Found 14040 items
1 April, 2015 by Katrin Linse
Radiation of dramatically disparate forms among the phylum Mollusca remains a key question in metazoan evolution, and requires careful evaluation of homology of hard parts throughout the deep fossil record.…Read more on How the mollusc got its scales: convergent evolution of the molluscan scleritome
1 April, 2015 by Andrew Orr, John King, Thomas Lachlan-Cope
Previously unknown foehn jets have been identified to the east of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) above the Larsen C Ice Shelf. These jets have major implications for the east coast…Read more on Foehn jets over the Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica
1 April, 2015 by Thomas Bracegirdle
A quantitative assessment of observed and projected environmental changes in the Southern Ocean (SO) with a potential impact on the marine ecosystem shows: (1) large proportions of the SO are…1 April, 2015 by Adrian Jenkins, James Jordan, Paul Holland, Satoshi Kimura
It has been suggested that the presence of frazil ice can lead to a conditional instability in seawater. Any frazil forming in the water column reduces the bulk density of…Read more on On the conditional frazil ice instability in seawater
1 April, 2015 by Mark Clilverd
Pulsating auroras show quasi-periodic intensity modulations caused by the precipitation of energetic electrons of the order of tens of keV. It is expected theoretically that not only these electrons but…1 April, 2015 by Lloyd Peck, Michael Thorne, Melody Clark, Victoria Sleight
Mollusc shell is built up by secretion from the mantle and is the result of a controlled biological process termed biomineralisation. In general mollusc shells are well characterised however, the…1 April, 2015 by Xin Yang
Mercury emissions from biomass burning are not well characterized and can differ significantly from year to year. This study utilizes three recent biomass burning inventories (FINNv1.0, GFEDv3.1, and GFASv1.0) and…Read more on Model study of global mercury deposition from biomass burning
31 March, 2015 by David Barnes
Hermit crabs are important components of Arctic benthic systems, yet baseline data on their densities and distribution patterns in this rapidly changing region are still scarce. Here we compile results…27 March, 2015 by Richard Phillips
Hybridization in natural populations provides an opportunity to study the evolutionary processes that shape divergence and genetic isolation of species. The emergence of pre-mating barriers is often the precursor to…27 March, 2015 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Hilmar Gudmundsson, Hugh Corr, Robert Mulvaney
Ice cores contain a record of snow precipitation that includes information about past atmospheric circulation and mass imbalance in the polar regions. We present a novel adjoint method to reconstruct…25 March, 2015 by Iain Staniland, Philip Trathan
Strategies employed by wide-ranging foraging animals involve consideration of habitat quality and predictability and should maximise net energy gain. Fidelity to foraging sites is common in areas of high resource…25 March, 2015 by Clara Manno, Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Peter Enderlein, Sophie Fielding
The northern Scotia Sea contains the largest seasonal uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide yet measured in the Southern Ocean. This study examines one of the main routes by which this…16 March, 2015 by Peter Fretwell
Ice shelves in West Antarctica have been shown to melt where warm circumpolar deep water enters a sub-shelf cavity. A bathymetric reconstruction of Totten Glacier in East Antarctica suggests that…10 March, 2015 by Xin Yang
A prominent feature of recent climatic change is the strong Arctic surface warming that is contemporaneous with broad cooling over much of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Longer global surface…Read more on An atmospheric origin of the multi-decadal bipolar seesaw
9 March, 2015 by Richard Phillips
Migratory behavior, routes and zones used during the non-breeding season are assumed to have been selected to maximize fitness, and can lead to genetic differentiation. Yet, here we show that…6 March, 2015 by Richard Phillips
Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly applied in conservation management to predict suitable habitat for poorly known populations. High predictive performance of SDMs is evident in validations performed within the…4 March, 2015 by Mark Belchier, Philip Trathan
