Ignorance has never been an excuse in law, but politics clearly plays by different rules. By pretending that global warming simply isn't happening, President George W. Bush is clearly setting new standards for ostriches. Politicians all want to feature in the history books but Bush's ploy to be defender of the American people at all costs is positively breath-taking. Having provided lukewarm support for the Kyoto agreement before the election, to ensure he was not over-trumped by Al Gore, he has now apparently had a change of heart. It is hard to decide if this constitutes outright lying or simple everyday deceit. Apparently the 4000 scientists involved in the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and all those other countries that signed up to the Kyoto agreement must be wrong because the Bush advisors from the energy industry say that they are wrong. What world are these people living in?

Extensive outpourings of basalt, and to a lesser extent rhyolite, are closely associated with continental break-up and plume–lithosphere interactions. The Gondwana supercontinent began to fragment during Early–Middle Jurassic times and was associated with the eruption of over three million km3 of dominantly basaltic magma. This intense magmatic episode is recorded in volcanic rocks of the Karoo (Africa), Ferrar (Antarctica) and Chon Aike (South America). K–Ar and Rb–Sr whole rock geochronology has consistently failed to produce reliable ages for these volcanic rocks, but in the last four years, the wider application of single grain 40Ar/39Ar and/or U–Pb geochronology has produced more robust and precise dating of the magmatism. This paper reviews the recent advances in high precision geochronology and provides a full recalibrated 40Ar/39Ar dataset. Application of these methods across the majority of the volcanic provinces indicates that approximately 80% of the volcanic rocks were erupted within a short, 3–4 Myr period at c. 182 Ma. This burst of magmatism occurred in the Karoo province at c. 183 Ma and in the Ferrar provinces at c. 180 Ma, and was dominated by mafic volcanism. This peak in volcanism is coincident with a second order mass extinction event at the end of the Pliensbachian when c. 5% of marine families were wiped out coinciding with widespread oceanic anoxia in the early Toarcian. A prolonged period of silicic volcanism occurred along the proto-Pacific margin, prior to, and during the main phase of break-up. Silicic volcanism was initially coincident with the plume related Karoo-Ferrar provinces, but continued over c. 40 Myr, associated with lithospheric extension and subduction along the proto-Pacific continental margin.

Short and long-term exposure to elevated temperatures were studied in the Antarctic stenothermal protobranch bivalve Yoldia eightsi (Courthouy) from Potter Cove, King George Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica). Above a breakpoint temperature of 2°C – the upper habitat temperature for the Potter Cove Y. eightsi stock – both routine (RMR) and standard metabolic rate (SMR) increased steeply. The fraction of metabolism allocated to SMR, as well as the number of intervals of elevated activity per hour increased significantly with temperature. During acute exposure, ATP concentrations in the foot muscle peaked at 2°C and fell at 5°C, whereas superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity decreased upon warming. Slow stepwise warming to a final temperature of 11°C resulted in a significant decrease of SOD activity. Malondialdehyde concentration increased compared with controls at 0°C. In contrast to the effect of short-term exposure, tissue adenylate concentrations displayed a mild increase at higher temperatures during slow warming, indicating an acclimation response. A switch to anaerobic energy production could not be observed up to 11°C, demonstrating a higher level of thermal tolerance than in other Antarctic ectotherms, or a failure of the relevant pathways in Y. eightsi. The imbalance between pro- and antioxidant processes upon warming indicate oxidative stress to be one feature accompanying early heat stress in Y. eightsi.

Concentrations of dissolved monocarbohydrates (MCHO) and polycarbohydrates (PCHO) were analysed in a variety of ice habitats from summer Weddell Sea sea ice (surface ponds, ice cores, gap layers and platelet ice). The dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool in these habitats was also measured and the contribution of carbohydrate to this pool was assessed. The DOC concentrations within all sea ice habitats were high compared to surface seawater concentrations with values up to 958μMC being measured. Total carbohydrates (TCHO) were highest in the ice cores and platelet ice samples, up to 31% of the DOC pool, a reflection of the high algal biomass in these two habitat classes. TCHO in the other habitats ranged between 10% and 29% of DOC. The ratios of MCHO to PCHO varied considerably between the ice habitats: in surface ponds and ice cores MCHO was 70% of the TCHO pool, whereas in gap layers and platelet ice there were lower PCHO concentrations resulting in MCHO being 88% of TCHO.

