Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet topography, cavity geometry, and global bathymetry (RTopo-2), links to NetCDF files

The ocean plays an important role in modulating the mass balance of the polar ice sheets by interacting with the ice shelves in Antarctica and with the marine-terminating outlet glaciers in Greenland. Given that the flux of warm water onto the continental shelf and into the sub-ice cavities is steered by complex bathymetry, a detailed topography data set is an essential ingredient for models that address ice-ocean interaction. We followed the spirit of the global RTopo-1 data set and compiled consistent maps of global ocean bathymetry, upper and lower ice surface topographies and global surface height on a spherical grid with now 30-arc seconds resolution. We used the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO, 2014) as the backbone and added the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean version 3 (IBCAOv3) and the Interna- tional Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) version 1. While RTopo-1 primarily aimed at a good and consistent representation of the Antarctic ice sheet, ice shelves and sub-ice cavities, RTopo-2 now also contains ice topographies of the Greenland ice sheet and outlet glaciers. In particular, we aimed at a good representation of the fjord and shelf bathymetry sur- rounding the Greenland continent. We corrected data from earlier gridded products in the areas of Petermann Glacier, Hagen Bræ and Sermilik Fjord assuming that sub-ice and fjord bathymetries roughly follow plausible Last Glacial Maximum ice flow patterns. For the continental shelf off northeast Greenland and the floating ice tongue of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Glacier at about 79°N, we incorporated a high-resolution digital bathymetry model considering original multibeam survey data for the region. Radar data for surface topographies of the floating ice tongues of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Glacier and Zachariæ Isstrøm have been obtained from the data centers of Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Operation Icebridge (NASA/NSF) and Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI). For the Antarctic ice sheet/ice shelves, RTopo-2 largely relies on the Bedmap-2 product but applies corrections for the geometry of Getz, Abbot and Fimbul ice shelf cavities.

AMS 14C and calibrated ages of sediment core GeoB10426-1

Newly acquired bathymetric and seismic reflection data have revealed mass-transport deposits (MTDs) on the northeastern Cretan margin in the active Hellenic subduction zone. These include a stack of two submarine landslides within the Malia Basin with a total volume of approximately 4.6 km**3 covering an area of about 135 km**2. These two MTDs have different geometry, internal deformations and transport structures. The older and stratigraphic lower MTD is interpreted as a debrite that fills a large part of the Malia Basin, while the second, younger MTD, with an age of at least 12.6 cal. ka B.P., indicate a thick, lens-shaped, partially translational landslide. This MTD comprises multiple slide masses with internal structure varying from highly deformed to nearly undeformed. The reconstructed source area of the older MTD is located in the westernmost Malia Basin. The source area of the younger MTD is identified in multiple headwalls at the slope-basin-transition in 450 m water depth. Numerous faults with an orientation almost parallel to the southwest-northeast-trending basin axis occur along the northern and southern boundaries of the Malia Basin and have caused a partial steepening of the slope-basin-transition. The possible triggers for slope failure and mass-wasting include (i) seismicity and (ii) movement of the uplifting island of Crete from neotectonics of the Hellenic subduction zone, and (iii) slip of clay-mineral-rich or ash-bearing layers during fluid involvement.

Data compilation on the biological response to ocean acidification: environmental and experimental context of data sets and related literature

The exponential growth of studies on the biological response to ocean acidification over the last few decades has generated a large amount of data. To facilitate data comparison, a data compilation hosted at the data publisher PANGAEA was initiated in 2008 and is updated on a regular basis (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.149999). By January 2015, a total of 581 data sets (over 4 000 000 data points) from 539 papers had been archived. Here we present the developments of this data compilation five years since its first description by Nisumaa et al. (2010). Most of study sites from which data archived are still in the Northern Hemisphere and the number of archived data from studies from the Southern Hemisphere and polar oceans are still relatively low. Data from 60 studies that investigated the response of a mix of organisms or natural communities were all added after 2010, indicating a welcomed shift from the study of individual organisms to communities and ecosystems. The initial imbalance of considerably more data archived on calcification and primary production than on other processes has improved. There is also a clear tendency towards more data archived from multifactorial studies after 2010. For easier and more effective access to ocean acidification data, the ocean acidification community is strongly encouraged to contribute to the data archiving effort, and help develop standard vocabularies describing the variables and define best practices for archiving ocean acidification data.

Antarctic ice sheet topography, cavity geometry, and global bathymetry (RTopo 1.0.5-beta)

Sub-ice shelf circulation and freezing/melting rates in ocean general circulation models depend critically on an accurate and consistent representation of cavity geometry. Existing global or pan-Antarctic data sets have turned out to contain various inconsistencies and inaccuracies. The goal of this work is to compile independent regional fields into a global data set. We use the S-2004 global 1-minute bathymetry as the backbone and add an improved version of the BEDMAP topography for an area that roughly coincides with the Antarctic continental shelf. Locations of the merging line have been carefully adjusted in order to get the best out of each data set. High-resolution gridded data for upper and lower ice surface topography and cavity geometry of the Amery, Fimbul, Filchner-Ronne, Larsen C and George VI Ice Shelves, and for Pine Island Glacier have been carefully merged into the ambient ice and ocean topographies. Multibeam survey data for bathymetry in the former Larsen B cavity and the southeastern Bellingshausen Sea have been obtained from the data centers of Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), gridded, and again carefully merged into the existing bathymetry map. The global 1-minute dataset (RTopo-1 Version 1.0.5) has been split into two netCDF files. The first contains digital maps for global bedrock topography, ice bottom topography, and surface elevation. The second contains the auxiliary maps for data sources and the surface type mask. A regional subset that covers all variables for the region south of 50 deg S is also available in netCDF format. Datasets for the locations of grounding and coast lines are provided in ASCII format.

Coccosphere geometry measurements from culture experiments on the coccolithophore species Calcidiscus leptoporus, Calcidiscus quadriperforatus and Helicosphaera carteri

Coccolithophores are a key phytoplankton group that exhibit remarkable diversity in their biology, ecology, and calcitic exoskeletons (coccospheres). An understanding of the physiological processes that underpin coccosphere architecture is essential for maximizing the information that can be retrieved from their extensive fossil record. Using culturing experiments on four modern species from three long-lived families, we investigate how coccosphere architecture responds to population shifts from rapid (exponential) to slowed (stationary) growth phases as nutrients become depleted. These experiments reveal statistical differences in cell size and the number of coccoliths per cell between these two growth phases, specifically that cells in exponential-phase growth are typically smaller with fewer coccoliths, whereas cells experiencing growth-limiting nutrient depletion have larger coccosphere sizes and greater numbers of coccoliths per cell. Although the exact numbers are species-specific, these growth-phase shifts in coccosphere geometry are common to four different coccolithophore families (Calcidiscaceae, Coccolithaceae, Isochrysidaceae, Helicosphaeraceae), demonstrating that this is a core physiological response to nutrient depletion across a representative diversity of this phytoplankton group. Polarised light microscopy was used for all coccosphere geometry measurements.