Showing 11495 items
1 April, 2013 by Andy Smith, Fausto Ferraccioli, Tom Jordan
We interpret seismic reflection and airborne potential field data acquired on Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica and find variations in the subglacial geology which correlate with variations in ice dynamics.…1 April, 2013 by Geraint Tarling
The contribution of faecal pellet (FP) production by zooplankton to the downward flux of particulate organic carbon (POC) can vary from 70 m) occurred when diel VM took place. Simulated…Read more on Modelling the influence of copepod behaviour on faecal pellet export at high latitudes
1 April, 2013 by Katrin Linse
Recent expeditions have revealed high levels of biodiversity in the tropical deep-sea, yet little is known about the age or origin of this biodiversity, and large-scale molecular studies are still…30 March, 2013 by Thomas Bracegirdle
The observed acceleration of glaciers from West Antarctica into the Amundsen Sea is estimated to be contributing 6% to current sea-level rise with the estimated potential to add 0.24 m…30 March, 2013 by Michael Meredith
The Southern Ocean is fundamentally important to the Earth system, influencing global climate, biogeochemical and ecological cycles. Limited observations suggest the Southern Ocean is changing, yet chronic under-sampling makes the…Read more on The vision for a Southern Ocean Observing System
30 March, 2013 by Gareth Marshall, John Turner, Michael Meredith, Tony Phillips
Over 1979–2007 near-surface air temperatures on the maritime western side of the Antarctic Peninsula have increased throughout the year, with the greatest monthly temperature rise of 1.7 °C dec−1 occurring…29 March, 2013 by Deborah Pardo
In long-lived species only a fraction of a population breeds at a given time. Non-breeders can represent more than half of adult individuals, calling in doubt the relevance of estimating…16 March, 2013 by Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
The lower limb of the Atlantic overturning circulation is renewed by dense waters from the Southern Ocean, a substantial portion of which flow through the Scotia Sea. We report dense…16 March, 2013 by Hua Lu, Mark Clilverd
We analyzed ERA-40 and ERA Interim meteorological re-analysis data for signatures of geomagnetic activity in zonal mean zonal wind, temperature, and Eliassen-Palm flux in the Northern Hemisphere extended winter (November–March).…15 March, 2013 by John Turner
The linkages between the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the sea ice extent (SIE) in the Weddell Sea (South Atlantic) and the Bellingshausen–Amundsen Sea (South-Eastern Pacific) sectors of the…15 March, 2013 by Anna Jones, Eric Wolff, Markus Frey, Neil Brough
Atmospheric nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2) were observed at Dome C, East Antarctica (75.1° S, 123.3° E, 3233 m), for a total of 50 days, from 10 December 2009 to…15 March, 2013 by Eric Wolff, Louise Sime
The Southern Hemisphere (SH) westerly winds are thought to be critical to global ocean circulation, productivity, and carbon storage. For example, an equatorward shift in the winds, though its affect…1 March, 2013 by Hilmar Gudmundsson, Hugh Corr, Jan De Rydt
Full Stokes flow-line models predict that fast-flowing ice streams transmit information about their bedrock topography most efficiently to the surface for basal undulations with length scales between 1 and 20…Read more on Surface undulations of Antarctic ice streams tightly controlled by bedrock topography
1 March, 2013 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Marine ice-sheet stability is mostly controlled by the dynamics of the grounding line, i.e. the junction between the grounded ice sheet and the floating ice shelf. Grounding line migration has…Read more on Grounding line transient response in marine ice sheet models
1 March, 2013 by Robert Larter
Five quantitatively distinct gully types are identified on the Antarctic continental margin from swath bathymetric data of over 1100 individual features. The gullies differ in terms of length, width, depth,…1 March, 2013 by Peter Convey
We assessed culturable soil microfungal diversity in various habitats around Hornsund, Spitsbergen in the High Arctic, using potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. Thermal growth classification of the fungi obtained was…Read more on Studies on diversity of soil microfungi in the Hornsund area, Spitsbergen
1 March, 2013 by David Vaughan, Scott Hosking
Multidecadal meteorological station records and microwave backscatter time-series from the SeaWinds scatterometer onboard QuikSCAT (QSCAT) were used to calculate temporal and spatial trends in surface melting conditions on the Antarctic…1 March, 2013
Polar regions have great sensitivity to climate forcing; however, understanding of the physical processes coupling the atmosphere and ocean in these regions is relatively poor. Improving our knowledge of high-latitude…Read more on High-latitude ocean and sea ice surface fluxes: Challenges for climate research
