Polar Front Research Articles

Impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric CO2 during the last glaciation

Abstract. While several processes have been identified to explain the decrease in atmospheric CO2 during glaciations, a better quantification of the contribution of each of these processes is needed. For example, enhanced aeolian iron input into the ocean during glacial times has been suggested to drive a 5 to 28 ppm atmospheric CO2 decrease. Here, we constrain this contribution by performing a set of sensitivity experiments with different aeolian iron input patterns and iron solubility factors under boundary conditions corresponding to 70 000 years before present (70 ka), a time period characterised by the first observed peak in glacial dust flux. We show that the decrease in CO2 as a function of Southern Ocean iron input follows an exponential decay relationship. This exponential decay response arises due to the saturation of the biological pump efficiency and levels out at ∼21 ppm in our simulations. We show that the changes in atmospheric CO2 are more sensitive to the solubility of iron in the ocean than the regional distribution of the iron fluxes. If surface water iron solubility is considered constant through time, we find a CO2 drawdown of ∼4 to ∼8 ppm. However, there is evidence that iron solubility was higher during glacial times. A best estimate of solubility changing from 1 % during interglacials to 3 % to 5 % under glacial conditions yields a ∼9 to 11 ppm CO2 decrease at 70 ka, while a plausible range of CO2 drawdown between 4 to 16 ppm is obtained using the wider but possible range of 1 % to 10 %. This would account for ∼12 %–50 % of the reconstructed decrease in atmospheric CO2 (∼32 ppm) between 71 and 64 ka. We further find that in our simulations the decrease in atmospheric CO2 concentration is solely driven by iron fluxes south of the Antarctic polar front, while iron fertilisation elsewhere plays a negligible role.

Non‐Orographic Gravity Waves and Turbulence Caused by Merging Jet Streams

AbstractJet streams are important sources of non‐orographic internal gravity waves and clear air turbulence (CAT). We analyze non‐orographic gravity waves and CAT during a merger of the polar front jet stream (PFJ) with the subtropical jet stream (STJ) above the southern Atlantic. Thereby, we use a novel combination of airborne observations covering the meso‐scale and turbulent scale in combination with high‐resolution deterministic short‐term forecasts. Coherent phase lines of temperature perturbations by gravity waves stretching along a highly sheared tropopause fold are simulated by the ECMWF IFS (integrated forecast system) forecasts. During the merging event, the PFJ reverses its direction from approximately antiparallel to parallel with respect to the STJ, going along with strong wind shear and horizontal deformation. Temperature perturbations in limb‐imaging and lidar observations onboard the research aircraft HALO during the SouthTRAC campaign show remarkable agreement with the IFS data. Ten hours earlier, the IFS data show an “X‐shaped” pattern in the temperature perturbations emanating from the sheared tropopause fold. Tendencies of the IFS wind components show that these gravity waves are excited by spontaneous emission adjusting the strongly divergent flow when the PFJ impinges the STJ. In situ observations of temperature and wind components at 100 Hz confirm upward propagation of the probed portion of the gravity waves. They furthermore reveal embedded episodes of light‐to‐moderate CAT, Kelvin Helmholtz waves, and indications for partial wave reflection. Patches of low Richardson numbers in the IFS data coincide with the CAT observations, suggesting that this event was accessible to turbulence forecasting.

Plankton diversity and dynamics in the upper surface of the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean ecosystem and biogeochemical processes

