Steven Franke, Daniela Jansen, Sebastian Beyer, Niklas Neckel, Tobias Binder, John Paden, Olaf Eisen. (2021). Complex Basal Conditions and Their Influence on Ice Flow at the Onset of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (Vol. 126).
Abstract: Abstract The ice stream geometry and large ice surface velocities at the onset region of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) are not yet well reproduced by ice sheet models. The quantification of basal sliding and a parametrization of basal conditions remains a major gap. In this study, we assess the basal conditions of the onset region of the NEGIS in a systematic analysis of airborne ultra-wideband radar data. We evaluate basal roughness and basal return echoes in the context of the current ice stream geometry and ice surface velocity. We observe a change from a smooth to a rougher bed where the ice stream widens, and a distinct roughness anisotropy, indicating a preferred orientation of subglacial structures. In the upstream region, the excess ice mass flux through the shear margins is evacuated by ice flow acceleration and along-flow stretching of the ice. At the downstream part, the generally rougher bed topography correlates with a decrease in flow acceleration and lateral variations in ice surface velocity. Together with basal water routing pathways, this hints to two different zones in this part of the NEGIS: the upstream region collecting water, with a reduced basal traction, and downstream, where the ice stream is slowing down and is widening on a rougher bed, with a distribution of basal water toward the shear margins. Our findings support the hypothesis that the NEGIS is strongly interconnected to the subglacial water system in its onset region, but also to the subglacial substrate and morphology.
Keywords: basal roughness bed conditions Greenland Ice Sheet ice stream Northeast Greenland Ice Stream radio-echo sounding
Programme: 1180
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Christopher Burot, Rémi Amiraux, Patricia Bonin, Sophie Guasco, Marcel Babin, Fabien Joux, Dominique Marie, Laure Vilgrain, Hermann J. Heipieper, Jean-François Rontani. (2021). Viability and stress state of bacteria associated with primary production or zooplankton-derived suspended particulate matter in summer along a transect in Baffin Bay (Arctic Ocean) (Vol. 770).
Abstract: In the framework of the GreenEdge Project (whose the general objective is to understand the dynamic of the phytoplankton spring bloom in Arctic Ocean), lipid composition and viability and stress state of bacteria were monitored in sea ice and suspended particulate matter (SPM) samples collected in 2016 along a transect from sea ice to open water in Baffin Bay (Arctic Ocean). Lipid analyses confirmed the dominance of diatoms in the bottommost layer of ice and suggested (i) the presence of a strong proportion of micro-zooplankton in SPM samples collected at the western ice covered St 403 and St 409 and (ii) a high proportion of macro-zooplankton (copepods) in SPM samples collected at the eastern ice covered St 413 and open water St 418. The use of the propidium monoazide (PMA) method allowed to show a high bacterial mortality in sea ice and in SPM material collected in shallower waters at St 409 and St 418. This mortality was attributed to the release of bactericidal free fatty acids by sympagic diatoms under the effect of light stress. A strong cis-trans isomerization of bacterial MUFAs was observed in the deeper SPM samples collected at the St 403 and St 409. It was attributed to the ingestion of bacteria stressed by salinity in brine channels of ice by sympagic bacterivorous microzooplankton (ciliates) incorporating trans fatty acids of their preys before to be released in the water column during melting. The high trans/cis ratios also observed in SPM samples collected in the shallower waters at St 413 and St 418 suggest the presence of positively or neutrally buoyant extracellular polymeric substances (EPS)-rich particles retained in sea ice and discharged (with bacteria stressed by salinity) in seawater after the initial release of algal biomass. Such EPS particles, which are generally considered as ideal vectors for bacterial horizontal distribution in the Arctic, appeared to contain a high proportion of dead and non-growing bacteria.
Keywords: Bacterial viability EPS isomerase Micro- and macro-zooplankton Salinity stress Sea ice algae
Programme: 1164
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Barbora Chattová, Marc Lebouvier, Vít Syrovátka, Bart Van de Vijver. (2021). Moss-inhabiting diatom communities from Ile Amsterdam (TAAF, southern Indian Ocean) (Vol. 154).