Predatory interaction of marine mammals with longline fisheries is observed globally, leading to partial or complete loss of the catch and in some parts of the world to considerable financial…Read more on The impact of predation by marine mammals on Patagonian toothfish longline fisheries
2 March, 2015 by Richard Phillips
We describe the migration routes and non-breeding areas of Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) from the Azores Archipelago, based on ringing (banding) recoveries and tracking of three birds using geolocators. Over…1 March, 2015 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Many ice-sheet reconstructions assume monotonic Holocene retreat for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, but an increasing number of glaciological observations infer that some portions of the ice sheet may be…1 March, 2015 by Hua Lu, John Turner, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
The Eliassen–Palm (E-P) flux divergences derived from ERA-40 and ERA-Interim show significant differences during northern winter. The discrepancies are marked by vertically alternating positive and negative anomalies at high latitudes…1 March, 2015 by Dominic Hodgson
A global overview of glacier advances and retreats (grouped by regions and by millennia) for the Holocene is compiled from previous studies. The reconstructions of glacier fluctuations are based on…1 March, 2015 by Michael Meredith
The accumulation of carbon within the Weddell Gyre, and its exchanges across the gyre boundaries are investigated with three recent full-depth oceanographic sections enclosing this climatically-important region. The combination of…Read more on Carbon dynamics of the Weddell Gyre, Southern Ocean
1 March, 2015 by Carlos Martin Garcia
Ice rises situated in the ice-shelf belt around Antarctica have a spatially confined flow regime with local ice divides. Beneath the divides, ice stratigraphy often develops arches with amplitudes that…1 March, 2015 by John Isles, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne
Relativistic electrons (E > 1 MeV) cause internal charging on satellites and are an important space weather hazard. A key requirement in space weather research concerns extreme events and knowledge…1 March, 2015 by Dave Munday
The date of inception of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is debated due to uncertainty in the relative opening times of Drake Passage and the Tasman Seaway. Using an idealized eddy-resolving…1 March, 2015 by Richard Phillips
Long-term pair bonds occur in diverse animal taxa, but they are most common in birds, and can last from a few years to a lifetime. In many of these species,…1 March, 2015
Global climate is changing, with heterogeneous effects on the biological world including direct impacts on plant phenology. The resilience and future dynamics of ecosystems will depend on their responsiveness to…1 March, 2015 by Geraint Tarling, Gabriele Stowasser, Peter Ward, Ryan Saunders
Gymnoscopelus braueri, Gymnoscopelus fraseri and Gymnoscopelus nicholsi are common in the Southern Ocean mesopelagic fish community. However, their ecology is poorly understood in the region. This study investigated spatial and…1 March, 2015 by Mark Clilverd
Post-storm relativistic electron flux enhancement at geosynchronous orbit has shown correlation with very low frequency (VLF) waves measured by satellite in situ. However, our previous study found little correlation between…28 February, 2015 by Richard Horne
During geomagnetically active conditions upflowing field-aligned electrons which form part of the Birkland current system have been observed at energies of up to 100 eV. If the first adiabatic invariant…27 February, 2015 by Amelie Kirchgaessner, Andrew Orr, John King, Thomas Lachlan-Cope
We compare measurements of the turbulent and radiative surface energy fluxes from an automatic weather station (AWS) on Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica with corresponding fluxes from three high-resolution atmospheric…25 February, 2015 by Kevin Hughes
Recent advances in molecular biology techniques have shown the presence of diverse microbial communities and endemic species in Antarctica. Endemic microbes may be a potential source of novel biotechnologically important…Read more on Protection of Antarctic microbial communities – ‘out of sight, out of mind’
25 February, 2015 by Sandra McInnes, Sandra McInnes
This paper is the second monograph of nine that describes the global records of limno-terrestrial water bears (Tardigrada). Here, we provide a comprehensive list of non-marine tardigrades recorded from South…Read more on Annotated zoogeography of non-marine Tardigrada. Part II: South America