In the Southern Ocean (SO) marine ecosystem, the interplay between CO2 sink and climate change is closely linked to the shifting plankton communities, leading to potentially wide-ranging biogeochemical effects. Within the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (ISSO), the phytoplankton community was predominantly composed of Fragilariopsis spp., followed by Chaetoceros sp., while the zooplankton consisted mainly of Pleuromamma spp. and Oithona similis. Plankton diversity is collectively influenced by variables such as temperature, photosynthetically available radiation (PAR), and macronutrient availability. During the austral summer of 2019, significant latitudinal variations in phytoplankton were observed at major fronts in the region, including the Subtropical Front (STF), Sub Antarctic Front (SAF), Polar Front (PF), and South of Polar Front (SPF). At the STF, flagellates dominated (87%), while their presence decreased to 12% at the SPF, while diatoms progressively increased from the STF (<1%) to the SPF (87%) through the SAF and PF. Chlorophyll a (Chl-a) concentrations at the surface were highest in the PF (0.62 mg m−3), followed by the SPF (0.56 mg m−3), SAF (0.51 mg m−3), and STF (0.28 mg m−3). The integrated Chl-a values across the water column were higher at the SPF (21.49 mg m−2) than at the STF (14.73 mg m−2). The dominant diatom species at the surface along the fronts, except for STF, was Fragilariopsis spp. (∼5 × 105 Cells L−1), followed by Chaetoceros sp. (∼1 × 105 Cells L−1), and Coscinodiscus sp. (∼5 × 104 Cells L−1). Conversely, at the STF, the most abundant flagellate species were Gyrodinium spp. (∼2.4 × 104 Cells L−1), followed by Protoperidinium sp. (∼2 × 104 Cells L−1), and Amphidinium sp. (∼1 × 104 Cells L−1). Zooplankton biovolume in the upper 200 m ranged from 0.71 to 10 ml 100 m−3, with relatively higher biovolume and numerical abundance found in the SAF compared to the PF. The higher Chl-a concentration in the PF and lower zooplankton biovolume could have significant negative consequences for higher trophic levels. PAR showed higher values up to 40 m than observed depths along the fronts. Additionally, variations in salinity and temperature were recorded, with a significant decline in temperature from the STF to the SPF. Nitrate (NO3−), phosphate (PO43−), and silicate (SiO44−) concentrations were higher at the SPF than at lower latitudes. Overall, these findings indicate that the plankton community composition in the study region is influenced by a diverse set of governing variables over time, highlighting the significant implications for the regional biogeochemical cycle.

Pan-Atlantic Comparison of Deep-Sea Macro- and Megabenthos

Deep-sea benthic fauna is vital for a well-functioning marine ecosystem but is increasingly under threat from a changing environment. To monitor and conserve this fauna, an understanding of their large-scale spatial and bathymetric distribution and their environmental drivers is necessary. In this study, we conduct a multivariate analysis on abundance benthic fauna data collected at the phylum and multitaxon levels using an epibenthic sledge (EBS) across the Atlantic, and identify the environmental factors that affect such data. Our findings show a decrease in abundance with depth in most of the Atlantic but find relatively heterogeneous abundances with depth within the Southern Ocean. Principal component analyses indicate differences in environmental conditions south of the Antarctic Polar Front (~52° S), outlining contrasts in the quantities of macronutrients and physical factors. Despite this, community composition seemed markedly similar throughout the Atlantic with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current seemingly not affecting benthic community composition for higher taxonomic levels. Those differences that did occur were largely caused by benthic chlorophyll, benthic iron, and surface silicate through a Bio-ENV. Overall, we argue that further large-scale spatial and bathymetric distribution studies are important amid environmental changes that are driving shifts in benthic community abundance and composition.

Quantifying microplastics in fjords along the Western Antarctic Peninsula

Microplastics are ubiquitous around the world. Microplastics have been documented around the Southern Ocean, in coastal sediments and in Antarctic marine organisms, however microplastics data for Antarctic waters remain scarce. Microplastics concentrations were characterized from fjord habitats on the Western Antarctic Peninsula where most glaciers are rapidly retreating. Water samples were collected from 2017 to 2020 from surface and benthos, vacuum-filtered, quantified to determine the classification of microplastic, color, and size. Micro-FTIR spectrophotometry was utilized to confirm chemical composition. Comparisons over time and location were made for average microplastic per liter. Despite the new emergent youth and remoteness of these habitats, it was determined that all fjord habitats had microplastics present each year sampled and increased from 2017 to 2020 in each fjord. Despite physical ‘barriers’ such as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (and particularly its strongest jet, the Polar Front), microplastics are clearly present and increasing in even recent habitats.

