due to…Read more on Crevasse and rift detection in Antarctica from TerraSAR-X satellite imagery
1 July, 2021 by Pierre Dutrieux
Antarctic glacial meltwater is thought to play an important role in determining large-scale Southern Ocean climate trends, yet recent modeling efforts have proceeded without a good understanding of how its…Read more on On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves
1 July, 2021 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Motivated to help improve the robustness of predictions of sea level rise, the BRITICE-CHRONO project advanced knowledge of the former British–Irish Ice Sheet, from 31 to 15 ka, so that…1 July, 2021 by Thomas Bauska
Northern peatlands store large amounts of carbon: 500 ± 100 GtC, according to a consolidated estimate from a diversity of methods1,2,3,4,5,6. However, Nichols and Peteet7 presented an estimate of 1,055 GtC, exceeding previous estimates…Read more on No support for carbon storage of > 1,000 GtC in northern peatlands.
1 July, 2021 by Adrian Jenkins
When the inclined base of an ice shelf melts into the ocean, it induces both a statically stable stratification and a buoyancy-forced, sheared flow along the interface. Understanding how those…Read more on Shear, Stability and Mixing within the Ice-Shelf-Ocean Boundary Current
1 July, 2021 by Kayleigh Jones
Individual specialization, which describes whether populations are comprised of dietary generalists or specialists, has profound ecological and evolutionary implications. However, few studies have quantified individual specialization within and between sympatric…
30 June, 2021 by Jonathan Shanklin, Joshua Eveson, Steve Colwell
Measurements by the Dobson ozone spectrophotometer at the British Antarctic Survey's (BAS) Halley research station form a record of Antarctic total column ozone that dates back to 1956. Due to…25 June, 2021 by Tracey Dornan, Claire Waluda, Ryan Saunders, Tracey Dornan, Tracey Dornan
Southern Ocean ecosystems are globally important and vulnerable to global drivers of change, yet they remain challenging to study. Fish and squid make up a significant portion of the biomass…Read more on Productivity and change in fish and squid in the Southern Ocean
25 June, 2021 by Simon Morley
St Helena is an isolated oceanic island located in the tropical South Atlantic, and knowledge of broadscale oceanography and productivity in its surrounding waters is limited. This study used model…
24 June, 2021 by Claire Waluda, David Barnes, Huw Griffiths, Jennifer Jackson, Kevin Hughes, Simon Morley, Susie Grant
Local drivers are human activities or processes that occur in specific locations, and cause physical or ecological change at the local or regional scale. Here, we consider marine and land-derived…
23 June, 2021 by Danielle Buss, Jennifer Jackson
Southern right whale vocalizations were recorded concurrently with visual observations off the sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia, and the characteristics of these calls were described. Calls were also compared to…Read more on Southern right whale vocalizations on foraging grounds in South Georgia
23 June, 2021
Rawls argued that fairness in human societies can be achieved if decisions about the distribution of societal rewards are made from behind a veil of ignorance, which obscures the personal…Read more on A veil of ignorance can promote fairness in a mammal society
21 June, 2021 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Palaeo-ice sheets are important analogues for understanding contemporary ice sheets, offering a record of ice sheet behaviour that spans millennia. There are two main approaches to reconstructing palaeo-ice sheets. Empirical…21 June, 2021 by Eugene Murphy, Nadine Johnston, Rachel Cavanagh
Successful management and mitigation of marine challenges depends on cooperation and knowledge sharing which often occurs across culturally diverse geographic regions. Global ocean science collaboration is therefore essential for developing…17 June, 2021 by Emma Young, Martin Collins
Seamounts have long been recognised as hotspots for pelagic productivity and diversity in the world’s open ocean habitats. Recent studies have suggested that productivity may vary greatly between different seamounts,…
16 June, 2021 by Anje-Margriet Neutel, Michael Thorne
To assess which ecosystems are most vulnerable it is necessary to compare the resilience of complex interaction networks in a meaningful way. A fundamental problem for the comparative analysis of…16 June, 2021 by Lloyd Peck, Peter Convey, Peter Fretwell
Snow algae are an important group of terrestrial photosynthetic organisms in Antarctica, where they mostly grow in low lying coastal snow fields. Reliable observations of Antarctic snow algae are difficult…
15 June, 2021 by Kelly Hogan
The cryospheric response to climatic warming responsible for recent Arctic sea ice decline can be elucidated using marine geological archives which offer an important long-term perspective. The Holocene Thermal Maximum,…Read more on Seasonal sea ice persists through the Holocene Thermal Maximum at 80°N
14 June, 2021 by Hamish Pritchard
The IPCC Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate identified major gaps in our knowledge of snow and glacier ice in the terrestrial cryosphere. These gaps are…Read more on Global data gaps in our knowledge of the terrestrial cryosphere
