(Table 1, page 1157) DOWNWIND expedition bottom photo stations showing abundant manganese nodules

Manganese nodules were investigated during the Downwind Expedition, a part of the International Geophysical Year programme of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California. Attempts were made to collect bottom photographs, cores and dredge hauls in the same areas, to measure the distribution at the surface and in depth, and to obtain large samples for physical and chemical analysis.

Spatial distribution patterns of ascidians (Ascidiacea: Tunicata) in combination with information on bathymetry, oceanography, chlorophyll-a, and sea-ice on the continental shelves off the northern Antarctic Peninsula during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXIX/3

Ascidians (Ascidiacea: Tunicata) are sessile suspension feeders that represent dominant epifaunal components of the Southern Ocean shelf benthos and play a significant role in the pelagic-benthic coupling. Here, we report the results of a first study on the relationship between the distribution patterns of eight common and/or abundant (putative) ascidian species, and environmental drivers in the waters off the northern Antarctic Peninsula. During RV Polarstern cruise XXIX/3 (PS81) in January-March 2013, we used seabed imaging surveys along 28 photographic transects of 2 km length each at water depths from 70 to 770 m in three regions (northwestern Weddell Sea, southern Bransfield Strait and southern Drake Passage), differing in their general environmental setting, primarily oceanographic characteristics and sea-ice dynamics, to comparatively analyze the spatial patterns in the abundance of the selected ascidians, reliably to be identified in the photographs, at three nested spatial scales. At a regional (100-km) scale, the ascidian assemblages of the Weddell Sea differed significantly from those of the other two regions, whereas at an intermediate 10-km scale no such differences were detected among habitat types (bank, upper slope, slope, deep/canyon) on the shelf and at the shelf break within each region. These spatial patterns were superimposed by a marked small-scale (10-m) patchiness of ascidian distribution within the 2-km-long transects. Among the environmental variables considered in our study, a combination of water-mass characteristics, sea-ice dynamics (approximated by 5-year averages in sea-ice cover in the region of or surrounding the photographic stations), as well as the seabed ruggedness, was identified as explaining best the distribution patterns of the ascidians.

Solar radiation over and under sea ice during the POLARSTERN cruise ARK-XXVI/3 (TransArc) in summer 2011

Arctic sea ice has declined and become thinner and younger (more seasonal) during the last decade. One consequence of this is that the surface energy budget of the Arctic Ocean is changing. While the role of surface albedo has been studied intensively, it is still widely unknown how much light penetrates through sea ice into the upper ocean, affecting sea-ice mass balance, ecosystems, and geochemical processes. Here we present the first large-scale under-ice light measurements, operating spectral radiometers on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) under Arctic sea ice in summer. This data set is used to produce an Arctic-wide map of light distribution under summer sea ice. Our results show that transmittance through first-year ice (FYI, 0.11) was almost three times larger than through multi-year ice (MYI, 0.04), and that this is mostly caused by the larger melt-pond coverage of FYI (42 vs. 23%). Also energy absorption was 50% larger in FYI than in MYI. Thus, a continuation of the observed sea-ice changes will increase the amount of light penetrating into the Arctic Ocean, enhancing sea-ice melt and affecting sea-ice and upper-ocean ecosystems.

Data and Code archive for the interpolation of surface ocean carbon dioxide

We have developed a statistical gap-filling method adapted to the specific coverage and properties of observed fugacity of surface ocean CO2 (fCO2). We have used this method to interpolate the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) v2 database on a 2.5°×2.5° global grid (south of 70°N) for 1985-2011 at monthly resolution. The method combines a spatial interpolation based on a 'radius of influence' to determine nearby similar fCO2 values with temporal harmonic and cubic spline curve-fitting, and also fits long term trends and seasonal cycles. Interannual variability is established using deviations of observations from the fitted trends and seasonal cycles. An uncertainty is computed for all interpolated values based on the spatial and temporal range of the interpolation. Tests of the method using model data show that it performs as well as or better than previous regional interpolation methods, but in addition it provides a near-global and interannual coverage.

Milankovitch frequency peaks of ODP Site 113-693 (Table 3)

The first well logs collected below the Antarctic circle were obtained during Leg 113 at Site 693 on the Dronning Maud Land Margin (Antarctica) in the Weddell Sea. Gamma-ray, resistivity, and sonic logs were collected between 108.0 and 439.0 mbsf. The downhole logs show good agreement with the data collected from cores and provide a continuous measurement of the sedimentary record. These continuous log records show that the rather uniform Tertiary lithology seen in cores is characterized by high-frequency variability in the log data. Several thin hard streaks are identified, the largest of which coincides with a major Miocene hiatus. Associated with this hiatus is a change to lower illite content (and correspondingly lower gamma-ray counts) and to a significant increase in diatom content. Spectral analysis of the logs was performed on the lower Pliocene through upper Oligocene interval (108.0-343.0 mbsf). Between 108.0 and 245.0 mbsf, average sedimentation rates (50 and 26 m/m.y.) are high enough to show that variance is present in the orbital eccentricity (~95 k.y.) and obliquity (~41 k.y.) bands. Between 253.0 and 343.0 mbsf, the sedimentation rate (8 m/m.y.) is too low to resolve high frequency variations. The Milankovitch frequencies are best developed in the resistivity logs. Resistivity is responding to changes in porosity, which in these sediments is controlled by the abundance of biosiliceous sediments, particularly diatoms. The orbital forcing suggested by the Milankovitch frequencies may be influencing diatom productivity by inducing oscillations in upwelling, ice coverage, pack ice, and/or polynya. Although variations in diatom abundance were observed in the cores, they were not attributed to a Milankovitch signal, and therefore in this environment, downhole logs are an important contribution to the detection and understanding of orbitally influenced changes in sedimentation.

Sediment echosounding data files from the Amundsen Sea

The flow of ice streams, which account for most discharge from large ice sheets, is controlled by processes operating at their bed. Data from modern ice stream beds are difficult to obtain, but where ice advanced onto continental shelves during glacial periods extensive areas of the former bed can be imaged using modern swath sonar tools. We present new multibeam swath bathymetry data analyzed alongside sparse pre-existing data from the Amundsen Sea Embayment. The compilation is the most extensive, continuous area of multibeam data coverage yet obtained on the inner continental shelf of Antarctica. The data reveal streamlined subglacial bedforms that define a zone of paleo-ice stream convergence but, in contrast to previous models, do not show a simple down-flow progression of bedform types along paleo-ice stream troughs. We interpret high spatial variability of bedforms as indicating a complex mechanical and hydrodynamic regime at the former ice stream beds, consistent with observations from some modern ice streams. We conclude that care must be taken when using bedforms to infer paleo-ice stream velocities.

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