DNA metabarcoding of non-fungal eukaryotic diversity in air and snow of Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

A major natural route of dispersal to Antarctica is often assumed to be atmospheric transport, although few studies have documented this in detail. Aerial dispersal to Antarctica is very challenging as the continent is geographically remote from other land areas and is isolated by the atmospheric circumpolar vortex. Detailed information about aerial routes by which microorganisms arrive and circulate in Antarctica is generally lacking, as few aerobiological studies have focused on eukaryotes and those that have predominantly relied on traditional morphological identification. Recent advances in molecular biology, such as DNA metabarcoding by high throughput sequencing (HTS), have provided a powerful new tool for the study of atmospheric biological diversity and can retrieve levels of diversity an order of magnitude higher than traditional methods. In this study, we used HTS to investigate the diversity of non-fungal eukaryotes present in the atmosphere and freshly precipitated snow on Livingston Island. In a total of 740 m3 of air and 3.76 L of snow sampled, representatives of four kingdoms (Protozoa, Chromista, Viridiplantae and Animalia) and five phyla (Ciliophora, Ochrophyta, Chlorophyta, Magnoliophyta and Porifera) were found. The most diverse phylum was Chlorophyta, represented in our samples by 10 taxa, with Trebouxia asymmetrica Friedl & Gärtner the most abundant representative

Larsen’s cairn: the birth of a new historical site in Antarctica

This article describes the history of Larsen’s cairn, one of the oldest historical sites in Antarctica, and explains how it became one of the most recently declared Historical Site and Monuments (HSMs) on the continent. Norwegian explorer and whaler Carl Anton Larsen constructed the cairn on Marambio/Seymour Island during the Norwegian Whaling Expedition in 1892. Officially designated as C.A. Larsen Multiexpedition Cairn (HSM 94), this site featured in several episodes of Antarctic history, spanning three periods of Antarctic history: Antarctic whaling, the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, and a period characterized by the installation of permanent stations at the end of World War II. Argentina, Norway, Sweden and the UK have all had some involvement in the cairn and all four nations now share an administrative role vis-à-vis the HSM, making it the HSM with the largest number of administrators to date. Adding to its significance, the cairn is linked to the earliest phase of invertebrate palaeontology in Antarctica and can also be considered the first material remains of the Norwegian presence in Antarctica

The muskox (Ovibos moschatus) in Sweden: update on a small wild population with an uncertain fate

Once widespread across the Holarctic region, the iconic and pre-historic muskox (Ovibos moschatus) has seen a significant range reduction, with endemic populations now restricted to North America and scattered populations introduced throughout Eurasia. In 1971, five individuals from the introduced Norwegian population migrated across the border into Sweden and re-established a natural Swedish muskox population in Härjedalen. While the size of this population has since fluctuated, up-to-date knowledge on the population size and status has been missing. In the summer of 2024, we therefore conducted a population survey and estimated the current population size to eight individuals. Although the population remains small and despite the absence of a formal wildlife management plan, the presence of a sub-adult and calf still shows an ongoing reproduction and suggests a viability and long-term local continuity of muskoxen in the area. Compared to the well-studied populations in North America and Greenland, little is known about the foraging ecology, habitat selection and ecological role of muskoxen in Scandinavia. Synthesizing published research from other regions, we explore the potential ecological services of the Swedish muskoxen, such as mitigating climate-induced changes like shrubification. We also report the results of our count of the population—eight individuals, including a calf and a sub-adult—and discuss its future prospects in Sweden, arguing that the environmental conditions in Scandinavia are indeed capable of supporting muskox populations

The history of the musk ox farm in Bardu, Arctic Norway

In 1969, a musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) farm was started in Bardu, northern Norway, with 25 calves captured in Greenland. John J. Teal Jr., a professor at the University of Alaska, was the primus motor of the initiative, which had the aims of domesticating the musk oxen, distributing the domesticated animals to local farms, exhibiting the animals commercially and providing local knitters with the valuable underwool (qiviut) and, thereby, an income-generating activity. Teal withdrew from the project in 1973. The farm operated until 1975, when a bull, one of three escapees, killed a local hunter. Little has been published in English about the Bardu farm, which was one of only six large-scale musk ox farms ever established, and the only one outside North America. This Perspective piece describes the emergence of the idea of domesticating musk oxen in early 20th century North America; capturing the founding stock; constructing and operating the farm; the effort to produce qiviut handknits; and the circumstances leading to the farm’s closure. I conclude that the Bardu farm achieved none of its animal husbandry or socio-economic goals. The farm’s failure can be attributed to a chronic lack of money; the absence of a clear description of its purposes and a plan to achieve them; the failure to tame the musk oxen and to contain the rutting bulls; and other causes. On a positive note, the University of Tromsø’s research on the surviving animals after the farm closed yielded data relevant to free-living and farm-raised musk oxen

A 90-year record of glacier changes in the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, Russian High Arctic

