SIPEX-2: A study of sea-ice physical, biochemical and ecosystem processes off East Antarctica during spring 2012

This editorial introduces a suite of articles resulting from the second Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystems eXperiment(SIPEX-2) voyage by presenting some background information on the study areaandAntarcticsea-ice conditions,and summarising the key findings from the project.Using the Australian iceb reaker RV Aurora Australis, SIPEX-2 was conducted in the area between 115–125°E and 62–66°S off East Antarctica during September to November 2012. This region had been sampled during two previous experiments,i.e. ARISE in 2003 (Massom etal.,2006a) and SIPEX in 2007(Worbyetal.,2011a). The 2012 voyage combined traditional and newly developed sampling methods with satellite and other data to measure sea-ice physical properties and pro- cesses on large scales,which provided context for bio geochemical and ecological case studies. Thes pecific goals of the SIPEX-2 project were to:(i)measure the spatial variability in sea-ice and snow-cover properties over small-to regional-length scales;(ii) improve understanding of sea-ice kinematic processes;and(iii) advance knowledge of the links between sea-ice physical characteristics,sea-ice biogeochemical cycling and ice-associated food-web dynamics.Our field-based activities were designed to inform modelling approaches and to improve our capability to assess impacts of predicted changes in Antarctic sea ice on Southern Ocean biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem function

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Climate change and Southern Ocean ecosystems I: how changes in physical habitats directly affect marine biota

Antarctic and Southern Ocean (ASO) marine ecosystems have been changing for at least the last 30 years, including in response to increasing ocean temperatures and changes in the extent and seasonality of sea ice; the magnitude and direction of these changes differ between regions around Antarctica that could see populations of the same species changing differently in different regions. This article reviews current and expected changes in ASO physical habitats in response to climate change. It then reviews how these changes may impact the autecology of marine biota of this polar region: microbes, zooplankton, salps, Antarctic krill, fish, cephalopods, marine mammals, seabirds, and benthos. The general prognosis for ASO marine habitats is for an overall warming and freshening, strengthening of westerly winds, with a potential pole-ward movement of those winds and the frontal systems, and an increase in ocean eddy activity. Many habitat parameters will have regionally specific changes, particularly relating to sea ice characteristics and seasonal dynamics. Lower trophic levels are expected to move south as the ocean conditions in which they are currently found move pole-ward. For Antarctic krill and finfish, the latitudinal breadth of their range will depend on their tolerance of warming oceans and changes to productivity. Ocean acidification is a concern not only for calcifying organisms but also for crustaceans such as Antarctic krill; it is also likely to be the most important change in benthic habitats over the coming century. For marine mammals and birds, the expected changes primarily relate to their flexibility in moving to alternative locations for food and the energetic cost of longer or more complex foraging trips for those that are bound to breeding colonies. Few species are sufficiently well studied to make comprehensive species-specific vulnerability assessments possible. Priorities for future work are discussed

Change and Variability in Antarctic Coastal Exposure, 1979-2020

Abstract Increased exposure of Antarctica’s coastal environment to ocean waves due to loss of a protective sea-ice “buffer” has important ramifications for ice-shelf stability, coastal erosion, important ice-ocean-atmosphere interactions and shallow benthic ecosystems. Here, we introduce an important new climate and environmental metric based on the ongoing long-term satellite sea-ice concentration record, namely Coastal Exposure Length or CEL. This is a daily measure of (change and variability in) the length and incidence of Antarctic coastline lacking any protective sea-ice buffer offshore i.e., connected directly to the open ocean. On average and for 1979-2020, ~50% of Antarctica’s ~17,850-km coastline is fully exposed at mean annual maximum exposure each February (austral summer) with minimal exposure in winter. Regional contributions vary from 45% (Amundsen-Bellingshausen seas) to 58% (Indian Ocean and Ross Sea), with overall (circumpolar) annual exposure ranging from 38% (2019) to 63% (1993). The northern Antarctic Peninsula is the only region with year-round coastal exposure. The annual maximum length of Antarctic coastline exposed to fully open-ocean conditions decreased by ~30 km (or ~0.32%) per year for 1979-2020, but this slight negative trend is composed of distinct regional and seasonal contributions. The new findings provide previously-unavailable information on change around Antarctica’s vulnerable coastal margins, to aid improved modelling and prediction of the likely trajectory of the coastal system in coming decades in response to climate change (including a projected increase in Southern Ocean wave energy.</jats:p