Abstract: Background and aims – Despite the ongoing taxonomical revision of the entire (sub)-Antarctic diatom flora, our knowledge on the ecology and community associations of moss-inhabiting diatoms is still rather limited. In the present study, our research aim was to survey the diversity together with the environmental factors structuring the epiphytic moss diatom communities on Ile Amsterdam (TAAF), a small volcanic island in the southern Indian Ocean.Material and methods – A morphology-based dataset and (physico)chemical measurements were used for the ecological and biogeographical analysis of moss-inhabiting diatom flora from Ile Amsterdam. In total, 148 moss samples were examined using light microscopy.Key results – The analysis revealed the presence of 125 diatom taxa belonging to 38 genera. The uniqueness of the Ile Amsterdam diatom flora is mainly reflected by the species composition of the dominant genera Pinnularia, Nitzschia, Humidophila, and Luticola, with a large number of unknown and often new species. This highly specific diatom flora, together with differences in the habitats sampled and the isolated position of the island, resulted in very low similarity values between Ile Amsterdam and the other islands of the Southern Ocean. From a biogeographical point of view, 40% of the taxa have a typical cosmopolitan distribution, whereas 22% of all observed species can be considered endemic to Ile Amsterdam, with another 17% species showing a restricted sub-Antarctic distribution. The NMDS analysis, based on a cluster dendrogram, divides the samples into six main groups. For each group, indicator species were determined. Both environmental data and diatom distributions indicate that apart from elevation, specific conductance, pH, and moisture are the major factors determining the structure of moss-inhabiting diatom communities on Ile Amsterdam.Conclusion – The isolated geographic position and unique climatological and geological features of the island shaped the presence of a unique diatom flora, characterised by many endemic species. The results of the study are of prime importance for further (palaeo-)ecological and biogeographical research.
Keywords: Bacillariophyta diatoms ecology Ile Amsterdam mosses southern Indian Ocean sub-Antarctic region
Programme: 136
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Amalie Vigdel Ask, Bjørn Munro Jenssen, Sabrina Tartu, Frédéric Angelier, Olivier Chastel, Geir Wing Gabrielsen. (2021). Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Are Positively Associated with Thyroid Hormones in an Arctic Seabird (Vol. 40).
Abstract: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are associated with several disrupted physiological and endocrine parameters. Regarding endocrine mechanisms, laboratory studies suggest that PFAS could disrupt the thyroid hormone system and alter circulating thyroid hormone concentrations. Thyroid hormones play a ubiquitous role—controlling thermoregulation, metabolism, and reproduction. However, evidence for disruption of thyroid hormones by PFAS remains scarce in wildlife. The present study investigated the associations between concentrations of PFAS, thyroid hormones, and body condition in an arctic seabird, the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). We collected blood from kittiwakes sampled in Svalbard, Norway (2013 and 2014). Plasma samples were analyzed for total thyroxine (TT4) and total triiodothyronine (TT3) concentrations; detected PFAS included branched and linear (lin) C8 perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (i.e., perfluoroctane sulfonate [PFOS]) and C9-C14 perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs). The dominant PFAS in the kittiwakes were linPFOS and C11- and C13-PFCAs. Generally, male kittiwakes had higher concentrations of PFAS than females. We observed positive correlations between linPFOS, C10-PFCA, and TT4 in males, whereas in females C12-14-PFCAs were positively correlated to TT3. Interestingly, we observed contrasted correlations between PFAS and body condition; the direction of the relationship was sex-dependent. Although these results show relationships between PFAS and circulating thyroid hormone concentrations in kittiwakes, the study design does not allow for concluding on causal relationships related to effects of PFAS on the thyroid hormone system. Future experimental research is required to quantify this impact of PFAS on the biology of kittiwakes. The apparently different associations among PFAS and body condition for males and females are puzzling, and more research is required. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:820–831. © 2020 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.
