A Fast Ice Prediction System (FIPS) was constructed and is the first regional land-fast sea-ice forecasting system for the Antarctic. FIPS had two components: (1) near-real-time information on the ice-covered area from MODIS and SAR imagery that revealed, tidal cracks, ridged and rafted ice regions; (2) a high-resolution 1-D thermodynamic snow and ice model (HIGHTSI) that was extended to perform a 2-D simulation on snow and ice evolution using atmospheric forcing from ECMWF: either using ERA-Interim reanalysis (in hindcast mode) or HERS operational 10-day predictions (in forecast mode). A hindcast experiment for the 2015 season was in good agreement with field observations, with a mean bias of 0.14 ± 0.07 m and a correlation coefficient of 0.98 for modeled ice thickness. The errors are largely caused by a cold bias in the atmospheric forcing. The thick snow cover during the 2015 season led to modeled formation of extensive snow ice and superimposed ice. The first FIPS operational service was performed during the 2017/18 season. The system predicted a realistic ice thickness and onset of snow surface melt as well as the area of internal ice melt. The model results on the snow and ice properties were considered by the captain of R/V Xuelong when optimizing a low-risk route for on-ice transportation through fast ice to the coastal Zhongshan Station.

The paleo-depositional environment of inner Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, has been reconstructed for the past 21,320 14C yr B.P., using diatom assemblages and sediment facies from a short, 352-cm-long gravity core. Between 21,320 and 11,650 14C yr B.P., compact tillite and diamicton are present in the core, and diatom frustules are rare to absent. These data suggest that an ice sheet grounded over the site during the last glacial maximum. Following glacial retreat, siliceous muddy ooze was deposited, from 11,650 to 2600 14C yr B.P., in an open marine setting. During this stage, diatom frustules are abundant and well preserved, and Thalassiosira antarctica resting spores and Fragilariopsis curta dominate the assemblage. This assemblage suggests open marine deposition in an environment where the spatial and temporal distribution of sea ice is less than today. Since 2600 14C yr B.P., sea-ice and ice-edge diatom species have become more abundant, and neoglacial cooling is inferred. The assemblage is similar to that forming currently in Prydz Bay, where sea ice is absent (<10% cover) for 2–3 months of the year and permanent ice edge and/or multiyear sea ice remains in close proximity to the site.

Data on grain size and heavy mineral composition for surface sediments on the Prydz Bay continental shelf was analysed to identify sediment features and provenance. The grain size composition of surface sediments indicate spatial variations in the glaciomarine environment and the key factors influencing sedimentation, which on the shelf include topography/water depth, currents and icebergs. The study area was divided into two sections by Q-type factor analysis: section I included Prydz Channel, Amery Basin and Svenner Channel, and section II included Four Ladies Bank, Fram Bank and the area in front of the Amery Ice Shelf. Sedimentation in section I is mainly controlled by currents and topography/water depth. However, in section II, icebergs/floating ice masses, the Amery Ice Shelf and currents have prominent effects on sedimentation. The heavy mineral composition indicates that surface sediments on the eastern side of the bay, including Four Ladies Bank, are primarily derived from Princess Elizabeth Land. Sediments in the area in front of the Amery Ice Shelf, Svenner Channel, Amery Basin and Prydz Channel have a mixed source from the eastern regions around the bay, including the Prince Charles Mountains and Princess Elizabeth Land. The contribution from Mac. Robertson Land to sediment at Fram Bank is limited.

Polar lakes respond quickly to climate-induced environmental changes. We studied the chemical limnological variability in 127 lakes and ponds from eight ice-free regions along the East Antarctic coastline, and compared repeat specific conductance measurements from lakes in the Larsemann Hills and Skarvsnes covering the periods 1987–2009 and 1997–2008, respectively. Specific conductance, the concentration of the major ions, pH and the concentration of the major nutrients underlie the variation in limnology between and within the regions. This limnological variability is probably related to differences in the time of deglaciation, lake origin and evolution, geology and geomorphology of the lake basins and their catchment areas, sub-regional climate patterns, the distance of the lakes and the lake districts to the ice sheet and the Southern Ocean, and the presence of particular biota in the lakes and their catchment areas. In regions where repeat surveys were available, inter-annual and inter-decadal variability in specific conductance was relatively large and most pronounced in the non-dilute lakes with a low lake depth to surface area ratio. We conclude that long-term specific conductance measurements in these lakes are complementary to snow accumulation data from ice cores, inexpensive, easy to obtain, and should thus be part of long-term limnological and biological monitoring programmes.

