Showing 13487 items
1 September, 2021 by Andy Smith, Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls, Paul Anker
During the 2018/19 Antarctic field season, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Basal conditions on Rutford Ice Stream: BEd Access, Monitoring and Ice Sheet History’ (BEAMISH) project drilled three holes through…Read more on The BEAMISH hot water drill system and its use on the Rutford Ice Stream, Antarctica
1 September, 2021 by Andrew Meijers
The deepest wintertime (Jul-Sep) mixed layers associated with Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) formation develop in the Indian and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean. In these two sectors the dominant…
1 September, 2021 by Alex Brisbourne, Carson McAfee, Julius Rix, Keith Makinson, Paul Anker, Sean Quirk
A programmable borehole measurement system was deployed in hot water drilled ice holes during the ‘Bed Access and Monitoring of Ice Sheet History’ (BEAMISH) project to drill to the bed…Read more on Non-contact measurement system for hot water drilled ice boreholes
1 September, 2021 by Andy Smith, David Goodger, Julius Rix, Keith Makinson, Paul Anker, Scott Polfrey
Recent drilling successes on Rutford Ice Stream in West Antarctica demonstrate the viability of hot water drilling subglacial access holes to depths >2000 m. Having techniques to access deep subglacial…Read more on Development of a clean hot water drill to access Subglacial Lake CECs, West Antarctica
1 September, 2021 by Melody Clark, Tejaswi Yarra
Mollusc shells are a result of the deposition of crystalline and amorphous calcite catalysed by enzymes and shell matrix proteins. Developing a detailed understanding of bivalve mollusc biomineralization pathways is…
1 September, 2021 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Julius Rix, Rebecca Tuckwell, Robert Mulvaney, Scott Polfrey
To understand the long-term climate and glaciological evolution of the ice sheet in the region bordering the Weddell Sea, the British Antarctic Survey has undertaken a series of successful ice…Read more on Ice drilling on Skytrain Ice Rise and Sherman Island, Antarctica
1 September, 2021 by Eugene Murphy, John Turner, Michael Meredith, Philip Hollyman, Philip Trathan, Rachel Cavanagh, Simeon Hill, Susie Grant
Southern Ocean marine ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate-driven change, the impacts of which must be factored into conservation and management. The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living…1 September, 2021 by Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse
The Southern Ocean (SO) continental shelf and deep sea are environments characterised by different benthic communities. Their structure and composition are driven and shaped by different variables: whilst on the…Read more on Drivers of abundance and spatial distribution in Southern Ocean peracarid Crustacea
1 September, 2021 by Martin Collins, Philip Hollyman, Richard Phillips
Seabird mortality in fisheries is a global problem and a major driver of the continued decline of many seabird populations. Unless appropriate mitigation is in place, longline fishing can cause…1 September, 2021 by Eugene Murphy, Martin Collins, Philip Hollyman, Philip Trathan, Sophie Fielding, Victoria Warwick-Evans
The objective of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management is to sustain healthy marine ecosystems and the fisheries they support. One of the earliest implementations was in the Southern Ocean,…1 September, 2021 by Hua Lu, John King, Thomas Bracegirdle
A new regime index is constructed to capture the seasonal development of the stratospheric polar vortex in the northern winter, based on the standard deviation of Ertel’s potential vorticity in…
1 September, 2021 by Caitlin Frankish, Richard Phillips
Fisheries bycatch is a major threat to marine megafauna such as seabirds. Population monitoring has revealed low survival of juvenile seabirds over recent decades, potentially because naïve individuals are more…Read more on Tracking juveniles confirms fisheries-bycatch hotspot for an endangered albatross
1 September, 2021 by Dieter Tetzner, Dorothea Moser, Liz Thomas
The climate of the sub-Antarctic is important in understanding the environmental conditions of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. However, regional climate proxy records from this region are scarce. In this…31 August, 2021 by Rachel Cavanagh
To evaluate the species diversity and strengthen the taxonomic identification of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, a study was conducted in the southeast coastal region between January 2016…31 August, 2021 by John Turner, Paul Holland
Over the modern satellite era, substantial climatic changes have been observed in the Antarctic, including atmospheric and oceanic warming, ice sheet thinning and a general Antarctic-wide expansion of sea ice,…Read more on Tropical teleconnection impacts on Antarctic climate changes
28 August, 2021 by Thomas Bracegirdle
Projections of the sea level contribution from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets rely on atmospheric and oceanic drivers obtained from climate models. The Earth System Models participating in the…
28 August, 2021 by Richard Horne
Density irregularities near the plasmapause are commonly observed and play an important role in whistler-mode wave excitation and propagation. In this study, we report a frequency-dependent modulation event of whistler-mode…
28 August, 2021 by Mark Clilverd
A spring-fall asymmetry is observed in daytime amplitude values of very low frequency (VLF) radio wave signals propagating over the North Atlantic during 2011–2019. We explore the processes behind this…27 August, 2021 by Carlos Martin Garcia
The crystal orientation fabric (COF) of ice sheets records the past history of ice sheet deformation and influences present-day ice flow dynamics. Though not widely implemented, coherent ice-penetrating radar is…
26 August, 2021 by Dani Jones, Emily Shuckburgh, James Byrne, Scott Hosking, Jeremy Wilkinson, Tony Phillips, Tom Andersson
Anthropogenic warming has led to an unprecedented year-round reduction in Arctic sea ice extent. This has far-reaching consequences for indigenous and local communities, polar ecosystems, and global climate, motivating the…Read more on Seasonal Arctic sea ice forecasting with probabilistic deep learning
26 August, 2021 by Andrew Fleming, Andreas Cziferszky
Bringing together a number of cutting-edge technologies that range from storing extremely large volumesof data all the way to developing scalable machine learning and deep learning algorithms in a distributed…25 August, 2021 by Thomas Lachlan-Cope
The science guiding the EUREC4A campaign and its measurements is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and…
18 August, 2021 by Mervyn Freeman, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne
The magnetopause marks the outer edge of the Earth’s magnetosphere and a distinct boundary between solar wind and magnetospheric plasma populations. In this letter, we use global magnetohydrodynamic simulations to…
18 August, 2021 by Ben Robinson, David Barnes, Simon Morley
Climate-related disturbance regimes are changing rapidly with profound consequences for ecosystems. Disturbance is often perceived as detrimental to biodiversity; however, the literature is divided on how they influence each other.…
18 August, 2021 by Fausto Ferraccioli
Geothermal heat flow in the polar regions plays a crucial role in understanding ice-sheet dynamics and predictions of sea level rise. Continental-scale indirect estimates often have a low spatial resolution…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…13 July, 2021 by Charles Simpson
Commissioned by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Commission on Climate, this report provides a high-level risk assessment of changes the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough region may experience due to climate change…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.…6 July, 2021 by Joseph Ulanowski
Numerous studies of the electrical properties in dusty environments, related to lofted particle charging, indicate that it is a rather complex mechanism which greatly affects the particle dynamics. The electrification…
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…