1 March, 2013 by Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark
Brittle stars are included within a whole range of species, which contribute to knowledge in the medically important area of tissue regeneration. All brittle stars regenerate lose limbs, but the…Read more on Transcriptome pyrosequencing of the Antarctic brittle star Ophionotus victoriae
1 March, 2013 by Richard Phillips
The ability to predict the distribution of threatened marine predators is essential to inform spatially explicit seascape management. We tracked 99 individual black-browed albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris from two Falkland Islands’…1 March, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Albatrosses are among the world’s most endangered seabirds. Th reats during the nonbreeding period have major impacts on their population dynamics, but for most species, detailed information on distribution and…1 March, 2013
Wave-current interactions play a major role in the dynamics of shallow tidal inlets. This study investigates these interactions at a natural inlet, with a strong focus on current-induced changes on…Read more on Wave-current interactions in a wave-dominated tidal inlet
1 March, 2013 by Carlos Martin Garcia
We present a comprehensive approach (including field data, remote sensing and an anisotropic ice-flow model) to characterize Halvfarryggen ice dome in coastal Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. This is a potential…1 March, 2013
During the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, there was much discussion on the role of alcohol. The explorers expected to be able to consume alcohol, and the expeditions were supported…Read more on Use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration
1 March, 2013 by Peter Convey
Aim: Why are some species geographically restricted? Ecological explanations suggest that endemic species may have restricted distributions because limited phenotypic variability results in narrow niches. However, studying variability of traits…1 March, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson
We surveyed and dated the former shorelines of one lake in the Shackleton Range and two lakes in the Pensacola Mountains, situated inland of the Weddell Sea embayment Antarctica between…1 March, 2013 by Roger Worland
Differences in the level of cold acclimation and cryoprotection estimated as ice nucleation activity in snow algae (Chlamydomonas cf. nivalis and Chloromonas nivalis), lichen symbiotic algae (Trebouxia asymmetrica, Trebouxia erici…Read more on The ice nucleation activity of extremophilic algae
1 March, 2013 by Chester Sands, Elaine Fitzcharles, Jennifer Jackson, Katrin Linse
The phylogenetic relationships of seven Antarctic barnacle species, one verrucomorph and six scalpelliforms from the Scotia, Weddell and Ross seas were investigated using DNA sequences from two nuclear genes (18…Read more on Phylogenetic position of Antarctic scalpelliformes (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Thoracica)
1 March, 2013 by Andrew Clarke, Hugh Venables, Michael Meredith
Climate change west of the Antarctic Peninsula is the most rapid of anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere, with associated changes in the rates and distributions of freshwater inputs to the…Read more on The freshwater system west of the Antarctic Peninsula: spatial and temporal changes
1 March, 2013
Changes in the metastability of the Southern Hemisphere 500-hPa circulation are examined using both cluster analysis techniques and split-flow blocking indices. The cluster methodology is a purely data-driven approach for…1 March, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Aim: Pelagic seabirds exploit large areas of ocean when acting as central-place foragers during the breeding season, and ranges are even more extensive outside the breeding period. Spatial niche partitioning…1 March, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson, Peter Convey
The extent of an external water layer around moss tissue influences CO2 assimilation. Experiments on the desiccation-tolerant moss Syntrichia ruralis assessed the real-time dependence of the carbon and oxygen isotopic…1 March, 2013 by Dominic Hodgson, Louise Sime, Peter Convey
Oxygen isotope palaeoclimate records, preserved in moss tissue cellulose, are complicated by environmental influences on the relationships between source water inputs and evaporative conditions. We carried out stable isotope analyses…1 March, 2013 by Gareth Marshall, Scott Hosking, John Turner, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
This paper examines the annual cycle and trends in Antarctic sea ice extent (SIE) for 18 models used in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) that were…Read more on An initial assessment of Antarctic Sea ice extent in the CMIP5 models
28 February, 2013 by Adrian Jenkins, Andy Smith, David Vaughan, Ed King, Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Hamish Pritchard, Peter Fretwell, Richard Hindmarsh, Tom Jordan, Richard Hindmarsh