Boreal Summer Extratropical Intraseasonal Waves over the Eurasian Continent and Real-Time Monitoring Metrics

Abstract Boreal summer extratropical intraseasonal oscillation (EISO) is crucial in modulating regional subseasonal variation and particularly causing extreme meteorological events, but it has yet to be well clarified and operationally monitored. This study first objectively sorts out three dominant EISOs trapped along two extratropical westerly jet streams over Eurasia, and then proposes the corresponding real-time metrics. The three dominant EISOs are (i) an 8–25-day eastward-propagating wave along the subtropical westerly jet (EISO-SJE) initiating at the exit of the North America–North Atlantic jet and strengthening over the Black Sea–Caspian Sea–arid central Asia region; (ii) a 10–30-day eastward-traveling wave along the polar front jet (EISO-PJE), starting near Scandinavia and enhancing from the East European Plain to the West Siberian Plain and then decaying over the Okhotsk region; (iii) a 10–40-day westward-migrating wave along the polar front jet (EISO-PJW), which enhances near the Ural Mountains and weakens over Scandinavia. The real-time metrics then, following the three EISOs, have been constructed, and they are able to capture the spatiotemporal features of three EISOs in application. Moreover, the close linkages between these EISOs and the regional extremes/the blocking occurrence have been clearly demonstrated, confirming the importance of real-time EISO metrics. Together with tropical intraseasonal oscillation, this study provides the subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) community with a well-portrayed unified picture of extratropical intraseasonal waves and the real-time metrics for monitoring boreal summer intraseasonal signals over Eurasia and facilitate subseasonal predictions. Significance Statement Boreal summer extratropical intraseasonal oscillation (EISO) has drawn increasing attention owing to its importance in triggering extreme weather events and affecting regional subseasonal prediction. However, despite the urgent need of the subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) community, a comprehensive delineation of EISO diversity and real-time EISO monitoring remain the gap of knowledge. This study objectively sorts out and comprehensively clarifies three dominant EISOs trapped along two extratropical westerly jet streams over Eurasia. More importantly, the well-portrayed real-time EISO metrics are constructed based on three EISOs, which are applicable for operational real-time monitoring, subseasonal prediction, and model evaluation. This study stimulates an extratropical focus in the S2S community as a complementary component in addition to monitoring the MJO’s teleconnection to the mid- to high latitudes.

Pleistocene Glaciations of the Northwest of Iberia: Glacial Maximum Extent, Ice Thickness, and ELA of the Soajo Mountain

Soajo Mountain is located in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula near the border between Portugal and Spain. Its highest elevation is 1416 m at the Pedrada summit. During the Pleistocene, the cascade cirques on the east flank and the icefield that covered the flattened surface of the high plateau generated several glacier valleys. This study presents a paleoglacial reconstruction of the relict glacial landscape in Soajo Mountain for the Glacial Maximum Extent (GME) through the following methods: (1) a detailed geomorphological map supported by high-resolution orthophotography, digital elevation models with a spatial resolution of 70 cm, and field surveys; (2) the delineation of the glacial surface, and the calculation of the glacial flowlines to obtain the numerical model of the ice thickness; and (3) an estimation of the paleoELA altitudes. The paleoglacial reconstruction, using GlaRe methodology, reveals a glacial surface of 16 km2, including an icefield on the Lamas de Vez plateau (mean elevation of 1150 m) and a radial glacial flow to the east and north. The arrangement of the glaciated area attests to the topographic, lithological, and structural conditioning on the development of small glacial tongues, with an emphasis on the ice tongue flowing northwards, with a thickness of 173 m and a length of 2.92 km. The Soajo GME paleoglacier comprises three main glacial sectors: Lamas de Vez Icefield, Vez and Aveleira Valleys, and the Eastern Glacial Sector. These paleoglaciers have achieved maximum ice volumes of 214.4 hm3, 269.2 hm3, and 115.8 hm3, respectively, with maximum ice thicknesses of 127 m, 173 m, and 118 m, respectively. On the west flank, a smaller paleoglacier named Branda da Gémea recorded an ice volume of 24.3 hm3 and a maximum ice thickness of 110 m. According to the ELA-AABR method, Soajo Mountain has one of the lowest ELA values in the Iberian NW, ranging from 1085 to 1057 m. This is due to its oceanic location, an orographic barrier effect, and the influence of the polar front.

