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Ice-flow velocities on Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica, are stable over decadal timescales
1 January, 2009 by Adrian Jenkins, Hilmar Gudmundsson
Surface ice-flow velocities measured at stakes on Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica, covering a period of similar to 25 years are analysed for evidence of temporal variations in flow. No…Migration and stopover in a small pelagic seabird, the Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus: insights from machine learning
1 January, 2009 by Richard Phillips
The migratory movements of seabirds (especially smaller species) remain poorly understood, despite their role as harvesters of marine ecosystems on a global scale and their potential as indicators of ocean…The final warming date of the Antarctic polar vortex and influences on its interannual variability
1 January, 2009 by Howard Roscoe
More than 40 years of radiosonde data from two Antarctic stations are examined for changes in the date of the final stratospheric warming that occurs each year as the vortex…Intrinsic and extrinsic forcing in life histories: patterns of growth and stable isotopes in male Antarctic fur seal teeth
1 January, 2009
Life-time records of the trophic sources of carbon, nitrogen and of growth rate can be generated from biogenic structures that show accretionary growth, including fish scales, whale baleen and the…Patterns of shell repair in articulate brachiopods indicate size constitutes a refuge from predation
1 January, 2009 by Lloyd Peck
The cost of overcoming prey defenses relative to the value of internal tissues is a key criterion in predator/prey interactions. Optimal foraging theory predicts: (1) specific sizes of prey will…Subglacial clast behaviour and its implication for till fabric development: new results derived from wireless subglacial probe experiments
1 January, 2009
This study has investigated the three-dimensional movement of clasts within deformation till, using embedded wireless probes. These probes were part of an environmental sensor network, which measured subglacial properties (temperature,…Testing and improving the accuracy of discriminant function tests: a comparison between morphometric and molecular sexing in Macaroni Penguins
1 January, 2009 by Elaine Fitzcharles, Philip Trathan
Dimorphism in various morphological traits is widely used to sex birds. However, when a threshold is set and there is overlap in the distribution of traits between sexes, there will…Field reflectance spectroscopy of sparse vegetation cover on the Antarctic peninsula
1 January, 2009 by Peter Fretwell
The results of a field spectroscopy campaign that aimed to provide ground truth data for validation of NDVI-based vegetation maps of the region around the British Antarctic Survey Rothera Research…Read more on Field reflectance spectroscopy of sparse vegetation cover on the Antarctic peninsula
Reproductive biology of the loliginid squid, Alloteuthis subulata in the north-east Atlantic and adjacent waters
1 January, 2009 by Martin Collins
A study of the reproductive biology of the loliginid squid, Alloteuthis subulata in the North Sea, Irish Sea and Portuguese waters was carried out. A predominance of small squid (Comparison of mid-Pliocene climate predictions from the HadAM3 and GCMAM3 General Circulation Models
1 January, 2009
The mid-Pliocene warm period (ca. 3 to 3.3 million years ago) has become an important interval of time for palaeoclimate modelling exercises, with a large number of studies published during…Middle Miocene to Pliocene history of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean
1 January, 2009 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Robert Larter
This chapter explores the Middle Miocene to Pliocene terrestrial and marine records of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. The structure of the chapter makes a clear distinction between terrestrial and…Read more on Middle Miocene to Pliocene history of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean
Controls on stable isotope and trace metal uptake in Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) from an Antarctic sea-ice environment
1 January, 2009 by Michael Meredith
The polar foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) dominates assemblages from the high latitude Southern Ocean, which plays a key role in determining past climate due to the tight linkage between Antarctic…High-temperature tolerance in anhydrobiotic tardigrades is limited by glass transition
1 January, 2009 by Roger Worland
Survival in microhabitats that experience extreme fluctuations in water availability and temperature requires special adaptations. To withstand such environmental conditions, tardigrades, as well as some nematodes and rotifers, enter a…Read more on High-temperature tolerance in anhydrobiotic tardigrades is limited by glass transition
Freeze tolerance, supercooling points and ice formation: comparative studies on the subzero temperature survival of limno-terrestrial tardigrades
1 January, 2009 by Roger Worland
Many limno-terrestrial tardigrades live in unstable habitats where they experience extreme environmental conditions such as drought, heat and subzero temperatures. Although their stress tolerance is often related only to the…The risk to fishery performance associated with spatially resolved management of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) harvesting
1 January, 2009 by Philip Trathan, Simeon Hill
The ecosystem approach to fisheries attempts to define objectives for target species, the wider ecosystem, and critically, the fishery itself. Proposals for implementing the approach often include spatial restrictions on…Clay mineral provenance of sediments in the southern Bellingshausen Sea reveals drainage changes of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Late Quaternary
1 January, 2009 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Robert Larter
The Belgica Trough and the adjacent Belgica Trough Mouth Fan in the southern Bellingshausen Sea (Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean) mark the location of a major outlet for the…Record of a Mid-Pleistocene depositional anomaly in West Antarctic continental margin sediments: an indicator for ice-sheet collapse?