Glacial retreat in the Russian High Arctic, particularly in the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago (NZA), is emblematic of global warming. Some global models project that, by 2100, sea-level rise contributions from melting glaciers in this region could be comparable to contributions from Antarctica’s and Greenland’s peripheral glaciers. However, historical glacier change in the NZA remains poorly known. Here, we present the longest decadal chronology of glacier change in the NZA to date, including a 90-year record (ca. 1931–2021) of frontal length change, and a 70-year record (1952–2021) of glacier area change. Using a combination of survey records, historical maps and satellite imagery, we analyse changes for 63 outlet glaciers, representing 86% of the NZA’s total ice mass. Our results show that the average frontal retreat rate increased each decade since the early 1970s, reaching a peak retreat rate of 65 m a-1 between 2011 and 2021. Glaciers terminating in the Barents Sea experienced the greatest losses, retreating an average of 4.2 km (11.6%) since 1952. During this time, the total glacier area decreased by 1606 km2 (10%). We identified increasing summer air and sea-surface temperatures as key drivers of accelerated glacier retreat, with peak air and sea-surface temperatures occurring from 2011 to 2021, corresponding to the period with the fastest retreat rates and the largest glacier area loss

Mammoth ivory hunting in Siberia: economic, environmental and palaeontological considerations

Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) tusks sell for a substantial price that proves to be an economic lifeline for many in the area of the Republic of Sakha, Russia. Ivory is extracted from permafrost through a variety of legal and illegal methods and sold abroad to China, western Europe and North America. The ivory trade revolves around three main dilemmas. The ethical balances the needs of people in Sakha with palaeontological, environmental and cultural preservation. The economic presents a struggling regional economy with an accessible and lucrative opportunity. The environment sees the ivory hunting practices decimate areas of protected tundra. This paper discusses these issues and seeks to look at the future of the mammoth ivory trade

On ice but not broken: Norwegian–Russian relations in polar science since 24 February 2022

Western countries responded to the full-scale Russian attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022 by imposing strong sanctions to isolate Russia. Norway has adhered to this policy, with exceptions for cooperation on border control, search and rescue, and fisheries research and management in the Barents Sea. Bilateral cooperation within polar science is on ice but has not broken off completely as some scientist-to-scientist contact has been maintained. This Perspective article outlines how these sanctions have greatly reduced cooperation between Norwegian research entities (especially the Institute of Marine Research and the Norwegian Polar Institute) and Russian institutes and scientists in various fields of marine and polar science. Some scientist-to-scientist contact remains, but the nature of these communications has become scantier during the course of the last three years. Maintaining some form of contact is vital for the sustainable management of the living marine resources that Russia and Norway share

Representation of Dense Shelf Water formation by global oceanic reanalyses

This study evaluates the representation of Dense Shelf Water (DSW) formation in the Southern Ocean by two global oceanic reanalyses: GLORYS2v4 and ORAS5. We found that GLORYS2v4 generally represents larger areas and more consistent temporal patterns of DSW compared to ORAS5. This latter reanalysis significantly underestimates the extent and frequency of DSW formation. Although both reanalyses show good statistical agreement with the World Ocean Circulation Experiment data set, with a root mean squared error of approximately 0.7, a mean absolute percentage error of 1.16% and an r value of 0.99, ORAS5 fails to reproduce the expected sea-surface salinity trend, exhibiting a negative trend across most of the Southern Ocean. This may lead to a weak representation of the water-mass formation processes in the region, thereby affecting its ability to satisfactorily represent the Meridional Overturning Circulation and the global thermohaline circulation. These discrepancies are attributed to the nudging process used for the sea-surface temperature in the ORAS5 model. This study highlights the importance of oceanic reanalyses to validate climate modelling results, in particular in high-latitude regions, where observations are scarce and crucial for understanding global climatic changes

A bowhead whale vertebra embedded in marine limit beach sediment on Barentsøya, Svalbard

A cross-valley beach terrace in Iladalen, in the south-east of the island of Barentsøya, Svalbard, is interpreted as having been built by long-shore sediment transport and deposition, with its maximum height at about 88 m a.s.l., marking the marine limit at deglaciation. A whale vertebra—most probably from a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus)—was found embedded in the upper part of the littoral sediments at a height of ca. 80 m a.s.l., that is, about 8 m below the marine limit at deglaciation The bone is dated to 10 762 ± 137 cal yr BP, just a few hundred years after the generally accepted deglaciation of the coastal parts of Barentsøya, about 11 000 years ago. The vertebra’s age and altitudinal position fit well with the relative sea-level curve constructed for the north-eastern tip of the island of Edgeøya, some 29 km east–south-east of Iladalen

The relationship between Antarctic sea-ice extent change and the main modes of sea-ice variability in austral winter

Accompanying global warming, Antarctic sea-ice extent shows a somewhat increasing trend from 1979 to 2014, followed by an abrupt decrease after 2016. Our previous study examined the change of Antarctic sea-ice extent in austral summer, autumn and spring. In this study, we turn our attention to the austral winter, relating the main modes of sea-ice variability to sea-ice extent in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean. We find that the modes with the strongest correlation with the sea-ice extent are the third, first and first modes in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian sectors, respectively. Atmospheric circulation anomalies of zonal wavenumber three over the Southern Ocean, related to planetary wave trains induced by the SST anomalies over the south-western Pacific and the southern Indian oceans, can explain sea-ice concentration anomalies of the third mode in the Pacific sector through thermodynamic and dynamic processes. Sea-ice anomalies of the first modes in the Atlantic and Indian sectors result from atmospheric circulation anomalies of a positive and negative phases of the Southern Annular Mode, respectively. The anomalous Southern Annular Mode is also associated with wave trains over the Southern Ocean excited by SST anomalies over the southern Indian Ocean and the south-western Pacific Ocean. The relationship between SST anomalies and Antarctic sea-ice anomalies can provide a reference for the prediction of Antarctic sea-ice anomalies in austral winter on interannual and decadal timescales