A Simple Method for Estimating Horizontal Diffusivity

Abstract A common dilemma for oceanographers is the choice of horizontal diffusivity. There is no single answer as we could argue that diffusion depends precisely on those processes that cannot be sampled or modeled. Here we propose the radial offset by diffusion (ROD) method as a simple model-dependent approach for estimating these coefficients, and show its application for the southwestern South Atlantic. The method compares actual displacements of field drifters with numerical trajectory predictions. The observed–predicted differences in radial positions (radial offsets), which respond to diffusive motions not captured by the numerical model, are reproduced with a one-dimensional radial-diffusive solution through a proper selection of the diffusion coefficient. The method is tested at eight depths, from the sea surface down to 2000 m, using several drifter datasets and the Parcels software applied to the GLORYS12v1 (1/12° daily) velocity outputs. In all cases the radial offsets show Gaussian distributions that are well reproduced by the radial diffusive solution. Maximum diffusivities of 4630–4980 m2 s−1 happen in the upper 200 m of the water column and minimum values of 1080–1270 m2 s−1 occur between 1400 and 2000 m. The 15-m diffusivity is fairly constant in latitude (3850–5270 m2 s−1), but the 1000-m diffusivity decreases from 1640 to 1820 m2 s−1 north of the Polar Front to 530 m2 s−1 south of the Southern Boundary. A comparison with other diffusivity studies validates the good adequacy of the ROD method for numerical and field applications.

Strong surface winds in Storm Eunice. Part 1: storm overview and indications of sting jet activity from observations and model data

Strong surface winds in Storm <i>Eunice</i>. Part 1: storm overview and indications of sting jet activity from observations and model data

Wind-driven advection across temperature gradients enhances iron-induced phytoplankton blooms in the Antarctic Polar Front

We demonstrate how the wind-driven Ekman transport enhances the advection and mixing of cells from the colder waters of the Surface Antarctic Waters from the south to the warmer waters of the northern Polar Front (PF) belt. This mechanism provides cells a mean ambient temperature near optimum levels for specific species and, ultimately, for community growth rates high enough to develop blooms under non-light limiting macronutrients and iron conditions. A Lagrangian trajectory model was constructed for tracking plankton cells as tracers forced by winds and surface currents. Depending on the region along the circumpolar front, increased winds can enhance this process across temperature gradients, and further accelerate such temperature-controlled growth. These results indicate that favorable temperature may enhance the growth rate even further when iron is sufficiently available, and thus have far-reaching implications for increased productivity in a future warming climate.

Heat and carbon uptake in the Southern Ocean: the state of the art and future priorities.

Heat and carbon uptake in the Southern Ocean: the state of the art and future priorities.

The Long-term variability of Global Typical Oceanic Fronts

Using high-resolution NOAA Optimum Interpolation sea surface temperature (OISST) data, the temporal and spatial characteristics of typical oceanic fronts in the past 39 years, including Oyashio front, Gulf Stream front, Peru current front and southern Indian Ocean polar front, are analyzed. The results show that the intensities of the four typical fronts have all strengthened, among which the Peru current is the most significant and the South Indian Ocean polar front is the weakest. The movement of the fronts are quite different: the Oyashio front has a significant poleward movement, and the Gulf Stream front extending into the open sea part has a marginal poleward movement; while the south Indian Ocean polar front and Peru current front have no obvious movements.