Life hung by a thread: endurance of Antarctic fauna in glacial periods

Today, Antarctica exhibits some of the harshest environmental conditions for life on Earth. During the last glacial period, Antarctic terrestrial and marine life was challenged by even more extreme environmental conditions. During the present interglacial period, polar life in the Southern Ocean is sustained mainly by large-scale primary production. We argue that during the last glacial period, faunal populations in the Antarctic were limited to very few areas of local marine productivity (polynyas), because complete, multiannual sea-ice and ice shelf coverage shut down most of the Southern Ocean productivity within today’s seasonal sea-ice zone. Both marine sediments containing significant numbers of planktonic and benthic foraminifera and fossil bird stomach oil deposits in the adjacent Antarctic hinterland provide indirect evidence for the existence of polynyas during the last glacial period. We advocate that the existence of productive oases in the form of polynyas during glacial periods was essential for the survival of marine and most higher-trophic terrestrial fauna. Reduced to such refuges, much of today’s life in the high Antarctic realm might have hung by a thread during the last glacial period, because limited resources available to the food web restricted the abundance and productivity of both Antarctic terrestrial and marine life.<br/

Beyond point measurements: sea ice floes characterized in 3-D

A new methodology for coincident floe-scale measurements of the surface elevation, snow depth, and ice draft (the thickness below the water line) of Antarctic sea ice has been demonstrated during two recent research voyages: the Australian-led Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem Experiment II (SIPEX II) to East Antarctica in September–November 2012 and the United Kingdom–led Ice Mass Balance in the Bellingshausen Sea (ICEBell) voyage to the Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas in November 201

Antarctic ice shelf open ocean corridors with large swell available

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Over the last three decades there have been two catastrophic disintegrations events on the Antarctic peninsula, the Larsen A ice shelf in 1995 and the Larsen B in 2002, alongside the Wilkins ice shelf which underwent multiple partial disintegrations between 1998&amp;amp;#8212;2009.&amp;amp;#160; Previous research into these events indicated that there had been prolonged periods where the Larsen and Wilkins Ice Shelves were without a sea-ice buffer to protect them from ocean swell in the leadup to their respective disintegrations. Swell potentially acted as a trigger mechanism to each shelf to disintegrated, as they had already been destabilised by surface flooding, fracturing, thinning and other glaciological factors.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;This study will focus on the algorithm we developed which calculates the time where an ice shelf is without a local sea ice buffer (&amp;amp;#8220;exposure&amp;amp;#8221;), the size of the ocean which could directly propagate waves into the shelf (&amp;amp;#8220;corridor&amp;amp;#8221;) and the maximum wave height of swell which is directed towards the shelf in the corridor. An analysis of the last forty-one years showed that there was a large variation over individual ice shelves for both exposure and the available swell, due to the impact of polynyas, ice tongues and fast-ice growth which can protect the ice shelf. On a regional scale, the East Antarctic Ice Shelf and West Antarctic Ice Shelf had opposing trends, with the West Antarctic Ice Shelf recording a weak increasing trend of exposure and available swell.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;</jats:p

On the crucial role of atmospheric rivers in the two major Weddell Polynya events in 1973 and 2017 in Antarctica

Atmospheric rivers induced sea ice melt and initiated the two major Weddell Polynya events in November 1973 and September 2017.</jats:p