17 February, 2015
An accurate forecast of flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) initiation requires precise measurements of the magnetic energy buildup and release in the active regions of the solar atmosphere. We…Read more on The PAC2MAN mission: a new tool to understand and predict solar energetic events
17 February, 2015 by Richard Phillips
Following breeding, sooty shearwaters Puffinus griseus leave New Zealand waters and migrate to 1 of 3 distinct areas in the North Pacific Ocean, effectively exploiting environmental resources across a large…16 February, 2015 by Geraint Tarling, Peter Ward
The Southern Ocean (SO) is an important CO2 reservoir, some of which enters via the production, sinking and remineralization of organic matter. Recent work suggests the fraction of production that…16 February, 2015 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Tom Jordan
We present ice-penetrating radar evidence for ancient (pre-glacial) and extensive erosion surfaces preserved beneath the upstream Institute and Möller ice streams, West Antarctica. Radar data reveal a smooth, laterally continuous,…Read more on Ancient pre-glacial erosion surfaces preserved beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
2 February, 2015 by Melody Clark
The SALMFamides are a family of neuropeptides that act as muscle relaxants in echinoderms. Analysis of genome/transcriptome sequence data from the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (Echinoidea), the sea cucumber Apostichopus…1 February, 2015 by Dominic Hodgson, Stephen Roberts
Sub-Antarctic South Georgia is a key region for studying climate variability in the Southern Hemisphere, because of its position at the core of the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Wind belt and…1 February, 2015 by Elisabeth Biersma
Recent molecular phylogenetic analyses have revealed that some apparently oligoxenous feather mite species are in fact monoxenous cryptic species with little morphological differentiation. In this study we analyzed two species,…1 February, 2015 by David Vaughan, Jane Francis, Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark, Peter Convey
Antarctic and Southern Ocean science is vital to understanding natural variability, the processes that govern global change and the role of humans in the Earth and climate system. The potential…Read more on A roadmap for Antarctic and Southern Ocean science for the next two decades and beyond
1 February, 2015 by Peter Fretwell
Site fidelity is an important evolutionary trait to understand, as misinterpretation of philopatric behavior could lead to confusion over the key drivers of population dynamics and the environmental or anthropogenic…Read more on Emigration in emperor penguins: implications for interpretation of long-term studies
1 February, 2015 by Philip Leat
The Scotia Arc, situated between South America and Antarctica, is one of the Earth’s most important ocean gateways and former land bridges. Understanding its structure and development is critical for…Read more on The global relevance of the Scotia Arc: An introduction
1 February, 2015 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
This study investigates the microclimate and hydrology of debris-laden ice surfaces in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica, in early summer, focusing on the onset of melt. Measurements of energy and mass…1 February, 2015 by Richard Phillips
Aim Species that breed sympatrically often occupy different foraging niches to mitigate competition for prey. When resource availability declines at the end of the breeding season, some animals migrate to…1 February, 2015 by David Barnes
The Scotia Arc and Amundsen Sea are contrasting regions within West Antarctica. The Scotia Sea shelf is well studied and central to the origin and diversity of the Southern Ocean…Read more on Tanaidacea of the Amundsen and Scotia Seas: an unexplored diversity
1 February, 2015 by Philip Trathan
Cumulative human impacts across the world's oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at…Read more on Pollution, habitat loss, fishing and climate change as critical threats to penguins
1 February, 2015 by Richard Phillips
The marine ecosystems of the Bering Sea and adjacent southern Chukchi Sea are experiencing rapid changes due to recent reductions in sea ice. Short-tailed shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris visit this region…1 February, 2015 by David Pearce, Katrin Linse
We analyzed the diversity of bacterial epibionts and trophic ecology of a new species of Kiwa yeti crab discovered at two hydrothermal vent fields (E2 and E9) on the East…30 January, 2015 by Joakim Kjellsson
