Polar SciencePub Date : 2024-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.polar.2024.101046
Pratiksha D. Deshmukh, Jenson V. George, Ravidas K. Naik, Shramik M. Patil, Melena A. Soares, Ajay Bhadran, N. Anilkumar
{"title":"Phytoplankton community structure during the melting phase of the land-fast ice in Prydz Bay, east Antarctica","authors":"Pratiksha D. Deshmukh, Jenson V. George, Ravidas K. Naik, Shramik M. Patil, Melena A. Soares, Ajay Bhadran, N. Anilkumar","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2024.101046","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2024.101046","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span><span><span><span><span>Phytoplankton, the primary producers of all aquatic systems, form the base of the marine food web. Any change in the environmental settings of the given ecosystem will affect the phytoplankton community structure of the region. In the present work, water sampling was carried out from the poorly explored </span>polar region, beneath the sea ice during the melting phase of land-fast ice near Indian Antarctic Research Station Bharati in Prydz Bay, East </span>Antarctica. The water samples were analyzed for phytoplankton </span>species diversity, nutrients, temperature, </span>salinity, and Chlorophyll </span><em>a</em> (Chl <em>a</em>). Our observations indicate marked variations in phytoplankton biomass and community. A shift from diatom (<em>Thalassiosira</em> sp., <em>Fragilariopsis</em><span> sp.) to dinoflagellate (</span><em>Protoperidinium</em><span> sp.) community, along with the emergence of grazers was seen by the end of the observation period. The background environmental conditions also showed marked variations, as the concentration of nitrate at 0m depth reduced from 31.8 μM at Obs-1 to a non-detectable limit at Obs-3. Furthermore, at 0m depth, temperature increased from −1.32 °C at Obs-1 to −0.38 °C at Obs-3 while salinity decreased from 34.11 at Obs-1 to 33.68 at Obs-3, thus indicating the melting phase of sea ice from Obs-1 to Obs-3. These observations showed vertical stratification resulting from the basal melting of land-fast sea ice resulted in better availability of light, phytoplankton community change due to nutrient availability/utilization/limitation, followed by the presence of grazer community. This preliminary understanding will serve as a baseline dataset to design the targeted sampling/experiments in the future from the land-fast ice ecosystem.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"40 ","pages":"Article 101046"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139104013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Thermotectonic evolution of the Rauer Group and Vestfold Hills in Prydz Bay: implications for Neoproterozoic assembly of the East Antarctic Shield","authors":"Sandro Chatterjee , Aishi Debnath , Suvankar Samantaray , Devsamridhi Arora , Soham Dey , Saibal Gupta , Naresh Chandra Pant","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101015","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101015","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The Rauer Group and Vestfold Hills are critical components of the East Antarctic Shield and are believed to have been parts of the supercontinents<span><span> Rodinia and </span>Gondwana<span><span>. The Rauer Group is characterized by Archean to Pan-African thermal history, while the Pan-African signature in the Vestfold Hills is restricted to its southwestern margin. The correlation between the Rauer Group and Vestfold Hills remains controversial, while the significance of amalgamation between these two terranes remains unclear. Most importantly, the precise nature and timing of the Rauer-Vestfold contact is disputed. In this review, we compare the available structural, metamorphic, geochronological and geophysical data in these two East Antarctic terranes and suggest that (i) the Rauer Group and Vestfold Hills of East </span>Antarctica were amalgamated during the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic (∼1000 Ma), and (ii) the Rauer-Vestfold contact is located beneath the Sørsdal Glacier in the East Antarctic Shield. Finally, we argue that juxtaposition of the Rauer-Vestfold contiguous crustal unit with the Eastern Ghats Province (EGP)-Rayner amalgam took place in the Pan-African time (∼500 Ma).</span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"40 ","pages":"Article 101015"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138510069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Formation of subaerial taliks in Larsemann hills, princess Elizabeth land, East Antarctica","authors":"S.V. Popov , A.S. Boronina , A.V. Nemchinova , L.S. Lebedeva , A.S. Biryukov","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2024.101070","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2024.101070","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study presents a mathematical model of heat and mass transfer for modelling the formation and evolution of taliks in the upper subsurface of the Larsemann Hills in East Antarctica. Four simulation scenarios were considered. The first one showed that thawed areas cannot form under snowfields. The second and third scenarios demonstrated the taliks did not form if the snow melted immediately after set the positive air temperatures and covered the surface 20 days before the set of negative air temperatures or immediately after that. According to the last scenario, talik forms when snow cover persists even with positive air temperature, and snow falls before the air temperature becomes negative. Modelling demonstrates that taliks in the Larsemann Hills exist, but they are mostly in an unstable state.