1 January, 2009 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
Modern global warming is likely to cause future melting of Earth's polar ice sheets that may result in dramatic sea-level rise. A possible collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet…A large-scale numerical model for computing isochrone geometry
1 January, 2009 by Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
A finite-difference model for the calculation of radar layer geometries in large ice masses is presented. Balance velocities are used as coefficients in the age equation and in the heat…Read more on A large-scale numerical model for computing isochrone geometry
A geological constraint on relative sea level in Marine Isotope Stage 3 in the Larsemann Hills, Lambert Glacier region, East Antarctica (31 366–33 228 cal yr BP).
1 January, 2009 by Dominic Hodgson
In this paper we present geological evidence from the Larsemann Hills (Lambert Glacier – Amery Ice Shelf region, East Antarctica) of marine sediments at an altitude of c. 8 m…Exploring former subglacial Hodgson Lake, Antarctica. Paper II: palaeolimnology
1 January, 2009 by Dominic Hodgson, James Smith, Stephen Roberts
Direct exploration of subglacial lakes buried deep under the Antarctic Ice Sheet has yet to be achieved. However, at retreating margins of the ice sheet, there are a number of…Read more on Exploring former subglacial Hodgson Lake, Antarctica. Paper II: palaeolimnology
Exploring former subglacial Hodgson Lake, Antarctica Paper I: site description, geomorphology and limnology
1 January, 2009 by Andreas Cziferszky, Dominic Hodgson, James Smith, Joanne Johnson, Stephen Roberts
At retreating margins of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, there are a number of locations where former subglacial lakes are emerging from under the ice but remain perennially ice-covered. This paper…Genetic analysis of twinning in Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella)
1 January, 2009 by Jaume Forcada
Twinning in natural pinniped populations is often inferred from observations of suckling behavior, but this approach has been criticized because nonfilial nursing occurs at high frequencies in many seal species.…Read more on Genetic analysis of twinning in Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella)
Marine ice in Larsen Ice Shelf
1 January, 2009 by Adrian Jenkins, David Vaughan, Hugh Corr, Paul Holland
It is argued that Larsen Ice Shelf contains marine ice formed by oceanic freezing and other mechanisms. Missing basal returns in airborne radar soundings and observations of a smooth and…Energetic electron precipitation from the outer radiation belt during geomagnetic storms
1 January, 2009 by Mai Mai Lam, Richard Horne
Relativistic electron precipitation changes the chemistry of the upper atmosphere and depletes ozone, but the spatial and temporal distributions are poorly known. Here we survey more than 9 years of…Ice cores and astronauts
1 January, 2009 by Richard Horne
While policy-makers discuss the benefits of manned spaceflight to the moon and beyond, scientists and engineers are considering how to protect astronauts from the harsh realities of space. During the…Seasonal cycle of seawater bromoform and dibromomethane concentrations in a coastal bay on the western Antarctic Peninsula
1 January, 2009 by Andrew Clarke
Sea-to-air emissions of bromocarbon gases are known to play an important role in atmospheric ozone depletion. In this study, seawater concentrations of bromoform (CHBr3) and dibromomethane (CH2Br2) were measured regularly…The fate of the Greenland Ice Sheet in a geoengineered, high CO2 world
1 January, 2009
Solar radiation management (SRM) geoengineering has been proposed as one means of helping avoid the occurrence of dangerous climate change and undesirable state transitions ('tipping points') in the Earth system.…Read more on The fate of the Greenland Ice Sheet in a geoengineered, high CO2 world
On the character and distribution of lower-frequency radio emissions at Saturn and their relationship to substorm-like events
1 January, 2009 by Mervyn Freeman
With the arrival of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn in July 2004, there have been quasi-continuous observations of Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR) emissions. Exploration of the nightside magnetosphere has revealed…Assemblage level variation in springtail lower lethal temperature: the role of invasive species on sub-Antarctic Marion Island
1 January, 2009 by Roger Worland
It is widely held both in the physiological literature, and more generally, that the average characteristics of species within an assemblage differ among sites. Such generalizations should be based on…Longitudinal variation in E- and F-region ionospheric trends
1 January, 2009
