Showing 1828 items
5 November, 2018 by Dieter Tetzner, Liz Thomas
The Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is a region of special climatological interest. The late twentieth century has been a period of warming surface temperatures, enhanced mass loss from melting glaciers and…Read more on The climate of the Antarctic Peninsula during the 20th century- evidence from ice cores
5 November, 2018 by David Barnes
When marine organisms eat and grow they capture and store carbon, termed blue carbon. Polar seas have extreme light climates and sea temperatures. Their continental shelves have amongst the most…1 January, 2018 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Fausto Ferraccioli
Ice cores in Antarctica and Greenland reveal ice-crystal fabrics that can be softer under simple shear compared with isotropic ice. Owing to the sparseness of ice cores in regions away…1 January, 2018 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Tom Jordan
Although the flow of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is well constrained from surface measurements and altimetry, our knowledge of the dynamic processes within the ice sheet remains limited. Recent…Read more on Position and variability of complex structures in the central East Antarctic Ice Sheet
1 January, 2018 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Tom Jordan
Long-range airborne geophysical measurements were carried out in the ICEGRAV campaigns, covering hitherto unexplored parts of interior East Antarctica and part of the Antarctic Peninsula. The airborne surveys provided a…1 January, 2018 by Michael Meredith
The Southern Ocean is the expanse of ocean encircling the Antarctic continent. Often it is defined as all ocean areas south of 35°S (e.g., Chelton et al. 1990) or 40°S…1 January, 2018 by Brent Minchew
Remote sensing technology is an essential link in the global monitoring of the ocean surface and radars are efficient sensors for detecting marine pollution. When used operationally, a tradeoff must…1 January, 2018 by Hugh Corr
We propose an algorithm to calculate the refraction path travelled by a signal from a source to a remote scatterer, through a horizontally parallel multilayer medium with vertical-varying refractive index.…Read more on Refraction angle calculation in multi-layered ice for wide-beam airborne radar
1 January, 2018 by Hugh Corr
Space-based radio echo sounding of the continental ice sheets can potentially provide full coverage with uniform sampling and data quality as well as detection of change in environmentally sensitive areas.…1 January, 2018 by Andy Smith
Is groundwater abundant in Antarctica and does it modulate ice flow? Answering this question matters because ice streams flow by gliding over a wet substrate of till. Water fed to…1 November, 2017 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
The physics of ice sheet dynamics are presented, with an emphasis on the recently developed understanding of the marine ice sheet instability. The relationship between the shallow approximations to the…1 October, 2017 by Kevin Hughes
The Polar Prediction Project (PPP) was conceived and initiated in 2012 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), through its World Weather Research Programme (WWRP), in response to rapid environmental change…Read more on Navigating weather, water, ice and climate change information for safe polar mobilities
13 June, 2017 by Hugh Corr
The Institute Ice Stream (IIS) in West Antarctica may be increasingly vulnerable to melting at the grounding line through modifications in ocean circulation. Understanding such change requires knowledge of grounding-line…1 March, 2017 by Michael Meredith
Sea ice around Antarctica plays a key role in determining the properties and circulation of the underlying Southern Ocean across a range of scales, whilst simultaneously numerous ocean processes impact…1 January, 2017 by Peter Convey
Terrestrial environments of Antarctica include some of the most extreme on Earth, challenging the very existence of life itself. This article outlines briefly the geological and biological history of the…1 January, 2017 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Samuel Seddon
The Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains are completely buried by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and hence are one of the most enigmatic tectonic features on Earth. The mountain range is underlain…Read more on Crustal structure of the Gamburtsev Province, East Antarctica, from airborne geophysics
9 September, 2016 by Eugene Murphy, Katrin Linse, Michael Meredith
The Antarctic marine ecosystem is strongly dependent on the regional circulation and climate of the ocean, and is important because of its role in the global carbon cycle, fisheries, and…Read more on Impacts and effects of ocean warming on Antarctic ecosystems and species
17 June, 2016 by Philip Leat, Robert Larter
Ploughing by deep keels of floating icebergs is a common feature of high-latitude continental margins. Icebergs that have calved from glaciers or ice sheets produce a range of seafloor signatures,…Read more on Iceberg ploughmarks and associated sediment ridges on the southern Weddell Sea margin
17 June, 2016 by Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Within Earth's ice sheets, fast-flowing ice streams are the principal components through which ice and sediment are discharged, accounting for c. 90% of the ice lost from the Antarctic today…17 June, 2016 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Large ice streams that drain the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) into the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) are currently thinning, accelerating and retreating rapidly (e.g. Rignot et al. 2014). These…1 June, 2016 by David Pearce