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"40 ","pages":"Article 101070"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140408253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar SciencePub Date : 2024-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.polar.2024.101069
E.M. Gayathri , C.M. Laluraj
{"title":"Drivers of anomalous surface melting over Ingrid Christensen Coast, East Antarctica","authors":"E.M. Gayathri , C.M. Laluraj","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2024.101069","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2024.101069","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Antarctica contains 90% of the Earth's ice; if it melts, it can significantly contribute to the rise in global sea levels. Over Antarctica, short-term atmospheric warming events have led to significant surface melt in summer. Understanding the conditions of such warming events and subsequent surface melt is highly prioritized in Polar Research. The austral summer of 2016-17 witnessed the largest melt duration of the 21<sup>st</sup> century over Ingrid Christensen Coast (ICC), East Antarctica. Being situated on the grounded ice near four research stations, understanding the melt over the region has both scientific and operational importance. Here, we investigate the drivers of four major melt events identified over ICC for the austral summer of 2016-17 using the reanalysis dataset, ERA5. The first melt event, coinciding with the season's highest air temperature, was triggered by high turbulent heat flux from strong katabatic winds, while the rest of the events were triggered by low-level, liquid cloud-induced longwave radiation. During the melt events, anomalous high pressure ridges were present over the continent causing low pressure systems to remain stationary for an extended period and direct warm, moist air towards the ICC, facilitating melting. The present study observed melting occurring above the grounding zone, and if such melting extends to a larger scale beyond ice shelves, it could raise significant concerns regarding the hydrodynamics and stability of ice sheets in the future.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"40 ","pages":"Article 101069"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140270178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar SciencePub Date : 2024-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.polar.2023.101014
Anoop S. Mahajan , Shrutika Wagh , Rafael P. Fernandez , Surendra Singh , Silvia Bucci , Alfonso Saiz-Lopez
{"title":"Differences in iodine chemistry over the Antarctic continent","authors":"Anoop S. Mahajan , Shrutika Wagh , Rafael P. Fernandez , Surendra Singh , Silvia Bucci , Alfonso Saiz-Lopez","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101014","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101014","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>High concentrations of iodine oxide (IO) have been reported over west Antarctica, with areas around the Weddell Sea showing a peak in spring. However, stations in east Antarctica show much lower values during summer, although observations over spring are still missing. Here, we present the first year-long observations of IO outside the Weddell Sea region using a multi-axis differential </span>optical absorption spectrometer (MAX-DOAS) over the Bharati station (69.41°S, 76.19°E). Observations show that iodine chemistry is less active than over the Weddell Sea, even during springtime, with IO mixing ratios below 2 pptv throughout the sunlit period. A slight increase in IO is observed in spring, although it is a factor of 10 lower than the Weddell Sea region. We identify the variations in drivers in the different regions using sea ice concentrations, sea ice thickness and chlorophyll concentrations. We use a global model which uses a parameterization for iodine emissions based on a combination of these factors. The model reproduces the high concentrations over the Weddell Sea and the low concentrations over Bharati throughout the year, shedding light on the environmental factors, sources and chemistry of iodine in Antarctica. Even at small concentrations, iodine can enhance ozone loss caused by bromine chemistry over east Antarctica, although this impact is lower than in the west Antarctic.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"40 ","pages":"Article 101014"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135515642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar SciencePub Date : 2024-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.polar.2024.101048