Keywords: Avian toxicity Ecotoxicology Endocrine-disrupting compounds Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance Thyroid hormones
Programme: 330
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Karine Sellegri, Alessia Nicosia, Evelyn Freney, Julia Uitz, Melilotus Thyssen, Gérald Grégori, Anja Engel, Birthe Zäncker, Nils Haëntjens, Sébastien Mas, David Picard, Alexia Saint-Macary, Maija Peltola, Clémence Rose, Jonathan Trueblood, Dominique Lefevre, Barbara D’Anna, Karine Desboeufs, Nicholas Meskhidze, Cécile Guieu, Cliff S. Law. (2021). Surface ocean microbiota determine cloud precursors (Vol. 11).
Abstract: One pathway by which the oceans influence climate is via the emission of sea spray that may subsequently influence cloud properties. Sea spray emissions are known to be dependent on atmospheric and oceanic physicochemical parameters, but the potential role of ocean biology on sea spray fluxes remains poorly characterized. Here we show a consistent significant relationship between seawater nanophytoplankton cell abundances and sea-spray derived Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) number fluxes, generated using water from three different oceanic regions. This sensitivity of CCN number fluxes to ocean biology is currently unaccounted for in climate models yet our measurements indicate that it influences fluxes by more than one order of magnitude over the range of phytoplankton investigated.
Keywords: Atmospheric science Marine biology
Programme: 1187
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Benjamin Pohl, Vincent Favier, Jonathan Wille, Danielle G Udy, Tessa R Vance, Julien Pergaud, Niels Dutrievoz, Juliette Blanchet, Christoph Kittel, Charles Amory, Gerhard Krinner, Francis Codron. (2021). Relationship Between Weather Regimes and Atmospheric Rivers in East Antarctica (Vol. 126).
Abstract: Here, we define weather regimes in the East Antarctica—Southern Ocean sector based on daily anomalies of 700 hPa geopotential height derived from ERA5 reanalysis during 1979–2018. Most regimes and their preferred transitions depict synoptic-scale disturbances propagating eastwards off the Antarctic coastline. While regime sequences are generally short, their interannual variability is strongly driven by the polarity of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Regime occurrences are then intersected with atmospheric rivers (ARs) detected over the same region and period. ARs are equiprobable throughout the year, but clearly concentrate during regimes associated with a strong atmospheric ridges/blockings on the eastern part of the domain, which act to channel meridional advection of heat and moisture from the lower latitudes towards Antarctica. Both regimes and ARs significantly shape climate variability in Antarctica. Regimes favorable to AR occurrences are associated with anomalously warm and humid conditions in coastal Antarctica and, to a lesser extent, the hinterland parts of the Antarctic plateau. These anomalies are strongly enhanced during AR events, with warmer anomalies and dramatically amplified snowfall amounts. Large-scale conditions favoring AR development are finally explored. They show weak dependency to the SAM, but particularly strong atmospheric ridges/blockings over the Southern Ocean appear as the most favorable pattern, in which ARs can be embedded, and to which they contribute.
Keywords: atmospheric rivers East Antarctica snowfall amounts temperature anomalies weather regimes
Programme: 411
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Warren RL. Cairns, Clara Turetta, Niccolò Maffezzoli, Olivier Magand, Beatriz Ferreira Araujo, Hélène Angot, Delia Segato, Paolo Cristofanelli, Francesca Sprovieri, Claudio Scarchilli, Paolo Grigioni, Virginia Ciardini, Carlo Barbante, Aurélien Dommergue, Andrea Spolaor. (2021). Mercury in precipitated and surface snow at Dome C and a first estimate of mercury depositional fluxes during the Austral summer on the high Antarctic plateau (Vol. 262).