A novel technique is used to examine northern hemisphere midlatitude longitudinal variations in ionospheric long-term trends. Differences in hour-by-hour monthly median ionospheric parameters between equilatitudinal observatory pairs are analysed for…Read more on Longitudinal variation in E- and F-region ionospheric trends
History of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet since the early Pliocene – Evidence from cosmogenic dating of Pliocene lavas on James Ross Island, Antarctica
1 January, 2009 by Joanne Johnson
Knowledge of the thickness, extent and basal thermal conditions of ice cover on Antarctica during past climatic fluctuations is essential if we are to accurately predict the contribution from the…BrO, blizzards, and drivers of polar tropospheric ozone depletion events
1 January, 2009 by Anna Jones, Eric Wolff, Gareth Marshall, Howard Roscoe, Neil Brough
The source of bromine that drives polar boundary layer ozone depletion events (ODEs) is still open to some debate. While ODEs are generally noted to form under conditions of a…Read more on BrO, blizzards, and drivers of polar tropospheric ozone depletion events
Historical SAM variability. Part I: Century-length seasonal reconstructions
1 January, 2009 by Gareth Marshall
Seasonal reconstructions of the Southern Hemisphere annular mode (SAM) index are derived to extend the record before the reanalysis period, using station sea level pressure (SLP) data as predictors. Two…Read more on Historical SAM variability. Part I: Century-length seasonal reconstructions
High-resolution palaeoclimatology of the last millennium: a review of current status and future prospects
1 January, 2009 by Eric Wolff
This review of late-Holocene palaeoclimatology represents the results from a PAGES/CLIVAR Intersection Panel meeting that took place in June 2006. The review is in three parts: the principal high-resolution proxy…Airborne gravity reveals interior of Antarctic volcano
1 January, 2009 by Fausto Ferraccioli, Hugh Corr, Tom Jordan
Understanding Antarctic volcanoes is important as they provide a window on magmatic and tectonic processes of the Antarctic plate and contain datable records of ice-sheet changes. We present the results…Read more on Airborne gravity reveals interior of Antarctic volcano
Basal conditions for Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers, West Antarctica, determined using satellite and airborne data
1 January, 2009 by David Vaughan
We use models constrained by remotely sensed data from Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers, West Antarctica, to infer basal properties that are difficult to observe directly. The results indicate strong…Biodiversity of an unknown Antarctic Sea: assessing isopod richness and abundance in the first benthic survey of the Amundsen continental shelf
1 January, 2009 by Chester Sands, David Barnes
Concerted efforts are being made to understand the current and past processes that have shaped Antarctic biodiversity. However, high rates of new species discoveries, sampling patchiness and bias make estimation…The internal layering of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, from airborne radar-sounding data
1 January, 2009 by David Vaughan, Hugh Corr
This paper presents an overview of internal layering across Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, as measured from airborne-radar data acquired during a survey conducted by the British Antarctic Survey and…Climate impacts of the southern annular mode simulated by the CMIP3 models
1 January, 2009 by Gareth Marshall
The southern annular mode (SAM) has a well-established impact on climate in the Southern Hemisphere. The strongest response in surface air temperature (SAT) is observed in the Antarctic, but the…Read more on Climate impacts of the southern annular mode simulated by the CMIP3 models
Middle Miocene oxygen minimum zone expansion offshore west Africa : evidence for global cooling precursor events
1 January, 2009 by Victoria Peck
Three dissolution events ca. 16 Ma, 15.5 Ma, and 14.3 Ma ago have been identified in sediments from the Congo Fan. Multiproxy benthic foraminiferal and sedimentary records suggest an expanded…Flow dynamics of the Rutford Ice Stream ice-drainage basin, West Antarctica, from radar stratigraphy
1 January, 2009 by Ed King
Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica, drains a catchment of >45 000 km(2) into the Ronne Ice Shelf through a 26 km wide, 2.4 km deep subglacial trough adjacent to the…Formation of mega-scale glacial lineations observed beneath a West Antarctic ice stream
1 January, 2009 by Ed King, Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Most discharge from large ice sheets takes place through fast-flowing ice streams and their speed is strongly modulated by interactions between the ice and the underlying sediments. Seismic surveys and…Read more on Formation of mega-scale glacial lineations observed beneath a West Antarctic ice stream
