Table I: Schedule of the drilling operation and lengths of the recovered core material for the boreholes on Vernagtferner in 1979

In 1979 a core drilling project was carried out on Vernagtferner in the Oetztal Alps (Austria). This report describes the field work of the drilling project, the recovered core material and the occurrence of water in the boreholes and compiles the succeding investigation program.

Satellite image map of King George Island, Antarctica

A new topographic database for King George Island, one of the most visited areas in Antarctica, is presented. Data from differential GPS surveys, gained during the summers 1997/98 and 1999/2000, were combined with up to date coastlines from a SPOT satellite image mosaic, and topographic information from maps as well as from the Antarctic Digital Database. A digital terrain model (DTM) was generated using ARC/INFO GIS. From contour lines derived from the DTM and the satellite image mosaic a satellite image map was assembled. Extensive information on data accuracy, the database as well as on the criteria applied to select place names is given in the multilingual map. A lack of accurate topographic information in the eastern part of the island was identified. It was concluded that additional topographic surveying or radar interferometry should be conducted to improve the data quality in this area. In three case studies, the potential applications of the improved topographic database are demonstrated. The first two examples comprise the verification of glacier velocities and the study of glacier retreat from the various input data-sets as well as the use of the DTM for climatological modelling. The last case study focuses on the use of the new digital database as a basic GIS (Geographic Information System) layer for environmental monitoring and management on King George Island.

Photosynthetically active radiation during the experiment, and lipid content of sub- and intertidal specimens of the endemic Antarctic red alga, Palmaria decipiens

In coastal waters, Antarctic rhodophytes are exposed to harsh environmental conditions throughout the year, like low water temperatures ranging from -1.8°C to 2°C and high light during the summer season. Photosynthetic performance under these conditions may be affected by slowed down enzymatic reactions and the increased generation of reactive oxygen species. The consequence might be a chronic photoinhibition of photosynthetic primary reactions related to increased fragmentation of the D1 reaction centre protein in photosystem II. It is hypothesized that changes in lipid composition of biomembranes may represent an adaptive trait to maintain D1 turnover in response to temperature variation. The interactive effects of high light and low temperature were studied on an endemic Antarctic red alga, Palmaria decipiens, sampled from two shore levels, intertidal and subtidal, and exposed to mesocosm experiments using two levels of natural solar radiation and two different temperature regimes (2-5°C and 5-10°C). During the experimental period of 23 days, maximum quantum yield of photosynthesis decreased in all treatments, with the intertidal specimens exposed at 5-10°C being most affected. On the pigment level, a decreasing ratio of phycobiliproteins to chlorophyll a was found in all treatments. A pronounced decrease in D1 protein concentration occurred in subtidal specimens exposed at 2-5°C. Marked changes in lipid composition, i.e. the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids, indicated an effective response of specimens to temperature change. Results provide new insights into mechanisms of stress adaptation in this key species of shallow Antarctic benthic communities.

Timing of the most recent Neoglacial advance and retreat in Potter Cove, Antarctic Peninsula

The timing of the most recent Neoglacial advance in the Antarctic Peninsula is important for establishing global climate teleconnections and providing important post-glacial rebound corrections to gravity-based satellite measurements of ice loss. However, obtaining accurate ages from terrestrial geomorphic and sedimentary indicators of the most recent Neoglacial advance in Antarctica has been hampered by the lack of historical records and the difficulty of dating materials in Antarctica. Here we use a new approach to dating flights of raised beaches in the South Shetland Islands of the northern Antarctic Peninsula to bracket the age of a Neoglacial advance that occurred between 1500 and 1700 AD, broadly synchronous with compilations for the timing of the Little Ice Age in the northern hemisphere. Our approach is based on optically stimulated luminescence of the underside of buried cobbles to obtain the age of beaches previously shown to have been deposited immediately inside and outside the moraines of the most recent Neoglacial advance. In addition, these beaches mark the timing of an apparent change in the rate of isostatic rebound thought to be in response to the same glacial advance within the South Shetland Islands. We use a Maxwell viscoelastic model of glacial-isostatic adjustment (GIA) to determine whether the rates of uplift calculated from the raised beaches are realistic given the limited constraints on the ice advance during this most recent Neoglacial advance. Our rebound model suggests that the subsequent melting of an additional 16-22% increase in the volume of ice within the South Shetland Islands would result in a subsequent uplift rate of 12.5 mm/yr that lasted until 1840 AD resulting in a cumulative uplift of 2.5 m. This uplift rate and magnitude are in close agreement with observed rates and magnitudes calculated from the raised beaches since the most recent Neoglacial advance along the South Shetland Islands and falls within the range of uplift rates from similar settings such as Alaska.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from CLIMAX I Expedition stations

The cores described in this report were taken on the CLIMAX I Expedition in September 1968 by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from the R/V Horizon. A total of 3 cores were recovered and are available at Scripps for sampling and study.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from JOIDES Preliminary Cruise with M/V Caldrill I on the Blake Plateau

In May 1964 the Institute of Marine Science (University of Miami), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (University of California), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Lamont Geological Observatory (Columbia University) joined in the establishment of the JOINT OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTIONS DEEP EARTH SAMPLING (JOIDES) program. The long range purpose of this organization is to obtain continuous core samples of the entire sedimentary column from the floors of the oceans. It was decided that initial efforts would be limited to water depths of less than 1000 fathoms (6000 feet), and tentative locations were selected for drilling operations off the eastern, western and Gulf coasts of the United States. Near the end of December 1964 it was found that the M/V Caldrill I, a drilling vessel capable of working to depths of 6000 feet, was to engage in drilling operations on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland during the summer of 1965 for the Pan American Petroleum Corporation. Thus it was agreed to organize a drilling program along the track of Caldrill between California and the Grand Banks. Selection was made of an area on the continental shelf and the Blake Plateau off Jacksonville, Florida. Based upon many previous geological and geophysical investigations by the participating laboratories, a considerable body of knowledge had been gained about this region of the continental-oceanic border. For this initial program of JOIDES, the Lamont Geological Observatory was chosen as the operating institution with J. L. Worzel as principal investigator, and C. L. Drake and H. A. Gibbon as program planners.