Abstract: The role of deposition fluxes on the mercury cycle at Concordia station, on the high Antarctic plateau have been investigated over the Austral summer between December 2017 to January 2018. Wet/frozen deposition was collected daily from specially sited tables, simultaneously with the collection of surface (0–3 cm) and subsurface (3–6 cm) snow and the analysis of Hg0 in the ambient air. Over the course of the experiment the atmospheric Hg0 concentrations ranged from 0.58 ± 0.19 to 1.00 ± 0.33 ng m−3, surface snow Hg concentrations varied between (0–3 cm) 0.006 ± 0.003 to 0.001 ± 0.001 ng cm−3 and subsurface snow (3–6 cm) concentrations varied between 0.001 ± 0.001 to 0.003 ± 0.002 ng cm−3. The maximum daily wet deposition flux was found to be 23 ng m−2 d−1. Despite the low temporal resolution of our measurements combined with their potential errors, the linear regression of the Hg deposition fluxes against the snow accumulation rates allowed us to estimate the mean dry deposition rate from the intercept of the graph as −0.005 +- 0.008 ng m−2 d−1. From this analysis, we conclude that wet deposition accounts for the vast majority of the Hg deposition fluxes at Concordia Station. The number of snow events, together with the continuous GEM measurements have allowed us to make a first estimation of the mean snow scavenging factor at Dome C. Using the slope of the regression of mercury flux on snow accumulation we obtained a snow scavenging factor that ranges from 0.21 to 0.22 ± 0.02 (ngHg/g snow)/(ngHg/m3 air). Our data indicate that the boundary layer height and local meteorological effects influence Hg0 reemission from the top of (0–3 cm) the snowpack into the atmosphere and into the deeper snowpack layer (3–6 cm). These data will help constrain numerical models on the behaviour of mercury in Antarctica.
Keywords: Atmospheric conditions High resolution sampling Snow scavenging factor Snow sublimation
Programme: 1028
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Maëlle Connan, Vonica Perold, Ben J. Dilley, Christophe Barbraud, Yves Cherel, Peter G. Ryan. (2021). The Indian Ocean ‘garbage patch’: Empirical evidence from floating macro-litter (Vol. 169). Bachelor's thesis, , .
Abstract: Marine litter has become a global issue with ‘garbage patches’ documented in all ocean gyres. The Pacific and Atlantic garbage patches have been well described, but there are few empirical data for the Indian Ocean. In the austral summer 2019–2020, we conducted an at-sea survey of macro-litter in the rarely investigated south-west Indian Ocean. Over 24 days, 1623 man-made items were observed including plastic fragments, packaging and fishing-related items during 216 h of observations covering 5464 km. More than 99% of the litter items were plastics of which almost 60% were white. Floating litter was patchily distributed with only five items (0.2%) recorded south of 40°S (0.1 items·km‐2). Half of the items were encountered over a two-day period south-east of Madagascar (30°S; 59–67°E; 75.2 items·km‐2). Our survey detected an accumulation of litter in the southern Indian Ocean and demonstrated that this area warrants more research.
Keywords: At-sea survey Frontal system Garbage patch Plastic litter Southern Indian Ocean
Programme: 109
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Manon Clairbaux, Paul Mathewson, Warren Porter, Jérôme Fort, Hallvard Strøm, Børge Moe, Per Fauchald, Sebastien Descamps, Hálfdán H. Helgason, Vegard S. Bråthen, Benjamin Merkel, Tycho Anker-Nilssen, Ingar S. Bringsvor, Olivier Chastel, Signe Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jóhannis Danielsen, Francis Daunt, Nina Dehnhard, Kjell Einar Erikstad, Alexey Ezhov, Maria Gavrilo, Yuri Krasnov, Magdalene Langset, Svein-H. Lorentsen, Mark Newell, Bergur Olsen, Tone K. Reiertsen, Geir Helge Systad, Thorkell L. Thórarinsson, Mark Baran, Tony Diamond, Annette L. Fayet, Michelle G. Fitzsimmons, Morten Frederiksen, Hugh G. Gilchrist, Tim Guilford, Nicholas P. Huffeldt, Mark Jessopp, Kasper L. Johansen, Amy-Lee Kouwenberg, Jannie F. Linnebjerg, Heather L. Major, Laura McFarlane Tranquilla, Mark Mallory, Flemming R. Merkel, William Montevecchi, Anders Mosbech, Aevar Petersen, David Grémillet. (2021). North Atlantic winter cyclones starve seabirds (Vol. 31). Bachelor's thesis, , .