Pseudononstationarity in the scaling exponents of finite-interval time series
1 January, 2009
The accurate estimation of scaling exponents is central in the observational study of scale-invariant phenomena. Natural systems unavoidably provide observations over restricted intervals; consequently, a stationary stochastic process time series…Read more on Pseudononstationarity in the scaling exponents of finite-interval time series
Marine cold-air outbreaks in the North Atlantic: temporal distribution and associations with large-scale atmospheric circulation
1 January, 2009 by Thomas Bracegirdle
The spatial and temporal distributions of marine cold air outbreaks (MCAOs) over the northern North Atlantic have been investigated using re-analysis data for the period from 1958 to 2007. MCAOs…Total ozone dependence of the difference between the empirically corrected EP-TOMS and high-latitude station datasets
1 January, 2009
A comparison was made of the ground-based and satellite total ozone content (TOC) measurements in the atmosphere over the Antarctic stations Vernadsky, Halley and Amundsen–Scott and the Arctic station Barrow.…A new genus and three new species of Antarctic cheilostome Bryozoa
1 January, 2009 by David Barnes
Three new cheilostome bryozoans species were discovered in the collections of the BIOPEARL I cruise to the Scotia Arc. The species were found on boulders from the continental slope and…Read more on A new genus and three new species of Antarctic cheilostome Bryozoa
Antarctic winter tropospheric warming – the potential role of polar stratospheric clouds, a sensitivity study
1 January, 2009 by Gareth Marshall, Howard Roscoe, John Turner, Steve Colwell, Thomas Lachlan-Cope
Over the last 30 years, Antarctic mid-tropospheric temperatures in winter have increased by 0.5 K per decade, the largest regional tropospheric warming observed. Over this period, amounts of polar stratospheric…Radiation belt electron flux variability during three CIR-driven geomagnetic storms
1 January, 2009 by Mai Mai Lam, Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
Coronal holes produce high speed solar wind streams (HSS) that subsequently interact with the slower downstream solar wind forming co-rotating interaction regions (CIRs). The CIR/HSS combination drives geomagnetic storms that…Read more on Radiation belt electron flux variability during three CIR-driven geomagnetic storms
Subglacial bedforms reveal complex basal regime in a zone of paleo-ice stream convergence, Amundsen Sea embayment, West Antarctica
1 January, 2009 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, James Smith, Robert Larter
The flow of ice streams, which account for most discharge from large ice sheets, is controlled by processes operating at the ice stream bed. Data from modern ice stream beds…Plankton functional types in a new generation of biogeochemical models. Integration of plankton abundance data for the evaluation of marine biogeochemical models, Cambridge, UK, October 2008. (Meeting report)
1 January, 2009
It has long been recognized that biological activity has a large influence on biogeochemical cycles in the ocean. However, the recognition that the ecosystem composition may also be significant is…Zircon U-Pb dating of Mesozoic volcanic and tectonic events in northwest Palmer Land and southwest Graham Land, Antarctica
1 January, 2009 by Philip Leat, Teal Riley
New whole rock Rb-Sr and zircon U-Pb geochronological data and Sm-Nd isotopic data are presented from the central magmatic arc domain of the Antarctic Peninsula in the area of northwest…Molecular species identification of historical whale remains from South Georgia
1 January, 2009
The island of South Georgia is located at the southern extreme of the South Atlantic Ocean, on the edge of the Southern Ocean that surrounds Antarctica. Intensive commercial whaling at…Read more on Molecular species identification of historical whale remains from South Georgia
Life cycle of the QBO modulated 11-year solar cycle signals in the northern hemispheric winter
1 January, 2009 by Hua Lu
This paper provides some insights on the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) modulated 11-year solar cycle (11-yr SC) signals in Northern Hemisphere (NH) winter temperature and zonal wind. Daily ERA-40 Reanalysis and…The Arctic cryosphere in the Mid-Pliocene and the future
1 January, 2009
The Mid-Pliocene (ca 3 Myr ago) was a relatively warm period, with increased atmospheric CO2 relative to pre-industrial. It has therefore been highlighted as a possible palaeo-analogue for the future.…Read more on The Arctic cryosphere in the Mid-Pliocene and the future
Solar-wind-magnetosphere coupling, including relativistic electron energization, during high-speed streams