Incoming and outgoing solar radiation couple with heat exchange at Earth’s surface to drive weather patterns that redistribute heat and moisture around the globe, creating an atmospheric heat engine. Here,…Read more on Constrained work output of the moist atmospheric heat engine in a warming climate
30 January, 2015 by Andrew Orr, Howard Roscoe, Scott Hosking
An important source of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), which play a crucial role in controlling polar stratospheric ozone depletion, is from the temperature fluctuations induced by mountain waves. However, this…21 January, 2015
Background: The Kenyan Ministry of Health and partners implemented a community-based integrated prevention campaign (IPC) in Western Kenya in 2008. The aim of this study was to determine whether the…16 January, 2015 by Howard Roscoe
Equivalent effective stratospheric chlorine (EESC) construct of ozone regression models attributes ozone changes to EESC changes using a single value of the sensitivity of ozone to EESC over the whole…Read more on A cautionary note on the use of EESC-based regression analysis for ozone trend studies
15 January, 2015 by Alistair Crame, Jane Francis
Fossil hydrocarbon seeps are present in latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) volcaniclastic shallow shelf sediments exposed on Snow Hill and Seymour Islands, James Ross Basin, Antarctica. The seeps occur in the Snow…15 January, 2015 by Alistair Crame, Jane Francis, Vanessa Bowman
One of the most expanded records to contain the final fortunes of ammonoid cephalopods is within the López de Bertodano Formation of Seymour Island, James Ross Basin, Antarctica. Located at…13 January, 2015 by Andrew Meijers, Povl Abrahamsen, Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
The waters of the Weddell-Scotia Confluence (WSC) lie above the rugged topography of the South Scotia Ridge in the Southern Ocean. Meridional exchanges across the WSC transfer water and tracers…9 January, 2015 by Richard Phillips
Age-related variation in demographic rates is now widely documented in wild vertebrate systems, and has significant consequences for population and evolutionary dynamics. However, the mechanisms underpinning such variation, particularly in…1 January, 2015 by Iain Staniland, Norman Ratcliffe
Foraging site fidelity has profound consequences for individual fitness, population processes and the effectiveness of species conservation measures. Accordingly, quantifying site fidelity has become increasingly important in animal movement and…Read more on Winter foraging site fidelity of king penguins breeding at the Falkland Islands
1 January, 2015 by Emma Cross, Lloyd Peck
Marine calcifiers are amongst the most vulnerable organisms to ocean acidification due to reduction in the availability of carbonate ions for skeletal/shell deposition. However, there are limited long-term studies on…1 January, 2015 by Jeremy Wilkinson
Traditional measures for detecting oil spills in the open-ocean are both difficult to apply and less effective in ice-covered seas. In view of the increasing levels of commercial activity in…Read more on Detection and quantification of oil under sea ice: the view from below
1 January, 2015 by Jeremy Wilkinson
Recent decreases in summer sea ice cover are spurring interest in hydrocarbon extraction and shipping in Arctic waters, increasing the risk of an oil spill in ice covered waters. With…1 January, 2015 by Iain Staniland
The need to manage otariid populations has necessitated the development of a wide range of capture methods. Chemical restraint by remote drug delivery (i.e., darting) is a highly selective method…1 January, 2015 by Adrian Jenkins
Icebergs affect local biological production around Antarctica. We used an ocean glider to observe the effects of a large iceberg that was advected by the Antarctic Slope Current along the…1 January, 2015 by Andrew Fleming, Peter Fretwell, Richard Phillips
Despite the threats faced by seabirds in both terrestrial and marine habitats, even basic knowledge of the locations of colonies, population sizes and trends is lacking for many remote areas…Read more on Using the unique spectral signature of guano to identify unknown seabird colonies
1 January, 2015
The importance of cavities as roost sites in migratory species is often unknown because it is challenging to monitor cavity use during the non-breeding period. We documented cavity use throughout…1 January, 2015 by Povl Abrahamsen, Michael Meredith
