Sustained monitoring of the Southern Ocean at Drake Passage: past achievements and future priorities

Drake Passage is the narrowest constriction of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in the Southern Ocean, with implications for global ocean circulation and climate. We review the long-term sustained monitoring programmes that have been conducted at Drake Passage, dating back to the early part of the twentieth century. Attention is drawn to numerous breakthroughs that have been made from these programmes, including (a) the first determinations of the complex ACC structure and early quantifications of its transport; (b) realization that the ACC transport is remarkably steady over interannual and longer periods, and a growing understanding of the processes responsible for this; (c) recognition of the role of coupled climate modes in dictating the horizontal transport, and the role of anthropogenic processes in this; (d) understanding of mechanisms driving changes in both the upper and lower limbs of the Southern Ocean overturning circulation, and their impacts. It is argued that monitoring of this passage remains a high priority for oceanographic and climate research, but that strategic improvements could be made concerning how this is conducted. In particular, long-term programmes should concentrate on delivering quantifications of key variables of direct relevance to large-scale environmental issues: in this context, the time-varying overturning circulation is, if anything, even more compelling a target than the ACC flow. Further, there is a need for better international resource-sharing, and improved spatio-temporal coordination of the measurements. If achieved, the improvements in understanding of important climatic issues deriving from Drake Passage monitoring can be sustained into the future.

Addressing animal health knowledge gaps in Southern Countries: the creation of a 2D animal health resource room

Livestock are a key asset for the global poor. However, access to relevant information is a critical issue for both livestock development practitioners and the poor themselves. Therefore, the following paper details the creation of an on-line Animal Health Resource Room. The aim was to create an immersive environment, which mimics the benefits of a 3D Virtual Learning Environment without the constraints on download times. Therefore, in the following paper key issues in the dissemination of such a platform such as connectivity and speed are explored within the wider context of the development of the tool itself.

The Epipalaeolithic (Iberomaurusian) at Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt), Morocco: a preliminary study of the land Mollusca

Land snail middens occur widely throughout the circum-Mediterranean, particularly in the Maghreb and Libya, but are relatively understudied when compared with the better known coastal marine middens. The site of Taforalt (Grotte des Pigeons) in north east Morocco contains thick ashy deposits with considerable numbers of land snails, dating between 13,000 and 11,000 BP. The site has been excavated periodically since its discovery in 1908, but little attention has been paid to the land snail component. Recent excavations at the site as part of the Cemeteries and Sedentism Project has facilitated reinvestigation of the Iberomaurusian layers, including the upper ashy midden unit. This investigation addresses questions surrounding chronological variation in the lithic assemblage, subsistence strategies, population health and mortuary practices. Preliminary work on the land snails has identified a low species diversity in the grey series midden layers, characterised by the large edible species Alabastrina alabastrites, Helix cf aspersa, Dupotetia dupotetiana, Otala punctata and Cernuella sp, which appear to represent an abrupt intensification in the use of land snails as a food source. Significant quantities of associated plant material and animal bone suggest that land snails are part of a broader based diet which is adopted from around 13,000 BP.

TIGGE: comparison of the prediction of Southern Hemisphere extratropical cyclones by different ensemble prediction systems.

The prediction of Northern Hemisphere (NH) extratropical cyclones by nine different ensemble prediction systems(EPSs), archived as part of The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment (THORPEX) Interactive Grand Global Ensemble (TIGGE), has recently been explored using a cyclone tracking approach. This paper provides a continuation of this work, extending the analysis to the Southern Hemisphere (SH). While the EPSs have larger error in all cyclone properties in the SH, the relative performance of the different EPSs remains broadly consistent between the two hemispheres. Some interesting differences are also shown. The Chinese Meteorological Administration (CMA) EPS has a significantly lower level of performance in the SH compared to the NH. Previous NH results showed that the Centro de Previsao de Tempo e Estudos Climaticos (CPTEC) EPS underpredicts cyclone intensity. The results of this current study show that this bias is significantly larger in the SH. The CPTEC EPS also has very little spread in both hemispheres. As with the NH results, cyclone propagation speed is underpredicted by all the EPSs in the SH. To investigate this further, the bias was also computed for theECMWFhigh-resolution deterministic forecast. The bias was significantly smaller than the lower resolution ECMWF EPS.

On the edge: Southern Levantine Epipalaeolithic–Neolithic chronological succession

The broad picture of the cultural and chronological succession from the Epipalaeolithic to the Neolithic in the southern Levant is generally well understood. However, at a more detailed, local level, many questions remain unanswered. In this paper we examine the archaeological record of cultural developments in southern Jordan and the Negev. Focusing on a series of 14C dates from the early occupation of the PPNA site of WF16, we provide a critical review of dating evidence for the region. This review suggests that while the 14C chronology is ambiguous and problematic there is good evidence for a local historical development from the Harifian variant of the Natufian to the early PPNA, well to the south of any core Mediterranean woodland zone. This stresses the importance of considering developments at local scales of analysis, and that the Neolithic transition occurred within a framework of many interacting sub-regional provinces.

Dilution of the Antarctic ozone hole into southern midlatitudes, 1998-2000

The reduction in southern midlatitude ozone is quantified by evaluating the trajectories of ozone-depleted air masses, assuming that photochemical recovery of ozone in advected air parcels can be ignored. This procedure is carried out for the 3 months from 15 October to 15 January for each of the years 1998, 1999, and 2000. Two distinct source regions, the vortex core and the vortex edge, are considered, and for each day, diabatic reverse domain filling calculations are performed for an ensemble of parcels between 30°S and 60°S and 400–700 K in altitude. In 1998, 1999, and 2000 the mean calculated ozone reduction is 16, 18, and 19 DU, respectively. Air parcels from the vortex edge region are significant contributors to the reduction, especially during spring. Results for four longitudinal and three latitudinal midlatitude subregions are also presented. A comparison with the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer measurements of total column ozone shows that without the dilution, ozone over Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes would be 5–6% higher during spring and summer. This result is probably an overestimate due to the neglect of photochemical recovery.

New evidence from Southern Jordan: rethinking the role of architecture in changing societies at the beginning of the Neolithic process

The development of architecture and the settlement is central to discussions concerning the Neolithic transformation asthe very visible evidence for the changes in society that run parallel to the domestication of plants and animals. Architecture hasbeen used as an important aspect of models of how the transformation occurred, and as evidence for the sharp difference betweenhunter-gatherer and farming societies. We suggest that the emerging evidence for considerable architectural complexity from theearly Neolithic indicates that some of our interpretations depend too much on a very basic understanding of structures which arenormally seen as being primarily for residential purposes and containing households, which become the organising principle for thenew communities which are often seen as fully sedentary and described as villages. Recent work in southern Jordan suggests that inthis region at least there is little evidence for a standard house, and that structures are constructed for a range of diverse primary purposes other than simple domestic shelters.