1 January, 2009 by Richard Horne
High geomagnetic activity occurs continuously during high-speed solar wind streams, and fluxes of relativistic electrons observed at geosynchronous orbit enhance significantly. High-speed streams are preceded by solar wind compression regions,…Do circum-Antarctic species exist in peracarid Amphipoda? A case study in the genus Epimeria Costa, 1851 (Crustacea, Peracarida, Epimeriidae)
1 January, 2009 by Katrin Linse
The amphipod genus Epimeria is species rich in the Southern Ocean and at present eight of its 19 species are reported with circum-Antarctic distributions. For the first time, specimens of…Identifying patterns in the diet of mackerel icefish (Champsocephalus gunnari) at South Georgia using bootstrapped confidence intervals of a dietary index
1 January, 2009 by Martin Collins, Mark Belchier
Ontogenetic, inter-annual and regional variations in diet were investigated for mackerel icefish, Champsocephalus gunnari, in three successive summer seasons around South Georgia. Stomach contents from 2239 C. gunnari (130-560 mm…Normal forms for reduced stochastic climate models
1 January, 2009
The systematic development of reduced low-dimensional stochastic climate models from observations or comprehensive highdimensional climate models is an important topic for atmospheric low-frequency variability, climate sensitivity, and improved extended range…Read more on Normal forms for reduced stochastic climate models
On the annual and semi-annual cycles of precipitation across Antarctica
1 January, 2009 by Gareth Marshall
In this study, we examine the importance of the annual and semi-annual cycles of precipitation (H-1(P) and H-2(P), respectively) across Antarctica utilizing the ERA-40 re-analysis from 1980 to 2001. A…Read more on On the annual and semi-annual cycles of precipitation across Antarctica
The white-chinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) on South Georgia: population size, distribution and global significance
1 January, 2009 by Peter Fretwell
More white-chinned petrels (Procellaria aequinoctialis) are accidentally killed in fisheries than probably any other seabird in the world, but the population impact of this mortality is poorly understood, partly because…On the effects of anisotropic rheology on ice flow, internal structure, and the age-depth relationship at ice divides
1 January, 2009 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Hilmar Gudmundsson, Hamish Pritchard
We use numerical modeling with a full-system Stokes solver to elucidate the effects of nonlinear rheology and strain-induced anisotropy on ice flow at ice divides. We find that anisotropic rheology…On the effects of divide migration, along-ridge flow and basal sliding on isochrones near an ice divide
1 January, 2009 by Carlos Martin Garcia, Richard Hindmarsh, Richard Hindmarsh
Radar layer geometry in divide areas is strongly influenced by the operation of the Raymond effect, which causes upwarping of the layers as a consequence of the nonlinear rheology of…State of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate system
1 January, 2009 by John Turner, Michael Meredith
This paper reviews developments in our understanding of the state of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate, and its relation to the global climate system over the last few millennia.…Read more on State of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate system
Egg production and associated losses of carbon, nitrogen and fatty acids from maternal biomass in Calanus finmarchicus before the spring bloom
1 January, 2009
We present concurrent data on ingestion, egg production and the loss of maternal biomass in pre-spring bloom female Calanus finmarchicus incubated under conditions representative of those in situ in the…Limitation of egg production in Calanus finmarchicus in the field: a stoichiometric analysis
1 January, 2009
The egg production of marine copepods correlates with a range of variables, including the availability of organic carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) 20:5(n-3) (EPA) and…Temporal metabolic rate variation in a continental Antarctic springtail
1 January, 2009 by Peter Convey
Terrestrial systems in Antarctica are characterized by substantial spatial and temporal variation. However, few studies have addressed the paucity of data on metabolic responses to the unpredictable Antarctic environment, particularly…Read more on Temporal metabolic rate variation in a continental Antarctic springtail
Amundsen Sea bathymetry: The benefits of using gravity data for bathymetric prediction
1 January, 2009 by David Vaughan