Sergey Kakareka, Sviatlana Salivonchyk
{"title":"Assessment of the human footprint in Antarctica: A case study Larsemann Hills","authors":"Sergey Kakareka, Sviatlana Salivonchyk","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2024.101048","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2024.101048","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>The article is devoted to assessment of the anthropogenic influence in the Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica<span>. The emission of the main pollutants and greenhouse gases from diesel generators used at Antarctic stations are estimated for the period since the beginning of the development of the oasis area (from 1986 to 2019). It is shown that SO</span></span><sub>2</sub> emissions decreased in 2019 compared to peak values in 1990 by 5.6 times, which was due to a significant decrease of the sulfur content in fuel. Emissions of other pollutants mostly increased. Surface air pollution by SO<sub>2</sub>, NO<sub>2</sub>, CO, PM<sub>10</sub> and black carbon (BC) using the AERMOD dispersion model are characterized. It is revealed that the most significant emission health impact is due to increase of surface concentrations of nitrogen dioxide. Deposition fluxes of PM<sub>10</sub> and BC are estimated. The fluxes of PM<sub>10</sub><span> and BC dry deposition in the territory of Larsemann Hills can reach maximum values of 27.5 and 21.7 mg/m</span><sup>2</sup><span><span>/year, respectively; can be traced in certain directions at a distance of up to 2.0 km or more. Modeling of BC deposition due to the dispersion of emission allowed to make draft estimates of soot concentration in the snow of the area and resulting radiative forcing </span>climatic effects.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"40 ","pages":"Article 101048"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139509332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Important factors affecting transportation for shippers and potential demand for the Northeast Passage: A conjoint analysis of Japan","authors":"Shinichi Yamaguchi , Kei Komuro , Shinnosuke Tanabe , Hajime Yamaguchi","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101043","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101043","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study utilized choice-based conjoint analysis, along with conditional logit to identify the following three research questions: RQ1: Which factor of the route is important for sippers in marine transport? RQ2: What is the potential demand for the NEP? How does the shipping cost alter the demand? RQ3: Which industry exhibits a high potential demand for the NEP? According to the results, Shipping Time, Percent Delay, Container Temperature, and Shipping Cost impact route selection by shippers. The following order was determined in terms of importance: Cost > Delay > Time > Temperature. The following values were found for the marginal willingness to pay: USD 31.7/FEU for one-day reduction, USD 35.2/FEU for 1% reduction in the delay rate of 1–3 days, and USD 456.0/FEU for a decrease in temperature inside the container from 15 to 45 °C to 5–20 °C. Furthermore, the potential probability of the selection of NEP is 39.4% if the cost is equal. When the cost increases from USD 2585/FEU to USD 2100–2150/FEU, the share becomes equal to the SCR. The Agriculture and Fisheries industry exhibited the highest potential demand, while the Chemical industry exhibited the least demand. These results led to three policy implications. It should be noted, however, that the accuracy of the analysis remains debatable because it is not random sampling.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"39 ","pages":"Article 101043"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1873965223001652/pdfft?md5=f0ab490e89a4641e7ae83616044f36f4&pid=1-s2.0-S1873965223001652-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139067377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar SciencePub Date : 2024-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.polar.2023.101002
M. Cecilia Porter , Alyssa Parker , Matthew Walls
{"title":"Indigenous place names in arctic Canada: A publicly accessible inventory of projects","authors":"M. Cecilia Porter , Alyssa Parker , Matthew Walls","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Toponyms contain Indigenous modes of understanding and reflect ecological histories and deep relationships between Indigenous communities, arctic environments, time, and land. Completed toponymic studies are useful for researchers to access; however, they are notoriously difficult to find. Many are completed by community groups and published on their websites, or are completed by government agencies and published as grey literature. An inventory of toponym projects has not existed, and eliciting what has been completed where, with whom, and by whom has required long searches through academic