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For ease in discerning an Antarctic circumpolar wave in the perimeter of the ice pack, we construct a time series of the sea ice extents (essentially the area within the ice perimeter) in 1-degree longitudinal sectors for the period 1978-1996, as observed with the multichannel microwave imagers on board the NASA Nimbus 7 and the DOD (Dept. of Defense) DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) F8, F11, and F13 satellites. After converting the time series into complex numbers by means of a Hilbert transform, we decompose the time series of the 360 sectors into its complex principal components (CPCs), effectively separating the spatial and temporal values. Then we decompose the real and imaginary parts of the temporal portions of the first three CPCs (complex principal compenents) by Empirical Mode Decomposition into their intrinsic modes, each representing a narrow frequency band, resulting in a collection of three CPCs for each intrinsic mode. Finally, we reconstruct the data in two different ways. First, we low-pass filter the data by combining all of the intrinsic modes of each CPC with periods longer than two years, which we designate as lowpass filtered. Next, we select the intrinsic mode of each CPC with periods of approximately four years, which we designate the quasiquadrennial (QQ) modes. The low-pass filtered time series shows eastward propagating azimuthal motion in the Ross and Weddell Seas, but no clearly circumpolar motion. The QQ time series, on the other hand, clearly shows eastward propagating circumpolar waves, but with occasional retrograde motion to the west.

An infiltration community was the dominating ice algal community in pack-ice off Queen Maud Land, Southern Ocean, in January 1993. The community was dominated by autotrophic processes, and the most common species were the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica and the diatoms Chaetoceros neglectus and Fragilariopsis cylindrus. The concentration of chlorophyll a was 1.3–47.9 μg l−1, and the inner part of the community was nitrate depleted. Uptake rates of nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, urea and amino acids were measured using 15N. Nitrate was the major nitrogen source for ice algal growth (67 ± 6% nitrate uptake). It is suggested that % nitrate uptake in the infiltration community decreases during the growth season, from 92% during spring (literature data) to 67% during summer. Scalar irradiance in the infiltration community was high and variable. It reached ca. 2000 μmol m−2 s−1 at some locations, and nitrate uptake rate was potentially photoinhibited at irradiances >500 μmol m−2 s−1. Nitrate uptake rate in an average infiltration community (0.6 m of snow cover) was lowered by 13% over a 2-week period due to photoinhibition.

The efficiency of physical concentration mechanisms for enrichment of algae and bacteria in newly formed sea-ice was investigated under defined conditions in the laboratory. Sea-ice formation was simulated in a 3,000 l tank under different patterns of water movement. When ice formed in an artificially generated current pattern, algal cells were substantially enriched within the ice matrix. Enrichment factors for chlorophyll a calculated from the ratio between the concentrations in ice and underlying water reached values of up to 53. Repeated mixing of ice crystals into the water column, as well as flow of water through the new ice layer, contributed to the enrichment of algae in the ice. Wave action during ice formation revealed lower phytoplankton enrichment factors of up to 9. Mixing of floating ice crystals with underlying water and pumping of water into the ice matrix by periodical expansion and compression of the slush ice layer were responsible for the wave-induced enrichment of algal cells. Physical enrichment of bacteria within the ice was negligible. Bacterial biomass within new ice was enhanced only when the concentration of algae was high. At low algal biomass, bacteria experienced substantial losses in the ice, most likely due to brine drainage, which were not observed for the microalgae. Bacterial cells are therefore not scavenged by ice crystals and the observed enrichment and sustainment of bacterial biomass within newly formed ice depend on their attachment to cells or aggregates of algae. Division rates of bacteria changed only slightly during ice formation.