Eddies in the Southern Ocean act to moderate the response of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) to changes in forcing. An updated analysis of the Southern Ocean satellite altimetry record…1 January, 2015 by Andrew Orr, Daniel Bannister, Emma Young, Scott Hosking, John King, Tony Phillips
This study seeks to quantify the influence of South Georgia's orography on regional surface winds. A typical case study characterized by large-scale westerly winds is analysed using a high-resolution setup…1 January, 2015 by Emily Venables, Keith Nicholls, Satoshi Kimura
Diffusive convection–favorable thermohaline staircases are observed directly beneath George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctica. A thermohaline staircase is one of the most pronounced manifestations of double-diffusive convection. Cooling and freshening of…Read more on Estimation of ice shelf melt rate in the presence of a thermohaline staircase
1 January, 2015 by Sophie Fielding
High densities of ice krill Euphausia crystallorophias were observed along six acoustic transects within the Amundsen Sea Coastal Polynya, Antarctica. Two-frequency acoustic backscatter data was examined in the austral summers…1 January, 2015 by Lloyd Peck
This paper presents the results of our sixth annual horizon scan, which aims to identify phenomena that may have substantial effects on the global environment, but are not widely known…Read more on A horizon scan of global conservation issues for 2015
1 January, 2015 by Philip Trathan
Various seabird foraging strategies during the non-breeding season have recently been revealed by combining the use of bio-logging devices and the study of stable isotopic signatures (δ15N and δ13C) from…1 January, 2015 by Jeremy Wilkinson
Satellites have documented trends in Antarctic sea-ice extent and its variability for decades, but estimating sea-ice thickness in the Antarctic from remote sensing data remains challenging. In situ observations needed…Read more on Thick and deformed Antarctic sea ice mapped with autonomous underwater vehicles
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 Jonathan Shanklin
We review the 2013 Antarctic ozone hole, making use of various ground-based, in-situ and remotely-sensed ozone measurements, ground-based measurements of ultraviolet radiation and meteorological reanalyses. Based on analysis of 34…1 January, 2015 by Vanessa Bowman
The first exciting clues that Antarctica had not always been ice-covered were the leaf fossils of Glossopteris plants that Scott’s party brought back from the Beardmore Glacier region in 1912.…Read more on Antarctic palynology and palaeoclimate – a review
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 January, 2015 by Emilie Capron
We compiled ice and marine records of high-latitude temperature changes and placed them on a common timescale. We also produced climatic time slices for 115, 120, 125, and 130 ka.…1 January, 2015 by Emilie Capron
Past4Future was a Collaborative Project in the European Union’s Framework Programme 7; it aimed to generate knowledge about climate changes during the last two interglacials. The approach was to combine…Read more on Past4Future: European interdisciplinary research on past warm climate periods.
28 December, 2014 by Mervyn Freeman
During substorm growth phases, magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause extracts ~1015 J from the solar wind which is then stored in the magnetotail lobes. Plasma sheet pressure increases to balance magnetic…22 December, 2014 by Howard Roscoe
The impact of polar stratospheric ozone loss resulting from chlorine activation on polar stratospheric clouds is examined using a pair of model integrations run with the fully coupled chemistry climate…16 December, 2014 by Michael Meredith
The warmest water reaching the east and west coast of Greenland is found between 200 m and 600 m. Whilst important for melting Greenland's outlet glaciers, limited winter observations of this layer…10 December, 2014 by Alistair Crame, Jane Francis, Rowan Whittle, Vanessa Bowman
The extensive Late Cretaceous – Early Paleogene sedimentary succession of Seymour Island, N.E. Antarctic Peninsula offers an unparalleled opportunity to examine the evolutionary origins of a modern polar marine fauna.…Read more on The early origin of the Antarctic Marine Fauna and its evolutionary implications
1 December, 2014 by David Vaughan
Glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula have recently shown changes in extent, velocity and thickness, yet there is little quantification of change in the mass balance of individual glaciers or the…