Bathymetric charts are essential for modeling oceanic processes, yet, in remote areas, direct measurements of seafloor depth are often scarce. It is possible to augment sparse depth soundings with dense…Read more on Amundsen Sea bathymetry: The benefits of using gravity data for bathymetric prediction
Relativistic electron loss timescales in the slot region
1 January, 2009 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne, Sarah Glauert
Recent observations show that the decay rate of relativistic electrons measured at low altitudes in the slot region at L = 2 is an order of magnitude shorter than theoretical…Read more on Relativistic electron loss timescales in the slot region
Survey of upper band chorus and ECH waves: implications for the diffuse aurora
1 January, 2009 by Nigel Meredith, Richard Horne
The origin of the diffuse aurora has been a source of controversy for many years. More recently, the question has taken a new significance in view of the associated changes…Read more on Survey of upper band chorus and ECH waves: implications for the diffuse aurora
Physiology, growth, and development of larval krill Euphausia superba in autumn and winter in the Lazarev Sea, Antarctica
1 January, 2009
The physiological condition of larval Antarctic krill was investigated during austral autumn 2004 and winter 2006 in the Lazarev Sea. The condition of larvae was quantified in both seasons by…A superposed epoch analysis of auroral evolution during substorm growth, onset and recovery: open magnetic flux control of substorm intensity
1 January, 2009
We perform two superposed epoch analyses of the auroral evolution during substorms using the FUV instrument on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Explorer ( IMAGE) spacecraft. The larger of the…Thermal plasticity of mitochondria:a latitudinal comparison between Southern Ocean molluscs
1 January, 2009 by Lloyd Peck, Simon Morley
Mitochondrial volume density (Vv((mt,f))), cristae surface density (Sv((im,mt))), cristae surface area (Sv((im,f))) and citrate synthase (CS) activity were analysed as indicators of thermal acclimation in foot muscle of the limpet,…Recurrent substorm activity during the passage of a corotating interaction region
1 January, 2009 by Mervyn Freeman
Recent observations of magnetospheric dynamics driven by interaction with both high-speed solar wind streams (HSSs) and interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) have shown periodic substonns to be common under strong…Read more on Recurrent substorm activity during the passage of a corotating interaction region
Thermal dependency of burrowing in three species within the bivalve genus Laternula: a latitudinal comparison
1 January, 2009 by Lloyd Peck, Simon Morley
The upper thermal limits for burrowing and survival were compared with micro-habitat temperature for anomalodesmatan clams: Laternula elliptica (Antarctica, 67A degrees S); Laternula recta, (temperate Australia, 38A degrees S) and…Geographical variation in thermal tolerance within Southern Ocean marine ectotherms
1 January, 2009 by Lloyd Peck, Simon Morley
Latitudinal comparisons of the Southern Ocean limpet, Nacella concinna, and clam, Laternula elliptica, acclimated to 0.0 °C, were used to assess differences in thermal response to two regimes, 0.0, 5.1…Read more on Geographical variation in thermal tolerance within Southern Ocean marine ectotherms
Climate spectrum estimation in the presence of timescale errors
1 January, 2009 by Eric Wolff
We introduce an algorithm (called REDFITmc2) for spectrum estimation in the presence of timescale errors. It is based on the Lomb-Scargle periodogram for unevenly spaced time series, in combination with…Read more on Climate spectrum estimation in the presence of timescale errors
Late Pliocene-Pleistocene Antarctic climate variability at orbital and suborbital scale: ice sheet ocean and atmospheric interactions
1 January, 2009 by Eric Wolff
Continental margin drill core and seismic data indicate that between 3.0 and 2.5 Ma, high-latitude climate cooling drove both the West and East Antarctic Ice Sheets towards their present expanded…Neogene glacigenic debris flows on James Ross Island, northern Antarctic Peninsula, and their implications for regional climate history
1 January, 2009
Detailed sedimentological and microtextural analyses of newly-discovered late Neogene diamictites and other coarse-grained facies, mostly sandwiched between hyaloclastite of the James Ross Island Volcanic Group and Cretaceous sandstone and mudstone,…Mycorrhizas and dark septate root endophytes in polar regions
1 January, 2009 by Kevin Newsham
We review the distributions and functions of mycorrhizas and dark septate root endophytes in polar regions. Arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) are present in the Arctic and Antarctic to 82 ºN and…Read more on Mycorrhizas and dark septate root endophytes in polar regions
Responses of plants in polar regions to UVB exposure: a meta-analysis