Echoes of the 2013–2015 Marine Heat Wave in the Eastern Bering Sea and Consequent Biological Responses

We reviewed various physical and biological manifestations of an unprecedented large-scale water temperature anomaly that emerged in the Northeast Pacific in late 2013. The anomaly dubbed “The Blob” persisted through 2014–2016, with some signs of its persistence through 2017–2018 and a possible reemergence in 2019. The tentative timeline of The Blob’s successive appearances around the Northeast Pacific is suggestive of its advection by currents around the Gulf of Alaska, along the Aleutians, into the Bering Sea, and eventually to the Bering Strait. During the initial phase of The Blob’s development in 2013–2014, advection along the Polar Front might have played a certain role. The extreme persistence and magnitude of The Blob resulted in numerous and sometimes dramatic ecosystem responses in the eastern Bering Sea. The multi-year duration of The Blob might have preconditioned the Bering Sea for the record low seasonal sea ice extent during the winter of 2017–2018 and the disappearance of the cold pool in 2016 and 2018 that profoundly affected zooplankton, invertebrates, fishes, seabirds, and marine mammals. A comparison of the time series of population responses across trophic levels suggests that The Blob lowered primary production during spring, increased production of small copepods and jellyfish, and reduced the efficiency of energy transfer to higher trophic levels. While the Bering Sea’s water temperature, seasonal sea ice, and cold pool seem to return to the long-term mean state in 2022, it remains to be seen if the Bering Sea ecosystem will completely recover. The two most likely alternative scenarios envision either irreversible changes or hysteresis recovery.

Eurythenes sigmiferus and Eurythenes andhakarae (Crustacea: Amphipoda) are sympatric at the abyssal Agulhas Fracture Zone, South Atlantic Ocean, and notes on their distributions

Cryptic species in the deep ocean are rapidly being identified with molecular evidence and as a result, new species are being described. Consequently, our understanding of distributions among the revised landscape of species needs to be reassessed. A model example is the large scavenging amphipod, Eurythenes gryllus (Lichtenstein in Mandt, 1882), which historically was thought to have a eurybathic and cosmopolitan distribution. Molecular evidence has since led to the separation of E. gryllus into ten named species and truncating its range to bi-polar bathyal depths. This study focuses on two species; Eurythenes sigmiferus and Eurythenes andhakarae d'Udekem d'Acoz and Havermans, 2015, and presents new records of both species from 5,493 m in the previously unsampled Agulhas Fracture Zone, South Atlantic Ocean (42.77°S, 10.05°E). We paired morphology with DNA barcoding at two mitochondrial regions to achieve robust identification and assessed their wider geographic range by reassessing historical records. Their overlapping presence at the Agulhas Fracture Zone expands their known ranges to the non-polar South Atlantic Ocean. Specifically, for E. sigmiferus, the data suggests this species has a multi-ocean tropical to temperate distribution from abyssal to shallow hadal depths (3,410–6,097 m). Eurythenes andhakarae is not restricted to the Southern Ocean but is distributed across the Antarctic Polar Front to the temperate South Atlantic Ocean between abyssal and hadal depths (3,069–7,099 m), with a presence at bathyal depths requiring molecular confirmation. This study highlights that pairing new expeditions with a re-inspection of rich historical collections exploration can fill in data gaps across species ranges and, ultimately, biogeography.

Visual predation risk and spatial distributions of large Arctic copepods along gradients of sea ice and bottom depth

AbstractChanges in the community size structure of Arctic copepods toward smaller and less fat individuals or species have been linked to environmental changes. The underpinning mechanisms are, however, poorly understood. We use a two‐step hurdle regression model to analyze spatially resolved, long‐term survey data of the Barents Sea mesozooplankton community along gradients of water mass properties, sea ice, and bottom depth. We test the hypothesis that reduced visual predation, and hence increased survival in dim habitats, explains the distribution of large copepods. We expect the presence and biomass of large copepods to increase with increasing bottom depth and the occurrence of seasonal ice‐cover. The patterns and drivers that emerge from our analysis support our hypothesis: in the Barents Sea large copepods were predominantly found in deep troughs that intersect the shelf south of the polar front, or at shallower depths in seasonally ice‐covered waters northeast of Svalbard. On the banks, large copepods are largely absent whereas smaller copepods appear to survive. Top‐down control provides one plausible explanation for these distributions. Large copepods survive where sea‐ice shades the water or deep habitats permit escape from visual predators through vertical migrations. However, when upwelled onto shallow banks or flushed out from below the ice they are decimated by visual foragers. Therefore, advection and topographic blockage of vertical zooplankton distributions are key mechanisms for the efficient energy transfer and productivity in subarctic and Arctic shelf seas. New prolific foraging grounds may open up for planktivores where the ice‐edge recedes under a changing climate.