11 June, 2021 by Claire Allen, Elaine Mawbey, Povl Abrahamsen, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Victoria Peck
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is one of the largest potential sources of future sea-level rise, with glaciers draining the WAIS thinning at an accelerating rate over the past…
11 June, 2021 by Joanne Johnson, Stephen Roberts
Since the Last Glacial Maximum ∼20,000 years ago, the Antarctic Ice Sheet has undergone extensive changes, resulting in a much smaller present‐day configuration. Improving our understanding of basic physical processes…
11 June, 2021 by Peter Convey
The extensive industrial use of the heavy metal molybdenum (Mo) has led to an emerging global pollution with its traces that can even be found in Antarctica. In response, a…
11 June, 2021 by Clara Manno, Kirstie Jones-Williams, Victoria Peck
As the remote Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) becomes increasingly connected to the rest of the world, there is an impetus to monitor the possible impact of this connectivity. The potential…
11 June, 2021 by Mark Barham, Pierre Dutrieux
Speedup of Pine Island Glacier over the past several decades has made it Antarctica’s largest contributor to sea-level rise. The past speedup is largely due to grounding-line retreat in response…Read more on Ice-shelf retreat drives recent Pine Island Glacier speedup
11 June, 2021 by Peter Convey
As part of the reconstruction of the Brazilian Antarctic Station on King George Island, three areas of moss carpet were transplanted to minimize the impact of the new facilities on…
10 June, 2021 by Andrew Orr
Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) play important roles in stratospheric ozone depletion during winter and spring at high latitudes (e.g., the Antarctic ozone hole). PSC particles provide sites for heterogeneous reactions…
10 June, 2021 by Tracy Moffat-Griffin
An unusual sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event occurred in the Southern Hemisphere in September 2019. Ground-based and satellite observations show the presence of transient eastward- and westward-propagating quasi-10 day planetary…
10 June, 2021 by Tracy Moffat-Griffin
The mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) is a critical region that must be accurately reproduced in general circulation models (GCMs) that aim to include the coupling between the lower and…10 June, 2021 by Melody Clark, Tejaswi Yarra
Biomineralization by molluscs involves regulated deposition of calcium carbonate crystals within a protein framework to produce complex biocomposite structures. Effective biomineralization is a key trait for aquaculture, and animal resilience…9 June, 2021 by Richard Phillips
Research into the patterns and drivers of juvenile migration is important for understanding the development of individual migration strategies. Although several recent studies have tracked adult large gulls throughout the…
4 June, 2021 by Jakob Thyrring
1. Temperatures in the Arctic are increasing at a faster pace than at lower latitudes resulting in range expansion of boreal species. In Greenland, the warming also drives accelerating melt…
4 June, 2021 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Hugh Corr
Water-stable isotopes in polar ice cores are a widely used temperature proxy in paleoclimate reconstruction, yet calibration remains challenging in East Antarctica. Here, we reconstruct the magnitude and spatial pattern…Read more on Antarctic surface temperature and elevation during the Last Glacial Maximum
3 June, 2021 by David Barnes, Lloyd Peck, Nadescha Zwerschke, Simon Morley
All coastal systems experience disturbances and many across the planet are under unprecedented threat from an intensification of a variety of stressors. The West Antarctic Peninsula is a hotspot of…3 June, 2021 by Peter Convey
Hydrocarbon pollution is widespread around the globe and, even in the remoteness of Antarctica, the impacts of hydrocarbons from anthropogenic sources are still apparent. Antarctica’s chronically cold temperatures and other…2 June, 2021 by Peter Convey
Pollution associated with petrogenic hydrocarbons is increasing in Antarctica due to a combination of increasing human activity and the continent’s unforgiving environmental conditions. The current study focuses on the ability…2 June, 2021 by Kevin Newsham
Previous studies have shown changes to the frequencies of hyphal coils and other fungal structures in leafy liverwort tissues across latitudinal transects through Antarctica. Although suggestive of a role of…
1 June, 2021 by Philip Trathan, Peter Fretwell
The distribution of emperor penguins is circumpolar, with 54 colony locations currently reported of which 50 are currently extant as of 2019. Here we report on eight newly discovered colonies…Read more on Discovery of new colonies by Sentinel2 reveals good and bad news for emperor
1 June, 2021 by Huw Griffiths, Lloyd Peck
Important findings from the second decade of the 21st century on the impact of environmental change on biological processes in the Antarctic were synthesised by 26 international experts. Ten key…Read more on Antarctic ecosystems in transition – life between stresses and opportunities
1 June, 2021 by Gareth Chisham