and grey literature. In this paper, we inventory Indigenous toponymy projects in the Canadian North, and document our efforts to produce a publicly accessible index where toponymy projects can be found via maps. New or unknown resources can be added by users. Our purpose, here, is to document the production of this resource and to increase awareness of toponymical resources among communities, researchers, scientists, and other stakeholders. We reflect on knowledge gained through construction of the index and make observations on trends in Inuit toponym research through time. We argue for renewed efforts across arctic sciences to recognize Inuit-environment relationships through reference to place names and the ecological histories they encapsulate, and we provide considerations for future work.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"39 ","pages":"Article 101002"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1873965223001093/pdfft?md5=ed9eab58b0da573897253891f67db510&pid=1-s2.0-S1873965223001093-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135428304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar SciencePub Date : 2024-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.polar.2023.100984
Eric A. Miller , Carson A. Baughman , Benjamin M. Jones , Randi R. Jandt
{"title":"Biophysical effects of an old tundra fire in the Brooks Range Foothills of Northern Alaska, U.S.A","authors":"Eric A. Miller , Carson A. Baughman , Benjamin M. Jones , Randi R. Jandt","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.100984","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.100984","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Our understanding of tundra fire effects in Northern Alaska is limited because fires have been relatively rare. We sampled a 70+ year-old burn visible in a 1948 aerial photograph for vegetation composition and structure, soil attributes, terrain rugosity, and thermokarst pit density. Between 1948 and 2017 the burn initially became wetter as ice wedges melted but then drained and dried as the troughs became hydrologically connected. The reference tundra has become wetter over the last few decades and appears to be lagging through a similar sequence. The burn averaged 2.5 °C warmer than the reference tundra at 30 cm depth. Thinning of organic soil following fire appears to dramatically accelerate the background degradation of ground-ice features in response to climate change and promotes a plant community that is distinct in terms of taxa and structure, dominated by tall willows and other competitive, rather than cold-tolerant, species. The cover of sedges and mosses is low while that of willows and grass is high relative to the reference tundra. The changes in plant community composition and structure, increasing ground temperature, and thermokarst lead us to expect the observed biophysical changes to the tundra will persist centuries into the future.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"39 ","pages":"Article 100984"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1873965223000828/pdfft?md5=96a8f7b412004deab43880eae8ab1831&pid=1-s2.0-S1873965223000828-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135255194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar SciencePub Date : 2024-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.polar.2023.101005
Sunil Kumar Mohanta , M.C. Sanjana , G. Latha , E. Arunbabu
{"title":"Soundscape during summer in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, Arctic","authors":"Sunil Kumar Mohanta , M.C. Sanjana , G. Latha , E. Arunbabu","doi":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.polar.2023.101005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper summarises research on ambient noise data collected during the summers of 2016 and 2017 by an autonomous Ambient Noise Measurement System (ANMS) deployed in the Kongsfjorden, Arctic. The primary goals of this study are to identify the various soundscape components and the variation of the soundscape in the Arctic environment during the summers of 2016 and 2017. This work mainly quantifies the ambient noise sources during each month of the summer. After analysing the data, five distinct sources of soundscape were identified, out of which three geophysical sources, including iceberg bubbling, glacier calving, and rain noise, as well as two anthropogenic sources, such as shipping noise and ice ramming noise, were identified. No biological sources were identified either in the summer of 2016 or in 2017. A comparison of average Sound Pressure Levels (SPL) in the summers of 2016 and 2017 shows that the difference in average SPL below 8 kHz is 3 dB re 1 μPa<sup>2</sup>/Hz.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20316,"journal":{"name":"Polar Science","volume":"39 ","pages":"Article 101005"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1873965223001123/pdfft?md5=3bf6c1bf37234a51868c416c1564d6b2&pid=1-s2.0-S1873965223001123-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135607340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}