It is surprising how little we really know about the microorganisms that live within the Arctic Ocean and in particular their role in the marine food web. A comprehensive food…1 June, 2016 by Adrian Fox
This study builds on existing literature of glacier change estimation in polar regions and is a continuation of efforts aimed at unlocking the information encapsulated in archival aerial photography of…1 May, 2016 by Andrew Gray
Papers presented at the 25th Polar Libraries Colloquy, hosted by the British Antarctic Survey and Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, UK, 30th June – 4th July 2014Read more on Proceedings of the 25th Polar Libraries Colloquy
1 May, 2016
The polar regions are famously associated with extreme temperatures, ice, snow, legendary explorers, indigenous people, polar bears, penguins and other impressive fauna and flora. The past decades have witnessed a…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
New geophysical techniques (multibeam echo sounding and 3D seismics) have revolutionized high-resolution imaging of the modern seafloor and palaeo-shelf surfaces in Arctic and Antarctic waters, generating vast quantities of data…Read more on Atlas of submarine glacial landforms: Modern, Quaternary and Ancient
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
The landforms and sediments preserved on the Yermak Plateau (Figs 1, 2, 3) provide information on the glacial history and past dynamics of the northwestern-most sector of the Eurasian Ice…Read more on Landform assemblage produced by ice-grounding events on the Yermak Plateau
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
The original version of this glossary was published almost 20 years ago in the landmark volume Glaciated Continental Margins: An Atlas of Acoustic Images (Bell et al. 1997). For the…Read more on Glossary of glaciated continental margins and related geoscience methods
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Many glaciers on Svalbard thickened and advanced during the Little Ice Age (LIA), which occurred between about 1400 and 1920 in the archipelago (Werner 1993). A terminal transverse ridge, along…Read more on Little Ice Age terminal and retreat moraines in Kollerfjorden, NW Spitsbergen
1 January, 2016 by James Smith, Kelly Hogan, William Dickens
Subglacial and ice-marginal landforms produced during the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent regional deglaciation become progressively more buried, especially when postglacial sedimentation rates are high. Sub-bottom profiling is usually used…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Glacial landforms and sediments exposed sub-aerially have been the subject of description, analysis and interpretation for more than a century (e.g. De Laski 1864; De Geer 1889). Indeed, such features…Read more on Introduction: an atlas of submarine glacial landforms
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Glacimarine processes affect about 20% of the global ocean today, and this area expanded considerably under cyclical full-glacial conditions during the Quaternary (Fig. 1) (Dowdeswell et al. 2016b). Many of…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Today, the Greenland Ice Sheet reaches the sea via a number of fast-flowing outlet glaciers that are fed by ice draining from huge interior basins (Rignot & Kanagaratnam 2006). At…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Linear to curvilinear depressions on high-latitude continental shelves have long been regarded as the signature of the ploughing action of iceberg keels impinging on the sedimentary seafloor (e.g. Woodworth-Lynas et…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Fjords are deep valleys that have been flooded by encroaching seawater after ice retreat (Syvitski et al. 1987). They are produced mainly by glacial erosion, with the ice sometimes exploiting…Read more on Nordvestfjord: a major East Greenland fjord system
1 January, 2016 by Adrian Jenkins, Kelly Hogan, Keith Nicholls, Pierre Dutrieux
The huge cavities beneath floating Antarctic ice shelves have only been explored recently by autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Oceanic waters above the in situ freezing point melt those faces of…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Prominent quasi-linear or lobate wedge-shaped sedimentary landforms, termed grounding-zone wedges (GZWs), are distributed widely on polar continental shelves. They are regarded as a product of the deposition of mainly subglacially…Read more on Grounding-zone wedges on the northern Larsen shelf, Antarctic Peninsula
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Streamlined sedimentary and bedrock glacial landforms are widespread on high-latitude continental shelves and in fjords. It has been shown that they are orientated in the direction of past ice flow…Read more on Crag-and-tail landforms in outer Rijpfjorden, Nordaustlandet, Svalbard
1 January, 2016 by Philip Leat, Robert Larter
Submarine gullies are small-scale, confined channels on the order of tens of metres depth that form one of the most common morphological features of high-latitude continental slopes. Gully morphology varies…Read more on Submarine gullies on the southern Weddell Sea slope, Antarctica
1 January, 2016 by Philip Leat, Robert Larter
Trough-mouth fans (TMFs) are large depocentres of glacially influenced sediments formed at the mouths of some glacially carved cross-shelf troughs (Vorren et al. 1989). They develop in front of ice…Read more on Components of an Antarctic trough-mouth fan: examples from the Crary Fan, Weddell Sea