We present Bedmap2, a new suite of gridded products describing surface elevation, ice-thickness and the seafloor and subglacial bed elevation of the Antarctic south of 60° S. We derived these…Read more on Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica
27 February, 2013 by Richard Phillips
The conservation of threatened seabirds that are highly pelagic, such as the gadfly petrels Pterodroma spp., depends on understanding the main oceanographic determinants of their movements in order to apply…Read more on Year-round distribution and habitat preferences of the Bugio petrel
26 February, 2013 by Vsevolod Afanasyev
Strong and predictable environmental variability can reward flexible behaviors among animals. We used long-term records of activity data that cover several lunar cycles to investigate whether behavior at-sea of swallow-tailed…19 February, 2013 by David Barnes
Comprehensive information on Antarctic macrobenthic community structure has been publicly available since the 1960s. It stems from trawl, dredge, grab, and corer samples as well as from direct and camera…Read more on Antarctic macrobenthic communities: a compilation of circumpolar information
15 February, 2013 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Despite their importance in understanding glaciological processes and constraining large-scale flow patterns in palaeo-glaciology, there is little consensus as to how drumlins are formed. Attempts to solve the ‘drumlin problem’…11 February, 2013 by Tom Jordan
High-resolution aeromagnetic surveys provide a geophysical tool to help image the subsurface structure of volcanoes and their tectonic framework. Here we interpret high-resolution aeromagnetic data and models for James Ross…11 February, 2013 by Fausto Ferraccioli
The Antarctic geomagnetics' community remains very active in crustal anomaly mapping. More than 1.5 million line-km of new air- and shipborne data have been acquired over the past decade by…Read more on Air and shipborne magnetic surveys of the Antarctic into the 21st century
11 February, 2013
Over the past decade, Australian, Norwegian and Russian marine surveys have collected integrated seismic, gravity and magnetic data in the southern Indian Ocean. The more than 350,000 line-km of new…Read more on New continental margin magnetic anomalies of East Antarctica
11 February, 2013 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Tom Jordan
The Wilkes Subglacial Basin, in the hinterland of the Transantarctic Mountains, represents one of the least understood continental-scale features in Antarctica. Aeromagnetic data suggests that this basin may be imposed…11 February, 2013 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Philip Leat, Tom Jordan
The Weddell Sea Rift was a major focus for Jurassic extension and magmatism during the early stages of Gondwana break-up and underlies the Weddell Sea Embayment, which separates East Antarctica…Read more on Inland extent of the Weddell Sea Rift imaged by new aerogeophysical data
11 February, 2013 by Fausto Ferraccioli
A combination of 1555 magnetic susceptibility measurements from the Antarctic Peninsula between 65°S to 72°S (for which the raw data are made available), and petrological, structural and metamorphic data, has…8 February, 2013 by Howard Roscoe, Jonathan Shanklin
A long-term ozone loss time series is necessary to understand the evolution of ozone in Antarctica. Therefore, we construct the time series using ground-based, satellite and bias-corrected multi-sensor reanalysis (MSR)…Read more on Antarctic ozone loss in 1979-2010: first sign of ozone recovery
8 February, 2013 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter
Increasing evidence for an elaborate subglacial drainage network underneath modern Antarctic ice sheets suggests that basal meltwater has an important influence on ice stream flow. Swath bathymetry surveys from previously…Read more on Paleo ice flow and subglacial meltwater dynamics in Pine Island Bay, West Antarctica
7 February, 2013 by Robert Mulvaney
Volcanism is a natural climate forcing causing short-term variations in temperatures. Histories of volcanic eruptions are needed to quantify their role in climate variability and assess human impacts. We present…6 February, 2013 by Anna Jones, Eric Wolff, Neil Brough
To probe the spatial extent of tropospheric ozone depletion events during Antarctic spring, a network of 10 autonomous ozone monitors was established around the Dronning Maud Land sector of Antarctica…1 February, 2013 by Anna Jones, Neil Brough
There are few observations of speciated inorganic bromine in polar regions against which to test current theory. Here we report the first high temporal resolution measurements of Br2, BrCl and…Read more on High temporal resolution Br2, BrCl and BrO observations in coastal Antarctica
1 February, 2013 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter
