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In polar seas, the seasonal melting of ice triggers the development of an open-waterecosystem characterized by short-lived algal blooms, the grazing and development of zooplank-ton, and the influx of avian and mammalian predators. Spatial heterogeneity in the timing of icemelt generates temporal variability in the development of these events across the habitat, offeringa natural framework to assess how foraging marine predators respond to the spring phenology.We combined 4 yr of tracking data of Antarctic petrels Thalassoica antarcticawith synopticremote-sensing data on sea ice and chlorophyll ato test how the development of melting ice andprimary production drive Antarctic petrel foraging. Cross-correlation analyses of first-passagetime revealed that Antarctic petrels utilized foraging areas with a spatial scale of 300 km. Theseareas changed position or disappeared within 10 to 30 d and showed no spatial consistency amongyears. Generalized additive model (GAM) analyses suggested that the presence of foraging areaswas related to the time since ice melt. Antarctic petrels concentrated their search effort in meltingareas and in areas that had reached an age of 50 to 60 d from the date of ice melt. We found nosignificant relationship between search effort and chlorophyll aconcentration. We suggest thatthese foraging patterns were related to the vertical distribution and profitability of the main prey,the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba. Our study demonstrates that the annual ice melt in theSouthern Ocean shapes the development of a highly patchy and elusive food web, underscoringthe importance of flexible foraging strategies among top predators. KEY WORDS: Area-restricted search · Euphausia superba· Marginal ice zone · Phytoplanktonbiomass · Procellariiformes · Sea ice dynamics · Southern Ocean · Thalassoica antarctica

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 regional coverage of gravity, magnetic and icepenetrating radar measurements for major Dronning Maud Land ice stream systems, from the grounding lines up to the Recovery Lakes drainage basin, and filled in major data voids in Antarctic data compilations, such as AntGP for gravity data, ADMAP for magnetic data and BEDMAP2 for ice thickness data and the sub-ice topography. We present the first maps of gravity, magnetic and ice thickness data and bedrock topography for the region and show examples of bedrock topography and basal reflectivity patterns. The 2013 Recovery Lakes campaign was carried out with a British Antarctic Survey Twin Otter aircraft operating from the Halley and Belgrano II stations, as well as a remote field camp located at the Recovery subglacial Lake B site. Gravity measurements were the primary driver for the survey, with two airborne gravimeters (Lacoste and Romberg and Chekan-AM) providing measurements at an accuracy level of around 2 mGal r.m.s., supplementing GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite data and confirming an excellent sub-milligal agreement between satellite and airborne data at longer wavelengths.

The ice-shelf-fringed coast of Dronning Maud Land in East Antarctica contains numerous ice rises that influence the dynamics and mass balance of the region. However, only a few of these ice rises have been investigated in detail. Here, we present field measurements of Blåskimen Island, an isle-type ice rise adjacent to Fimbul Ice Shelf. This ice rise is largely dome shaped, with a pronounced ridge extending to the south-west from its summit (410 m a.s.l.). Its bed is mostly flat and about 100 m below the current sea level. Shallow radar-detected isochrones dated with a firn core reveal that the surface mass balance is higher on the south-eastern (upwind) slope than on the north-western (downwind) slope by ∼ 37 %, and this pattern has persisted for at least the past decade. Moreover, arches in radar stratigraphy suggest that the summit of the ice rise has been stable for ∼ 600 years. Ensemble estimates of the mass balance using the input–output method show that this ice rise has thickened by 0.12–0.37 m ice equivalent per year over the past decade.

Ice shelves play a vital role in regulating loss of grounded ice and in supplying freshwater to coastal seas. However, melt variability within ice shelves is poorly constrained and may be instrumental in driving ice shelf imbalance and collapse. High-resolution altimetry measurements from 2010 to 2016 show that Dotson Ice Shelf (DIS), West Antarctica, thins in response to basal melting focused along a single 5 km-wide and 60 km-long channel extending from the ice shelf's grounding zone to its calving front. If focused thinning continues at present rates, the channel will melt through, and the ice shelf collapse, within 40–50 years, almost two centuries before collapse is projected from the average thinning rate. Our findings provide evidence of basal melt-driven sub-ice shelf channel formation and its potential for accelerating the weakening of ice shelves.