Abstract: Each winter, the North Atlantic Ocean is the stage for numerous cyclones, the most severe ones leading to seabird mass-mortality events called “winter wrecks.”1, 2, 3 During these, thousands of emaciated seabird carcasses are washed ashore along European and North American coasts. Winter cyclones can therefore shape seabird population dynamics4,5 by affecting survival rates as well as the body condition of surviving individuals and thus their future reproduction. However, most often the geographic origins of impacted seabirds and the causes of their deaths remain unclear.6 We performed the first ocean-basin scale assessment of cyclone exposure in a seabird community by coupling winter tracking data for ∼1,500 individuals of five key North Atlantic seabird species (Alle alle, Fratercula arctica, Uria aalge, Uria lomvia, and Rissa tridactyla) and cyclone locations. We then explored the energetic consequences of different cyclonic conditions using a mechanistic bioenergetics model7 and tested the hypothesis that cyclones dramatically increase seabird energy requirements. We demonstrated that cyclones of high intensity impacted birds from all studied species and breeding colonies during winter but especially those aggregating in the Labrador Sea, the Davis Strait, the surroundings of Iceland, and the Barents Sea. Our broad-scale analyses suggested that cyclonic conditions do not increase seabird energy requirements, implying that they die because of the unavailability of their prey and/or their inability to feed during cyclones. Our study provides essential information on seabird cyclone exposure in a context of marked cyclone regime changes due to global warming.8
Keywords: at-sea distribution cyclones energy expenditure GLS tracking seabird migration seascape ecology
Programme: 330,388
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Damien Ertz, Neil Sanderson, Marc Lebouvier. (2021). Thelopsis challenges the generic circumscription in the Gyalectaceae and brings new insights to the taxonomy of Ramonia (Vol. 53).
Abstract: The genus Thelopsis was classified in the family Stictidaceae but its systematic position has never been investigated by molecular methods. In order to determine its family placement and to test its monophyly, fungal DNA of recent collections of Thelopsis specimens was sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses using nuLSU, RPB2 and mtSSU sequences reveal that members of Thelopsis form a monophyletic group within the genus Gyalecta as currently accepted. The placement of Thelopsis, including the generic type T. rubella, within the genus Gyalecta challenges the generic circumscription of this group because Thelopsis is well recognized by the combination of morphological characters: perithecioid ascomata, well-developed periphysoids, polysporous asci and small, few-septate ellipsoid-oblong ascospores. The sterile sorediate Opegrapha corticola is also placed in the Gyalectaceae as sister species to Thelopsis byssoidea + T. rubella. Ascomata of O. corticola are illustrated for the first time and support its placement in the genus Thelopsis. The hypothesis that O. corticola might represent the sorediate fertile morph of T. rubella is not confirmed because the species is phylogenetically and morphologically distinct. Thelopsis is recovered as polyphyletic, with T. melathelia being placed as sister species to Ramonia. The new combinations Thelopsis corticola (Coppins & P. James) Sanderson & Ertz comb. nov. and Ramonia melathelia (Nyl.) Ertz comb. nov. are introduced and a new species of Gyalecta, G. amsterdamensis Ertz, is described from Amsterdam and Saint-Paul Islands, characterized by a sterile thallus with discrete soralia. Petractis luetkemuelleri and P. nodispora are accommodated in the new genus Neopetractis, differing from the generic type (P. clausa) by having a different phylogenetic position and a different photobiont. Francisrosea bicolor Ertz & Sanderson gen. & sp. nov. is described for a sterile sorediate lichen somewhat similar to Opegrapha corticola but having an isolated phylogenetic position as sister to a clade including Gyalidea praetermissa and the genera Neopetractis and Ramonia. Gyalecta farlowii, G. nidarosiensis and G. carneola are placed in a molecular phylogeny for the first time. The taxonomic significance of morphological characters in Gyalectaceae is discussed.
Keywords: Arthoniales Gyalectales lichen multispory phylogeny
Programme: 1167
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