The unique predominance of oleyl alcohols (18:1) is the striking characteristic of the lipids of the Antarctic euphausiid <i>Thysanoessa macrura</i>. The 2 isomers 18:1(n-9) and 18:1(n-7) occurred in similar proportions in the wax esters of <i>T. macrura</i> and comprised up to 80% of the total fatty alcohols. The remainder consisted mostly of the 20:1(n-9) alcohol along with small amounts of the 22:1(n-11) alcohol. No marine zooplankton species has previously been reported which produces wax esters with significant amounts of 18 carbon fatty alcohols. <i>T. macrura</i> specimens were collected in the high Antarctic Weddell Sea during autumn 1992 and summer 1993. Their lipid levels were high, about 40 to 50% of the dry mass with up to 70% of the total lipid as wax esters. The wax ester fatty acids were dominated by the saturates 14:0 and 16:0, which, along with the monounsaturate 18:1(n-9), accounted for more than 80% of the total fatty acids. Phospholipids contained high levels of (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (20:5 and 22:6) typical of membrane lipids from marine zooplankton. The precise significance of the unique wax ester composition in <i>T. macrura</i> is not clear but this discovery underscores the biochemical adaptability of Antarctic zooplankton species to a constantly cold and highly seasonal polar environment.

Eight crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophagus) (three females, five males), ranging in body mass between 125 and 220 kg, were captured off Queen Maud Land (70-72 degrees S, 7-16 degrees W) during the last week of February, just after moulting, and tagged with Argos satellite-linked dive recorders to provide data on location and diving depth and duration. During the first few weeks of March the seals were moving in the pack ice along the continental shelf edge, close to the coast of Queen Maud Land. In April and May, when the pack ice extended northwards, most of the seals moved north, one reaching 63 degrees S in late May. In the first half of June the two remaining seals turned south and moved back deep into the pack ice. The seals made about 150 dives per day each throughout the study period. Ninety percent of these were made to depths of less than 52 m. Individual maximum diving depths varied between 288 and 528 m. In March the seals were most active at night, when the dive depth was shallower than during the day. In April and May the seals were more active during day-time, with an absence of any diurnal change in diving depth. These results support the notion that crabeater seals predominantly feed on krill in Antarctic pack ice, even when winter returns to the waters off Queen Maud Land.

An integrated plume model is used to describe large scale gravity currents in the ocean. The model describes competing effects of (negative) buoyancy, friction, entrainment and Cariolis farce, as well as a pressure term due to variable plume thickness, on the flux, speed and flow direction of the plume. Equations for conservation of salt and internal energy (temperature) and a full equation of state far seawater is included in the model. The entrainment of ambient water is parameterized with support in empirical data, and a drag coefficient consistent with the entrainment is introduced. The model is tested against the overflow through the Denmark Strait, the flow down the Weddell Sea continental slope, and the outflow of saline water through the Gibraltar Strait and from the Spencer Gulf, Australia. The farmer gain an extra driving mechanism due to the thermobaric effect, while in the two latter cases the initial density difference is so large that this effect is not essential. Order of magnitude fit with measurements requires drag coefficient between 0.01 and 0.1. Conditions susceptible to meander behaviour and a singularity arising from the pressure dependency on the current thickness variations are briefly discussed.

Water properties on the continental shelf in the southern Weddell Sea observed during NARP 92/93 are presented. The station distribution includes a section close to the floating ice shelf from the Filchner Depression to the Antarctic Peninsula. Temperature, salinity, oxygen, silicate, CFC-ll and CFC-12 distributions are shown. Melting under the ice shelves, circulation systems, residence times, sediment/water interactions and bottom water formation are discussed. Ice Shelf Water (ISW), which is formed by cooling and melting below the floating ice shelf, seems to be about 10 years older than its parent water mass, which indicates the residence time below the ice shelf. The average melting rate below the Filchner Ronne ice shelf, based on the volume flux of ISW in the Filchner Depression is estimated to be 0.1 m/year. Compared with earlier observations considerable changes were found in the water characteristics and distribution: The temperature of the Weddell Deep Water has increased 0.7°C since 1977. Western Shelf Water, usually dominating the bottom layers in the Filchner Depression and on the Berkner Shelf, was found only in the Ronne Depression.