Dronning Maud Land (DML) in East Antarctica is considered to be a key area for the reconstruction of the Gondwana supercontinent. We investigate the crustal shear wave velocity (Vs) model beneath the Maitri station, situated in the central DML of East Antarctica, through receiver function modelling. The analysis shows an average crustal thickness of 38.50 ± 0.5 km and a Vp/Vs ratio of 1.784 ± 0.002. The obtained Vs structure suggests that the topmost ca. 2.5 km of the crust contains ice and sediments with low Vs (1.5–2.0 km/s). This layer is underlain by a thick (ca. 12.5 km) layer of Vs = 2.25–2.6 km/s, suggestive of an extrusive igneous rock (rhyolite) at this depth range. Between 16 and 28 km depth, the Vs increases from 2.9 to 3.4 km/s. In the lower crust, a 7 km thick layer of Vs = 3.9 km/s is followed by 6 km thick underplated layer (Vs = 4.1 km/s) at the crust–mantle boundary. The uppermost mantle Vs is ca. 4.3 km/s. With the observation of underplated material in the lowermost crust, extrusive volcanic rocks in the upper crust, seaward dipping reflectors in the surrounding and a general paucity of seismicity, we believe the crust beneath the Maitri station represents a volcanic passive continental margin. We also believe that after its origin in the Precambrian and during its subsequent evolution it might have been affected by the post-Precambrian tectono-thermal event(s) responsible for the Gondwana supercontinent break-up.

Snowmelt in the Antarctic Peninsula region has increased significantly in recent decades, leading to greater liquid water availability across a more expansive area. As a consequence, changes in the biological activity within wet Antarctic snow require consideration if we are to better understand terrestrial carbon cycling on Earth's coldest continent. This paper therefore examines the relationship between microbial communities and the chemical and physical environment of wet snow habitats on Livingston Island of the maritime Antarctic. In so doing, we reveal a strong reduction in bacterial diversity and autotrophic biomass within a short (<1 km) distance from the coast. Coastal snowpacks, fertilized by greater amounts of nutrients from rock debris and marine fauna, develop obvious, pigmented snow algal communities that control the absorption of visible light to a far greater extent than with the inland glacial snowpacks. Absorption by carotenoid pigments is most influential at the surface, while chlorophyll is most influential beneath it. The coastal snowpacks also indicate higher concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon and CO2 in interstitial air, as well as a close relationship between chlorophyll and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). As a consequence, the DOC resource available in coastal snow can support a more diverse bacterial community that includes microorganisms from a range of nearby terrestrial and marine habitats. Therefore, since further expansion of the melt zone will influence glacial snowpacks more than coastal ones, care must be taken when considering the types of communities that may be expected to evolve there.

Tarsometatarsi are key skeletal elements in penguin palaeontology. They constitute, among others, type specimens of all 10 widely accepted species of fossil penguins from the Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island (Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula). Here, we report on a recently collected large-sized tarsometatarsus from this formation that represents a new morphotype. We are convinced that the morphotype corresponds to a new species, but the material is too scarce for a taxonomic act. Undoubtedly, the bone discussed here is a valuable addition to our knowledge on diversity of early penguins.

Ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea Embayment have thinned, accelerating the seaward flow of ice sheets upstream over recent decades. This imbalance is caused by an increase in the ocean-driven melting of the ice shelves. Observations and models show that the ocean heat content reaching the ice shelves is sensitive to the depth of thermocline, which separates the cool, fresh surface waters from warm, salty waters. Yet the processes controlling the variability of thermocline depth remain poorly constrained. Here we quantify the oceanic conditions and ocean-driven melting of Cosgrove, Pine Island Glacier (PIG), Thwaites, Crosson, and Dotson ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea Embayment from 1991 to 2014 using a general circulation model. Ice-shelf melting is coupled to variability in the wind field and the sea-ice motions over the continental shelf break and associated onshore advection of warm waters in deep troughs. The layer of warm, salty waters at the calving front of PIG and Thwaites is thicker in austral spring (June–October) than in austral summer (December–March), whereas the seasonal cycle at the calving front of Dotson is reversed. Furthermore, the ocean-driven melting in PIG is enhanced by an asymmetric response to changes in ocean heat transport anomalies at the continental shelf break: melting responds more rapidly to increases in ocean heat transport than to decreases. This asymmetry is caused by the inland deepening of bathymetry and the glacial meltwater circulation around the ice shelf.

Ice discharge from the Antarctic Ice Sheet directly impacts global sea level, making ice sheet dynamics a central topic in antarctic research. Glaciologists are studying a poorly understood but potentially important phenomenon that looks like a little hill of ice. They call these hills “ice rises”.