Genomic insights of evolutionary divergence and life history innovations in Antarctic brittle stars.

Understanding the drivers of evolutionary innovation provides a crucial perspective of how evolutionary processes unfold across taxa and ecological systems. It has been hypothesised that the Southern Ocean provided ecological opportunities for novelty in the past. However, the drivers of innovation are challenging to pinpoint as the evolutionary genetics of Southern Ocean fauna are influenced by Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles, oceanic currents and species ecology. Here we examined the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms of the Southern Ocean brittle stars Ophionotus victoriae (five arms, broadcaster) and O. hexactis (six arms, brooder). We found that O. victoriae and O. hexactis are closely-related species with interspecific gene flow. During the late Pleistocene, O. victoriae likely persisted in a connected deep water refugium and in situ refugia on the Antarctic continental shelf and around Antarctic islands; O. hexactis persisted exclusively within in situ island refugia. Within O. victoriae, contemporary gene flow linking to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, regional gyres and other local oceanographic regimes was observed. Gene flow connecting West and East Antarctic islands near the Polar Front was also detected in O. hexactis. A strong association was detected between outlier loci and salinity in O. hexactis. Both O. victoriae and O. hexactis are associated with genome-wide increase in alleles at intermediate-frequencies; the alleles associated with this peak appear to be species specific, and these intermediate-frequency variants are far more excessive in O. hexactis. We hypothesise that the peak in alleles at intermediate frequencies could be related to adaptation in the recent past, linked to evolutionary innovations of increase in arm number and a switch to brooding from broadcasting, in O. hexactis.

The role of transient eddies in the intraseasonal reversal of East Asian winter air temperature anomalies

The intraseasonal reversal of wintertime surface air temperature (SAT) anomalies over East Asia (15°-55°N, 80°-130°E) is becoming a matter of concern. Thus, the predominant features of the reversal mode of SAT anomalies and its relevant dynamical mechanism associated with transient eddies (TEs) are studied by using the Multivariate Empirical Orthogonal Function (MV-EOF) analysis method and the geopotential tendency equation. Results show that the third MV-EOF mode well depicts a colder (warmer) DJ with a warmer (colder) February and is closely linked to an out-of-phase variation in both East Asian Polar Front Jet (EAPJ) and East Asian Subtropical Jet (EASJ). It is found that synoptic-scale (2.5-8d) and low-frequency (10-90d) TE activities over Eurasia play important roles in the intraseasonal reversal in SAT anomalies by adjusting time-mean flows. A cold DJ in East Asia dynamically corresponds to a strengthened EASJ and weakened EAPJ, while the TE forcing dominated by low-frequency TE vorticity forcing and synoptic-scale TE heating forcing tends to weaken the EASJ and reinforce the EAPJ, unfavorable to the maintenance of cold anomalies over East Asia. However, the characteristics of both synoptic-scale and low-frequency TE activities in February are significantly different from that in DJ. By comparison, the TE forcing is dominated by synoptic-scale TE vorticity forcing and low-frequency TE heating forcing, which makes great contribution to the weakening of EASJ and the enhancement and maintenance of EAPJ, conducive to a weaker East Asian winter monsoon and eventually to a warmer East Asia.

Aeolian activity in arid central Asia during the past 40000 years inferred from Lake Ailike, Xinjiang