1 January, 2009 by Kevin Newsham
We report a meta-analysis of data from 34 field studies into the effects of ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation on Arctic and Antarctic bryophytes and angiosperms. The studies measured plant responses…Read more on Responses of plants in polar regions to UVB exposure: a meta-analysis
Ice-ocean processes over the continental shelf of the southern Weddell Sea, Antarctica: a review
1 January, 2009 by Keith Makinson, Keith Nicholls
Interactions between the Southern Ocean and the Weddell Sea ice shelves are important both to the Antarctic Ice Sheet and to the production of globally significant water masses. Here we…Climatology of short-period mesospheric gravity waves over Halley, Antarctica (76 S, 27 W)
1 January, 2009
We present a first detailed climatological study of individual quasi-monochromatic mesospheric, shortperiod gravity-wave events observed over Antarctica. The measurements were made using an all-sky airglow imager located at Halley Station…Emission of methane from plants
1 January, 2009 by Emily Shuckburgh
It has been proposed that plants are capable of producing methane by a novel and unidentified biochemical pathway. Emission of methane with an apparently biological origin was recorded from both…Morphology of the upper continental slope in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas – implications for sedimentary processes at the shelf edge of West Antarctica
1 January, 2009 by Robert Larter
Swath bathymetric and sub-bottom profiler data reveal a variety of submarine landforms such as gullies, slide scars, subtle shelf edge-parallel ridges and elongated depressions, and small debris flows along the…Frost flower surface area and chemistry as a function of salinity and temperature
1 January, 2009 by Eric Wolff, Howard Roscoe
Frost flowers play a role in air-ice exchange in polar regions, contribute to tropospheric halogen chemistry, and affect ice core interpretation. Frost flowers were observed and collected on the Hudson…Read more on Frost flower surface area and chemistry as a function of salinity and temperature
The tectonic context of the Early Palaeozoic southern margin of Gondwana
1 January, 2009
The oceanic southern margin of Gondwana, from southern South America through South Africa, West Antarctica, New Zealand (in its pre break-up position), and Victoria Land to Eastern Australia is one…Read more on The tectonic context of the Early Palaeozoic southern margin of Gondwana
Current status of the Antarctic herb tundra formation in the central Argentine Islands
1 January, 2009 by Peter Convey
Changes in the higher plant populations of the Argentine Islands over the last four to five decades have been central to developing an understanding of the likely biological responses to…Read more on Current status of the Antarctic herb tundra formation in the central Argentine Islands
Antarctic subglacial lake exploration: a new frontier in microbial ecology
1 January, 2009 by David Pearce
To date, wherever life has been sought on Earth, it has almost always been found—from high in the stratosphere (Imshenetskii et al., 1975, 1978, 1986; Wainwright et al., 2003) to…Read more on Antarctic subglacial lake exploration: a new frontier in microbial ecology
Microorganisms in the atmosphere over Antarctica
1 January, 2009 by David Pearce, Kevin Hughes
Antarctic microbial biodiversity is the result of a balance between evolution, extinction and colonization, and so it is not possible to gain a full understanding of the microbial biodiversity of…Read more on Microorganisms in the atmosphere over Antarctica
Animal temperature limits and ecological relevance: effects of size, activity and rates of change
1 January, 2009 by Ali Massey, Lloyd Peck, Melody Clark, Simon Morley
1. Climate change is affecting species distributions and will increasingly do so. However, current understanding of which individuals and species are most likely to survive and why is poor. Knowledge…Lack of acclimation in Ophionotus victoriae: brittle stars are not fish
1 January, 2009 by Ali Massey, Lloyd Peck, Michael Thorne, Melody Clark
Acclimation is possibly the most important criterion deciding an animal's ability to survive change. Species with poor abilities to acclimate to small environmental change are likely to be the most…Read more on Lack of acclimation in Ophionotus victoriae: brittle stars are not fish
Stable isotopes reveal individual variation in migration strategies and habitat preferences in a suite of seabirds during the nonbreeding period
1 January, 2009 by Richard Phillips
Information on predator and prey distributions is integral to our understanding of migratory connectivity, food web dynamics and ecosystem structure. In marine systems, although large animals that return to land…