While the number of surface ocean CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) measurements has soared the recent decades, the Southern Ocean remains undersampled. Williams et al. (2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GB005541) now present pCO2 estimates based on data from pH-sensor equipped Bio-Argo floats, which have been measuring in the Southern Ocean since 2014. The authors demonstrate the utility of these data for understanding the carbon cycle in this region, which has a large influence on the distribution of CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere. Biogeochemical sensors deployed on autonomous platforms hold the potential to shape our view of the ocean carbon cycle in the coming decades.

Motivated by recent event studies and modeling efforts on pulsating aurora, which conclude that the precipitation energy during these events is high enough to cause significant chemical changes in the mesosphere, this study looks for the bulk behavior of auroral pulsations. Based on about 400 pulsating aurora events, we outline the typical duration, geomagnetic conditions, and change in the peak emission height for the events. We show that the auroral peak emission height for both green and blue emission decreases by about 8 km at the start of the pulsating aurora interval. This brings the hardest 10% of the electrons down to about 90 km altitude. The median duration of pulsating aurora is about 1.4 h. This value is a conservative estimate since in many cases the end of event is limited by the end of auroral imaging for the night or the aurora drifting out of the camera field of view. The longest durations of auroral pulsations are observed during events which start within the substorm recovery phases. As a result, the geomagnetic indices are not able to describe pulsating aurora. Simultaneous Antarctic auroral images were found for 10 pulsating aurora events. In eight cases auroral pulsations were seen in the southern hemispheric data as well, suggesting an equatorial precipitation source and a frequent interhemispheric occurrence. The long lifetimes of pulsating aurora, their interhemispheric occurrence, and the relatively high-precipitation energies make this type of aurora an effective energy deposition process which is easy to identify from the ground-based image data.

The Southern Ocean (SO) carbon sink has strengthened substantially since the year 2000, following a decade of a weakening trend. However, the surface ocean pCO2 data underlying this trend reversal are sparse, requiring a substantial amount of extrapolation to map the data. Here we use nine different pCO2 mapping products to investigate the SO trends and their sensitivity to the mapping procedure. We find a robust temporal coherence for the entire SO, with eight of the nine products agreeing on the sign of the decadal trends, that is, a weakening CO2 sink trend in the 1990s (on average 0.22 ± 0.24 Pg C yr−1 decade−1), and a strengthening sink trend during the 2000s (−0.35 ± 0.23 Pg C yr−1 decade−1). Spatially, the multiproduct mean reveals rather uniform trends, but the confidence is limited, given the small number of statistically significant trends from the individual products, particularly during the data-sparse 1990–1999 period.

In this paper we evaluated the composition and abundance of molluscs associated with beds of the red algae Gigartina, located in the South Shetland Islands (Antarctic Peninsula) and the Strait of Magellan (southern Chile). During the summer season of 2013, samples were obtained by scuba diving using a 0.25 m2 quadrat, arranged randomly within the bed. We extracted a total of 15 quadrats per sampling site. For Antarctic Peninsula beds the most abundant species were the bivalve Lissarca miliaris (233 individuals) and the gastropod Laevilacunaria antarctica (94 individuals), while for Strait of Magellan beds the most abundant species was the polyplacophoran Callochiton puniceus (36 individuals). Comparative analysis between the two molluscan assemblages showed significant differences in the faunal composition between the Antarctic Peninsula and Strait of Magellan (f = 64.474; p = 0.0001). Therefore, molluscs reported in both areas are characteristic of their respective biogeographic area. Finally, Gigartina species play an important role in the formation of patterns of abundance and diversity of the communities associated with them.

The continental shelf of Antarctica harbours rich suspension-feeding macroinvertebrate communities that are continuously exposed to large populations of free-living microbes. To avoid settlement or fouling by undesirable microorganisms that could cause infection or collapse filter-feeding systems, these macroinvertebrates might regulate the epibiotic microbial mat through chemical interactions. In Antarctic chemical ecology, the antibacterial roles of natural products remain mostly unknown. A necessary first step is to identify organisms that produce compounds with potential ecological relevance. For that reason, we tested the crude organic extracts of 116 taxa of Antarctic benthic organisms for antibacterial activity against a panel of seven strains of marine bacteria. Nine out of 11 phyla tested had antibacterial properties. However, inhibitory activity was quite selective and species-specific. These patterns suggest that Antarctic benthic organisms may produce diverse bioactive metabolites with different antibacterial activities or, alternatively, those contrasting profiles may be shaped by environmental and biological interactions acting at a small spatial scale. The reasons of such selectivity remain to be further investigated and may contribute to the identification of bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical applications.