Eighteen paired sites (adjacent to vs away from sea bird nests) and six transects (downslope of nests) across Vestfold Hills were sampled for vegetation, soil nutrients, soil water content and percent rock cover. Three moss and 17 lichen species were recorded, including a new record for the lichen Sarcogyne privigna. Sites adjacent to nesting areas generally had higher soil N and P than sites away from nesting areas; however, larger differences between site locations than within site pairs suggests considerable variation in nutrient input between nesting areas and/or redistribution of nutrients by meltwater around nests. Along transects below nesting sites, average soil total N declined from 0.22% to 0.05% within 2 m from the nest, while average total P declined more gradually from 2343 ppm P to 697 ppm P at 30 m from the nest. Moss and lichen species diversity and mean lichen species abundance were higher in sites adjacent to compared with away from nests. Data from site pairs and transects showed that lichen diversity and abundance increased with increasing soil nutrients, with soil P having a stronger influence than soil N. In contrast, soil nutrients were not significantly associated with moss diversity or abundance. Instead, number of moss species and abundance were positively associated with soil water content.

Body size was measured for 67 of the approximately 120 invertebrate species on Marion Island. These include more than 60% of the 29 acarine families, and more than 80% of the remaining terrestrial invertebrate species. Thus the data are regarded as representative of the entire invertebrate fauna of sub-Antarctic, Marion Island. Length–mass and fresh–dry mass relationships were calculated for orders, families and species to provide a means of estimating body size parameters for species in collections and those which are known from only a few specimens. A comparison of the regression slopes for the different taxonomic ranks indicates that it is better to use regressions from the lowest possible taxonomic level for prediction of body mass. Differences between length–mass relationships for Marion Island insects and continental assemblages raises the question as to the applicability of continental regressions to sub-Antarctic species. This study provides a useful means for estimating body size parameters for Antarctic and sub-Antarctic invertebrates and provides baseline data on an important species trait that seems to be changing with local and global environmental changes.

Fifty-nine species of pycnogonids belonging to sixteen genera and eight families were collected during a cruise near Livingston Island and surrounding waters, from depths between 0 and 1019 m. The new species Ammothea bentartica is described fully, illustrated and compared with similar species. The family Nymphonidae had both the greatest number of species (20) and number of specimens (67% of 1201). The most abundant species were Nymphon charcoti and N. australe. Nymphon paucidens and Pallenopsis buphtalmus were collected for a second time. The collections increased the geographical distribution of five species and the depth range of seven species. This collection appears typical of the West Antarctic zone.

In January to March 1997, a RV Polarstern cruise that transected the Weddell Sea resulted in samples being taken in thick pack ice in the south-eastern Weddell Sea and then along the marginal ice edge towards the Antarctic Peninsula. Several ice types were thus sampled over a wide geographic area during late summer/early autumn. Common features of the first warm period was the occurrence of surface ponds, and that many floes had quasi-continuous horizontal gaps, underlying a layer of ice and metamorphic snow. With the onset of cold air temperatures in late February the gaps rapidly refroze. The calanoid copepod Stephos longipes occurred in all habitats encountered and showed highest numbers in the surface ice in summer, in the gap water during both seasons and in the refrozen gap water in autumn. Nauplii outnumbered copepodids in the surface ice and refrozen gap water, while in the gap water copepodids, mainly stages CI–CIII in summer and CII–CIV in autumn, comprised about 70% of the total population. The harpacticoid species Drescheriella glacialis did not occur in all habitats and was missing in surface ponds and new ice. Nauplii of D. glacialis were rarely found in gap water, but predominated in the refrozen gaps.

New structural data from the northern Antarctic Peninsula suggest that reverse faults and folds affecting the Pedersen Nunatak beds of the upper Mesozoic–Lower Cenozoic Larsen Basin succession were produced by transpressional forces acting parallel to the Weddell Sea coast of the Antarctic Peninsula during mid-Cretaceous compression of the Larsen Basin. At Pedersen Nunatak, Larsen Basin rocks are deformed into a series of synclines and anticlines that are cut by reverse faults.

Two short gravity cores were retrieved to obtain palaeoclimatic information from Maxwell and Admiralty bays, King George Island, South Shetland Islands. AMS 14C age dates, sediment properties (grain size, TOC and CaCO3) and stable oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of benthiδ foraminifera (Globocassidulina biora) show downcore variations that characterize depositional conditions during the late Holocene. In particular, δ18O values of benthic foraminifera are lowest at approximately 2500 yr bp in both cores. Allowδ18O time-equivalent excursion in both cores is interpreted to reflect a distinct subglacial meltwater discharge intensified by warm climatic conditions. An increased proportion of fine-grained detritus and higher TOC in the cores at this level suggests that enhanced meltwater supply may have resulted in increased primary productivity. This meltwater discharge event provides evidence of climatic instability during the late Holocene at King George Island.