Aeolian activity is a mirror of climate change and a vital point for understanding the Earth’s climate system in arid and semiarid regions. The processes and forcing mechanisms of aeolian activity in this region have remained debatable and inconclusive. In this study, we used accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dating, grain-size, and high-resolution X-ray fluorescence scanning data of the sediment core Ailike-2019 taken from Lake Ailike, Xinjiang, in arid central Asia, to reconstruct the variations in aeolian activity since the mid marine isotope stage (MIS) 3. The results reveal that aeolian activity in a dry climate strengthened during the mid-late MIS 3 (40–26.7 cal kyr BP) and the last glacial maximum (26.7–20 cal kyr BP), whereas the last deglaciation (20–12 cal kyr BP) was characterized by a weakening of aeolian activity with gradually increasing humidity in the Lake Ailike region. This period was followed by dustier and relatively wet conditions during the Holocene (12–0 cal kyr BP). The aeolian activity at Lake Ailike has been mainly controlled by Siberian high-pressure since the mid-MIS 3. Strong/weak aeolian activity is usually caused by frequent/infrequent cyclonic activity through cold polar air masses seasonal movement southward/northward induced by intensified/weakened Siberian high-pressure. Meanwhile, strong/weak cold polar air masses colliding with weak/strong warm tropical air masses might induce a long/short polar front duration, resulting in frequent/infrequent aeolian activity.

Transient energetic particles as the origin of the mid-infrared north polar hotspot of Jupiter

Since it was detected in 1980, Jupiter's 8-μm CH4 north polar hot spot (8CNPHS), ∼20 K warmer than the surrounding polar stratosphere, has been observed for four decades. Unlike normal auroral ovals (i.e., the bright rings of auroral emissions), it is usually filled with bright emission. The causes of both its shape and longevity are not understood, although several mechanisms have been proposed to explain its existence. In order to investigate the deriving mechanism of the 8CNPHS, we have observed the north polar regions near 3 μm, where line emission from another CH4 band as well as a C2H6 fundamental band occur. Using Gemini North/GNIRS in 2013, 2020, 2021, and 2022, we have detected transient 3-μm CH4 and/or C2H6 bright spots within the 8CNPHS, and occasionally no apparent bright spots. By comparing the emission from CH4 with that from C2H6, we demonstrate that the origin of the 8CNPHS must be due to transient and energetic magnetospheric particles, which can penetrate down to the hydrocarbon layers, heating the homopause (∼1 μbar level) and the stratosphere (∼1 mbar level) and energize the 8CNPHS. Based on our observations and analysis, we propose the following three mechanisms for maintaining and containing the decades long warmth of the 8CNPHS: 1) energetic and transient auroral particle precipitations warming the stratosphere of the 8CNPHS, 2) a longer radiative cooling time in the 8CNPHS stratosphere (∼6 months) compared to less than or equal to one month at the homopause, and 3) recently detected polar stratospheric jets likely associated with polar fronts, which resist the free flow of warm gas in the 8CNPHS to the surrounding polar regions. We show that other heating mechanisms proposed so far in the literature, such as Joule heating, polar haze heated by sunlight, etc., are only the secondary mechanisms that follow atmospheric ionization caused by energetic particle bombardment. Our finding of the magnetospheric-ionospheric-stratospheric coupling in the Jovian polar regions open the possibility of quantitatively refining 3-D global circulation models for the atmospheres of giant planets and exoplanets.

Surface Bacterioplankton Community Structure Crossing the Antarctic Circumpolar Current Fronts.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the major current in the Southern Ocean, isolating the warm stratified subtropical waters from the more homogeneous cold polar waters. The ACC flows from west to east around Antarctica and generates an overturning circulation by fostering deep-cold water upwelling and the formation of new water masses, thus affecting the Earth's heat balance and the global distribution of carbon. The ACC is characterized by several water mass boundaries or fronts, known as the Subtropical Front (STF), Subantarctic Front (SAF), Polar Front (PF), and South Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front (SACCF), identified by typical physical and chemical properties. While the physical characteristics of these fronts have been characterized, there is still poor information regarding the microbial diversity of this area. Here we present the surface water bacterioplankton community structure based on 16S rRNA sequencing from 13 stations sampled in 2017 between New Zealand to the Ross Sea crossing the ACC Fronts. Our results show a distinct succession in the dominant bacterial phylotypes present in the different water masses and suggest a strong role of sea surface temperatures and the availability of Carbon and Nitrogen in controlling community composition. This work represents an important baseline for future studies on the response of Southern Ocean epipelagic microbial communities to climate change.