A new araphid diatom genus, Synedropsis Hasle, Medlin et Syvertsen, is described from sea ice. The generitype, Synedropsis hyperborea (Grunow) Hasle, Medlin et Syvertsen from the Arctic, was first described as a species of Synedra, as was the antarctic Synedropsis fragilis (Manguin) Hasle, Syvertsen et Medlin. A second antarctic species of Synedropsis is a new combination of Cymatosira laevis Heiden in Heiden & Kolbe. In addition four new taxa, S. hyperboreoides Hasle, Syvertsen et Medlin, S. recta Hasle, Medlin et Syvertsen, S. lata Hasle, Medlin et Syvertsen and S. lata var. angustata Hasle, Medlin et Syvertsen are described from the Antarctic. The valve wall is laminar with uniseriate, often poorly developed striae and a wide sternum. Each valve possesses apical fields composed of slits. A labiate process is positioned near one apical slit field. The valve outline for most species exhibits considerable stadial variation. The girdle has several bands, most with one row of poroids close to the pars interior. Thus Synedropsis is closely related to the marine Fragilaria striatula Lyngbye except in the structure of the apical fields and the number of bands. Species observed in uncleaned material appeared in stellate or, more seldom, ribbon-shaped colonies. Synedropsis hyperborea is a common epiphyte on the ice-associated Melosira arctica Dickie in the Arctic. The antarctic species were found mainly in the bottom ice community, S. fragilis as an epiphyte on other diatoms.

Eleven fish species from the Weddell Sea (Antarctic) were examined for infestation with anisakid nematodes. Two species of the genus Contracaecum and the sealworm Pseudoterranova decipiens were isolated from the liver and the body cavity of fish affected. Only two specimens of P. decipiens (1.4%) partly invaded the belly flaps. The following fish species were infested by P. decipiens at the given prevalences: Cygnodraco mawsoni (74.4%), Trematomus scotti (23.2%), Pagetopsis maculatus (10.0%), Cryodraco antarcticus (7.1%), Trematomus lepidorhinus (3.0%), and Dolloidraco longedorsalis (2.7%). All of these, except Trematomus scotti, are new host records. Chaenodraco wilsoni, Chionodraco myersi, Gerlachea australis, Racovitzia glacialis and T. eulepidotus were not infested. The reasons for low prevalence and intensity of infestation are seen in the difficulties of P. decipiens in completing its benthic life cycle in the Weddell Sea environment, in the absence of shallow coastal waters due to the floating shelf-ice. Cygnodraco mawsoni is a crucial intermediate host, without which completion of the parasite life cycle might not be possible. In order to clarify the taxonomical position of Antarctic Pseudoterranova, morphological comparisons with specimens of P. decipiens from the German and Norwegian coast were made using scanning electron microscopy. Results revealed no differences; hence, all specimens studied belong to the same species P. decipiens.

Phytoplankton biomass and distribution of major phytoplankton groups were investigated in relation to sea ice conditions, hydrography and nutrients along three north-south transects in the north western Weddell Sea in early spring 1988 during the EPOS Study (European Polarstern Study), Leg 1. Three different zones along the transects could be distinguished: 1) the Open Water Zone (OWZ) from 58-degrees to 60-degrees-S with high chlorophyll a concentrations up to 3.5-mu-g l-1; 2) the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) from 60-degrees to about 62.5-degrees with chlorophyll a concentrations between 0.1 and 0.3-mu-g l-1, and 3) the closed pack-ice zone (CPI) from 62.5-degrees to 63.2-degrees-S with chlorophyll a concentrations below 0.1-mu-g l-1. Nutrient concentrations increased towards the south showing winter values under the closed pack-ice. Centric diatoms such as Thalassiosira gravida and Chaetoceros neglectum forming large colonies dominated the phytoplankton assemblage in terms of biomass in open water together with large, long chain forming, pennate diatoms, whereas small pennate diatoms such as Nitzschia spp., and nanoflagellates prevailed in ice covered areas. Fairly low concentrations of phytoplankton cells were encountered at the southernmost stations and many empty diatom frustules were found in the samples. The enhanced phytoplankton biomass in the Weddell-Scotia-Confluence area is achieved through sea ice melting in the frontal zone of two different water masses, the Weddell and the Scotia Sea surface waters.