A volcanic event, represented by both coarse ash and a prominent sulphate peak, has been detected at a depth of 85.82 m in a 90 m ice core drilled at Talos Dome, northern Victoria Land. Accurate dating of the core, based on counting annual sulphate and nitrate fluctuations and on comparison with records of major known volcanic eruptions, indicates that the event occurred in 1254 ± 2 AD. The source volcano is most likely to be located within the Ross Sea region. In particular, the glass shards have a trachytic composition similar to rocks from The Pleiades and Mount Rittmann (Melbourne volcanic province), about 200 km from Talos Dome. Sulphate concentration is comparable with that of violent extra-Antarctic explosive events recorded in the same core, but atmospheric perturbation was short-lived and localized, suggesting a negligible impact on regional climate. It is suggested that this eruption may represent the most important volcanic explosion in the Melbourne province during the last eight centuries; thus this event may also represent a valuable chrono-stratigraphical marker on the East Antarctic plateau and in adjoining areas.

Airborne radar data acquired in 1995 by the Italian Antarctic Programme over Dome C in central East Antarctica were processed to develop maps of internal isochronous ice sheet layering around the EPICA ice core site. Three internal layers were traced continuously across the radar-survey area at ice depths of 1–2 km. The maps reveal that the ice core site is located where internal layers are near horizontal to depths of at least 2 km. The Italian radar data do not resolve internal layers below 2 km. However, radar data collected over this part of East Antarctica in the 1970s show the internal layers to depths of up to 4 km. These internal layers reveal the regional structure of ice to the west of Dome C. Layers from both surveys are dated through an existing chronostratigraphic link between the Vostok ice core site and Dome C. The pattern of internal layering at Dome C reflects relatively steady conditions of ice flow and accumulation for the last 100 000 years. However, for ice older than this we show that there is significant local variation in the thickness between internal layers and the ice-sheet base. Our maps provide an indication of the structure of the ice sheet from which the EPICA deep ice core will be taken.

Deception Island is the most active volcano in the Antarctic Peninsula region. It is a large basalt–andesite shield volcano with a 10 km-wide restless caldera (Port Foster) and a complicated history of pre- and post-caldera eruptions. There has been no modern volcanological investigation of the entire island and it remains a largely unknown volcanic hazard. The pre-caldera period on the island began with the low-energy eruption of tephras from multiple centres (Fumarole Bay Formation), possibly by subaqueous fire fountaining during shoaling and likely initial emergence of the volcano. It was followed by subaerial effusive to weakly pyroclastic (Strombolian/Hawaiian) activity that constructed a small basaltic shield (Basaltic Shield Formation), and a large eruption that vented about 30 km3 of magma (Outer Coast Tuff Formation). The latter eruption may have been triggered by an influx of compositionally different magma into the main chamber feeding the volcano, and the evidence suggests that it was associated with a significant involvement with water (seawater?). The eruption was followed by caldera collapse, and there have been several small incremental caldera “collapses” subsequently. Post-caldera eruptions were all small-volume and predominantly phreatomagmatic (Baily Head and Pendulum Cove formations), but magmatic eruptions constructed several small lava deltas around the coast and also produced a local carapace of scoria and thin lavas, particularly around the caldera rim (Stonethrow Ridge Formation). Although the caldera is presently resurging, interpretation of the eruptive history of the island suggests that future eruptions are likely to be small in volume and will have only a limited regional impact.

Moisture sources for snow falling in Dronning Maud Land (DML), Antarctica, are calculated for 1998 using three dimensional 5-days backward air parcel trajectories. The drilling site of the European Project on Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) in DML is chosen as the main arrival point (75.0°S, 0.01°E). A distinction is made between trajectories with and without snowfall at arrival. Of the snowfall trajectories, 40–80% are located in the Atlantic Ocean within four days before arrival. Evaporation along these trajectories is largest three to four days before arrival. The air parcels are then located between 40° and 60°S in the Atlantic Ocean where surface temperatures range between 0° and 20°C. A case study for May 1998 shows that when snow falls exceptionally high temperatures and wind speeds prevail in the atmospheric boundary layer. The position of the trajectories in the boundary layer suggests a source region for this event between 40° and 50°S and 20° and 60°W in the Atlantic Ocean, where sea surface temperatures vary between 5° and 15°C.