The high frequency radars in the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) estimate the elevation angles of returned backscatter using interferometric techniques. These elevation angles allow the ground range to…
1 June, 2021 by Huw Griffiths
Quantarctica (https://www.npolar.no/quantarctica) is a geospatial data package, analysis environment, and visualization platform for the Antarctic Continent, Southern Ocean (>40oS), and sub-Antarctic islands. Quantarctica works with the free, cross-platform Geographical Information…
1 June, 2021 by Andrew Orr, Gareth Marshall, Hua Lu, Scott Hosking, John King, John Turner, Steve Colwell, Tony Phillips
Commencing in 1956, observations made at Halley Research Station, Antarctica provide one of the longest continuous series of near-surface temperature observations from the Antarctic continent. Since few other records of…Read more on Inhomogeneity of the surface air temperature record from Halley, Antarctica
1 June, 2021 by Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey
Antarctica currently has few non-native species, compared to other regions of the planet, due to the continent’s isolation, extreme climatic conditions and the lack of habitat. However, human activity, particularly…
1 June, 2021 by Martin Collins
The yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) is a widely distributed, migratory species that supports valuable commercial fisheries throughout their range. Management of migratory species requires knowledge of movement, mixing and key…
1 June, 2021 by Teal Riley
We present the results of U-Pb zircon dating conducted using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), isotopic tracing analyses of Hf in zircon and Sr-Nd in whole-rock and whole-rock…
1 June, 2021 by Kevin Hughes, Susie Grant
Antarctic ecosystem services are rich and diverse and include global climate modulation, biodiversity and habitat protection, cultural heritage, scientific knowledge, education and recreation as well as the extraction of marine…1 June, 2021 by Hugh Venables, Alexander Brearley, Mark Barham, Michael Meredith
The west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a region of marked climatic variability, exhibiting strong changes in sea ice extent, retreat of most of its glaciers, and shifts in the amount…
1 June, 2021 by Eugene Murphy, John Dickens, Martin Collins, Philip Hollyman, Philip Trathan, John Dickens
Many remote islands present barriers to effective wildlife monitoring in terms of challenging terrain and frequency of visits. The sub-Antarctic islands of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are…
1 June, 2021 by Irena Vankova
High-frequency radar tracking of icebergs floating in front of a glacier in Greenland show that movements of the ice mélange consistently increase before calving events, indicating that mélange has the…Read more on Calving prediction from ice mélange motion [News]
31 May, 2021 by Katrin Linse
Growing human activity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) is driving increasing impacts on the biodiversity of this vast area of the ocean. As a result, the United Nations General…
28 May, 2021 by Robert Mulvaney
Fire plays a pivotal role in shaping terrestrial ecosystems and the chemical composition of the atmosphere and thus influences Earth’s climate. The trend and magnitude of fire activity over the…28 May, 2021 by Philip Trathan
Climate change and other human activities are causing profound effects on marine ecosystem productivity. We show that the breeding success of seabirds is tracking hemispheric differences in ocean warming and…Read more on Hemispheric asymmetry in ocean change and the productivity of ecosystem sentinels
28 May, 2021 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
Over the last two decades, Zootaxa has hosted nearly 200 papers concerning tardigrade taxonomy, systematics, phylogeny, and evolution. A total of 160 researchers from all continents (except the Antarctic) published…Read more on 20 years of Zootaxa: Tardigrada (Ecdysozoa: Panarthropoda).
28 May, 2021 by Martin Collins
The yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares: YFT) is a widely distributed, migratory species that supports valuable commercial fisheries. Landings of YFT are seasonally and spatially variable, reflecting changes in their availability…27 May, 2021
Gravity wave (GW) activities in the upper mesosphere (80–100 km) and their potential sources are investigated using meteor radar observations at King Sejong Station, Antarctica (KSS; 62.22°S, 58.78°W) during recent…
26 May, 2021 by Mervyn Freeman
We must be able to predict and mitigate against GIC effects to minimize socio‐economic impacts. This study employs the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) to model the geomagnetic response over…25 May, 2021 by Louis-Alexandre Couston
Subglacial lakes are isolated, low-temperature and high-pressure water environments hidden under ice sheets. Here, we use two-dimensional direct numerical simulations in order to investigate the characteristic temperature fluctuations and velocities…
20 May, 2021 by Keith Nicholls, Peter Davis
Floating ice shelves are the Achilles’ heel of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. They limit Antarctica’s contribution to global sea level rise, yet they can be rapidly melted from beneath by…