Inter-ice stream areas cover significant portions of Antarctica's formerly glaciated shelves, but have been largely neglected in past geological studies because of overprinting by iceberg scours. Here, we present results…1 February, 2013 by Keith Nicholls
Under ice measurements by seals carrying a miniaturized conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) instrument fill an important gap in existing observations. Here the authors present data from an instrumented Weddell seal that spent…Read more on Wintertime water mass modification near an Antarctic ice front
1 February, 2013 by Keith Makinson
As Antarctic subglacial lake research progresses to in situ exploration an important topic is the lake’s probable gas concentration. Depending on hydrological setting, subglacial lakes may contain large amounts of…Read more on Estimating and managing blowout risk during access to subglacial Antarctic lakes
1 February, 2013 by Peter Convey
Bryophytes exhibit a decline in species richness with latitude across the sub-Antarctic islands, Antarctic Peninsula and Antarctic continent, but not within the Antarctic continent itself. We analyzed diversity and biogeographic…Read more on Diversity trends of Bryophytes in continental Antarctica
1 February, 2013 by Kevin Newsham
We investigated the effects of increased soil temperature, water and nutrient availability on soil bacterial communities at Wynn Knolls on Signy Island (60 °S) in the northern maritime Antarctic and…1 February, 2013 by Victoria Peck
The delivery of ice-rafted debris (IRD) from glaciated margins is a function of ice sheet dynamics. Shifts in supply and sourcing of IRD can therefore identify episodes of ice sheet…1 February, 2013 by Roger Worland, Melody Clark
The Arctic springtail, Megaphorura arctica, survives sub-zero temperatures in a dehydrated state via trehalose-dependent cryoprotective dehydration. Regulation of trehalose biosynthesis is complex; based in part on studies in yeast and…1 February, 2013 by Kevin Hughes, Michael Thorne, Roger Worland, Peter Convey
Antarctica is the continent least affected by invasive species, but climate change and increasing human activity are increasing this threat. Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems generally have low biodiversity with simple community…1 February, 2013 by Norman Ratcliffe, Philip Trathan
Krill consumption by natural predators represents a critical link between surveys and models of standing krill biomass and the design of a sustainable krill fishery for the Scotia Sea. Antarctic…1 February, 2013 by Helen Peat, Peter Convey
A small, inconspicuous lichen, Acarospora cf. badiofusca, was discovered colonizing ironstained quartz mica schists on the lower slope of Manhaul Rock, a recently exposed nunatak on the McLeod Glacier, Signy…Read more on Iron localization in Acarospora colonizing schist on Signy Island
1 February, 2013 by Chester Sands, David Barnes, Huw Griffiths, Katrin Linse
Ophiuroids are a conspicuous and often dominant component of the Antarctic continental shelf benthos. Here we report on the ophiuroids collected from the Burdwood Bank, off the Patagonian Shelf, through…Read more on Observations of the ophiuroids from the West Antarctic sector of the Southern Ocean
1 February, 2013
Despite the general view that the Antarctic intertidal conditions are too extreme to support obvious signs of macrofaunal life, recent studies have shown that intertidal communities can survive over annual…Read more on Zonation in a cryptic Antarctic intertidal macrofaunal community
30 January, 2013 by Andrew Meijers, Emily Shuckburgh, Jean-Baptiste Sallee, Thomas Bracegirdle, Tony Phillips
An assessment of the fifth Coupled Models Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) models' simulation of the near-surface westerly wind jet position and strength over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific sectors of the…28 January, 2013
I review the hierarchy of approaches to complex systems, focusing particularly on stochastic equations. I discuss how the main models advocated by the late Benoit Mandelbrot fit into this classification,…24 January, 2013 by Emilie Capron, Eric Wolff, Robert Mulvaney
Efforts to extract a Greenland ice core with a complete record of the Eemian interglacial (130,000 to 115,000 years ago) have until now been unsuccessful. The response of the Greenland…Read more on Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core
24 January, 2013 by Jaume Forcada, Michael Thorne, Philip Trathan
Background Transcriptomes are powerful resources, providing a window on the expressed portion of the genome that can be generated rapidly and at low cost for virtually any organism. However, because…21 January, 2013 by Kevin Hughes
Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) represent the highest level of area protection within the Antarctic Treaty area. To reduce environmental impacts, ASPA visitors must comply with the Area's management plan…21 January, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Seabird-fishery interactions are currently a major issue in marine conservation management. A common approach to quantifying the extent of interactions is to overlay density maps of seabird and fishing activities…Read more on Scaling down the analysis of seabird-fishery interactions