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Evidence of the former extent and dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet is preserved on the continental margin of NE Greenland (Fig. 1). The continental shelf is incised by a…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Subglacial landforms include a range of depositional and erosional features formed by the interaction of ice or meltwater with a soft sedimentary or bedrock substrate. The genesis of many such…1 January, 2016 by Dominic Hodgson, Kelly Hogan
Sub-Antarctic South Georgia (54° 17′ S, 36° 30′ W, 3755 km2) is a large heavily glacierized island that is 170 km long, 39 km wide and rises to elevations of…Read more on Terminal moraines in the fjord basins of sub-Antarctic South Georgia
1 January, 2016 by Adrian Jenkins, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
About 30% of ice draining the West Antarctic Ice Sheet discharges through several glacier systems into the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) (Fig. 1a). Two major ice-stream outlets, Pine Island and…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Submarine landslide scars, including the huge Hinlopen–Yermak slide-scar north of Svalbard (Fig. 1) (Vanneste et al. 2006; Winkelmann et al. 2006), are relatively common geomorphological features on glaciated continental margins.…Read more on Geomorphology of the huge Hinlopen-Yermak landslide on the northern Svalbard margin
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Meltwater channels that have formed beneath glaciers and ice sheets have been observed on glaciated terrain, both terrestrial and submarine. Around Antarctica, channels incised into bedrock on the inner continental…Read more on Subglacial meltwater channels in Marguerite Trough, western Antarctic Peninsula
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
The Barents Sea is a wide, relatively deep epicontinental sea consisting of shallower banks (c. 50–100 m depth) separated by broad, flat-bottomed troughs (c. 200–400 m depth) that radiate out…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Large sediment mounds on the continental rise around Antarctica have been interpreted as sediment drifts formed through interaction of downslope transport of mainly glacially derived sediments with alongslope bottom currents…Read more on Large sediment drifts on the upper continental rise west of the Antarctic Peninsula
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
The Antarctic Peninsula comprises a thin spine of mountains and islands presently covered by an ice sheet up to 500 m thick that drains eastward and westward via outlet glaciers…1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
The seafloor of inner continental shelves on glaciated margins is sometimes stripped of most of the softer sediments, leaving bedrock exposed (Wellner et al. 2001). Examples of such exposed bedrock…Read more on Bedrock channels in Pine Island Bay, West Antarctica
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Glacial cross-shelf troughs, often hundreds of metres deep and tens to hundreds of kilometres long, are characteristic components of most high-latitude continental shelves (e.g. Anderson 1999). Most Arctic shelves are…Read more on Three cross-shelf troughs on the continental shelf of SW Greenland from Olex data
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan
Acoustically stratified sediments that infill glacially eroded bedrock basins are common in fjords (Seramur et al. 1997; Gilbert et al. 1998; Hogan et al. 2012; Dowdeswell & Vasquez 2013). Internally,…Read more on Stratified glacimarine basin-fills in West Greenland fjords
1 January, 2016 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
Most of the West Antarctic continental margin has prograded during Neogene and Quaternary times, due largely to sediment delivery to the shelf break by ice sheets (Larter & Cunningham 1993;…Read more on Debris-flow deposits on the West Antarctic continental slope
1 January, 2016 by Kelly Hogan, Robert Larter
On parts of glaciated continental margins, especially the inner shelves around Antarctica, grounded ice has removed pre-existing sedimentary cover, leaving subglacial bedforms on eroded substrates (Anderson et al. 2001; Wellner…Read more on Crag-and-tail features on the Amundsen Sea continental shelf, West Antarctica
1 January, 2016 by Jeremy Wilkinson, Kelly Hogan
The life history of sea ice is written in its basal morphology. Sea ice progresses through several stages during its lifecycle, including frazil, nilas and pancake ice, until it bonds…Read more on The three-dimensional shape of sea ice revealed by multibeam sonar
1 June, 2015 by Adrian Fox
We report on the activities related to the IAG Subcommission 1.3f “Regional Reference Frame for Antarctica”. Campaign-style GPS observations have been carried out since 1995. Based on the Bernese GNSS…Read more on The Antarctic Regional GPS Network Densification: Status and Results
1 January, 2015
The early national expeditions to Antarctica were short-term, with science usually driven by the interests and opportunities of those scientists who were taken along. Some expeditions made important collections of…Read more on Antarctic scientific collaboration. The role of the SCAR
1 January, 2015 by Keith Nicholls
A low-power, autonomous phase-sensitive radioecho sounder (ApRES) radar system has been developed at University College London, in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey, for monitoring and imaging Antarctic ice shelves.…1 August, 2014 by Huw Griffiths, Alistair Crame, Susie Grant