16 January, 2013 by Alistair Crame
The widespread assumption that the origin of polar marine faunas is linked to the onset of major global cooling in the Late Eocene – Early Oligocene is being increasingly challenged.…Read more on Early Cenozoic differentiation of polar marine faunas
11 January, 2013 by Geraint Tarling
Marine planktonic organisms that undertake active vertical migrations over their life cycle are important contributors to downward particle flux in the oceans. Acantharia, globally distributed heterotrophic protists that are unique…9 January, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Limited knowledge of year-round seabird distributions hinders efforts to assess consequences of anthropogenic threats and climate-induced changes in the marine environment. In particular, there is urgent need to understand how…6 January, 2013 by Richard Phillips
The use of miniature data loggers is rapidly increasing our understanding of the movements and habitat preferences of pelagic seabirds. However, objectively interpreting behavioural information from the large volumes of…1 January, 2013 by Eugene Murphy, Lloyd Peck, Thomas Bracegirdle
Stresses on Antarctic ecosystems result from environmental change, including extreme events, and from (other) human impacts. Consequently, Antarctic habitats are changing, some at a rapid pace while others are relatively…1 January, 2013 by Peter Convey
Environmental manipulation studies are integral to determining biological consequences of climate warming. Open Top Chambers (OTCs) have been widely used to assess summer warming effects on terrestrial biota, with their…1 January, 2013 by Thomas Bracegirdle
Statistical relationships between future and historical model runs in multimodel ensembles (MMEs) are increasingly exploited to make more constrained projections of climate change. However, such emergent constraints may be spurious…1 January, 2013 by Eric Wolff
This study evaluates the influence of plausible changes in East Antarctic Ice sheet (EAIS) thickness and the subsequent glacio-isostatic response as a contributor to the Antarctic warming indicated by ice…1 January, 2013 by Mark Clilverd
[1] Using six Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) satellites that have carried the Space Environment Module-2 instrument package, a total of 436,422 individual half-orbits between 1998 and 2010 were inspected…1 January, 2013 by Richard Horne
The French government has committed to launch the satellite TARANIS to study transient coupling processes between the Earth’s atmosphere and near-Earth space. The prime objective of TARANIS is to detect…Read more on Energetic charged particles above thunderclouds
1 January, 2013 by David Vaughan, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter
Ice loss from the marine-based, potentially unstable West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) contributes to current sea-level rise and may raise sea level by ≤3.3 m or even ≤5 m in…Read more on Grounding-line retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet from inner Pine Island Bay
1 January, 2013 by Chester Sands
A new brittle star attributable to the genus Ophiacantha is described from Antarctic waters, in the diffuse limits of the Antarctic Polar Front at Shag Rocks, South Georgia. The new…1 January, 2013 by Eugene Murphy, Emma Young, Geraint Tarling, Jonathan Watkins, Nadine Johnston, Philip Trathan, Peter Fretwell, Rachel Cavanagh, Sally Thorpe, Simeon Hill
The ocean ecosystems around the west Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia are two of the best described regional ecosystems of the Southern Ocean. They therefore provide a useful basis for…1 January, 2013 by Andrew Orr, Howard Roscoe, Scott Hosking, Thomas Bracegirdle
A model simulation forced by prescribed ozone depletion shows strong dynamical modulation of the springtime cooling of the polar stratosphere associated with the Antarctic ozone hole. The authors find that…1 January, 2013 by Katrin Linse
The Antarctic marine environment is extreme in its low temperatures and short periods of primary productivity. Invertebrates must therefore adapt to maximise reproductive output where low temperature and limited food…1 January, 2013 by Richard Phillips
Many marine species are threatened by high levels of incidental mortality in fisheries. This paper reviews the design of selected recent, detailed Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) of the effects of…1 January, 2013 by Lloyd Peck
This paper presents the findings of our fourth annual horizon-scanning exercise, which aims to identify topics that increasingly may affect conservation of biological diversity. The 15 issues were identified via…Read more on A horizon scan of global conservation issues for 2013