During fieldwork of the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE), three different kinds of Cenozoic sedimentary record were found in the Grove Mountains, which are in East Antarctica about 450km inland of Prydz Bay. These consist of (1) glaciogenic sedimentary erratics found in the moraine banks in the central area of Grove Mountains, which can be subdivided into four types according to different degrees of lithification as well as differences in inner structure and include in-situ diamicts; (2) palaeosols found in several small depressions in the southern slope of the Mount Harding; and (3) different kinds of glacial moraine floating on the surface of blue ice or around the foot of some nunataks. Preliminary results suggest that the in situ glaciogenic sediments were formed in the ice-sheet frontal area by the interaction of glacial movement and ice sheet melt water under climatic conditions warmer than today.

The diet of the emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri (Gray) in Amanda Bay, Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica, was studied by analysis of adult stomach contents during part of the chick-rearing period from August to October 1986. The penguins consumed almost entirely fish, mainly Pleuragramma antarcticum (Boulenger) (78% by number and 78% by mass). Other fish species, cephalopods and crustaceans were minor components. These results and those of the only other two, geographically distinct, quantitative studies of the diet of emperor penguins suggest that the diet of this species varies through the effects of local topography and hydrology on prey availability.

The teuthoid fauna of the Prydz Bay region of the Southern Ocean (Indian Ocean sector) has been studied based on the material collected from 1981–1991 using a rectangular midwater trawl (RMT-8), pelagic trawl (IYGPT), and bottom trawl. Eight species of squid have been recognized: Brachioteuthis sp., Kondakovia longimana, Bathyteuthis abyssicola, Psychroteuthis glacialis, Alluroteuthis antarcticus, Mastigoteuthis psychrophila, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni and Galiteuthis glacialis. Size frequency distribution, geographical and vertical distributions of each species as well as diets of common species are analysed. There is no evidence of a diel vertical migration but ontogenetic descent appears to occur in P. glacialis and G. glacialis. Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba and the Antarctic silverfish, Pleuragramma antarcticum are important prey for most species with cannibalism occurring in P. glacialis, A. antarcticus and M. hamiltoni. Equations for calculating total weight from mantle length, and mantle length and total weight from upper and lower rostral length are provided for B. abyssicola, P. glacialis, A. antarcticus, M. psychrophila, and G. glacialis.

A collection of juvenile squid were caught with the Isaacs-Kidd midwater trawl (IKMT) and the Juday plankton net at 86 stations in Prydz Bay (60°–67°30′S, 60°–80°E) to a depth of 500 m but mostly at 0–200 m. Five species were identified, Psychroteuthis glacialis, Alluroteuthis antarcticus, Brachioteuthis sp. and the cranchiids Galiteuthis glacialis and Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni. P. glacialis and the cranchiids were the most abundant species. Young P. glacialis (5–17 mm ML) were taken at depths of 5–200 m but concentrated in the upper 100 m whilst the cranchiids (5–35 mm ML) occurred over a wider vertical range (50–500 m). The regular occurrence of paralarvae and juveniles suggests that all the species reproduce in the Antarctic. Juvenile Vertical distribution appears to differ between species with P. glacialis concentrated relatively near the surface, the cranchiids in the upper part of the Circumpolar Deep Water and A. antarcticus widely distributed to a depth of 900 m.

A marine survey in Prydz Bay, provides an unparalleled view of glacigenic and marine sedimentation across Prydz Channel and Amery Depression during the Late Quaternary. Gravity cores and a suite of eight radiocarbon dates indicate that the Late Wisconsin Glacial Maximum (LGM) was associated with grounding of a palaeo-ice shelf along the periphery of Prydz Channel. Deposition in front of the grounding line was dominated by ice-rafting. A granulated facies, containing angular clay and diamicton clasts, was producd by a combination of regelation freezing, near to the grounding line, and remelting of this basal debris in the sub-ice shelf setting. Beneath these LGM marine deposits lie two key beds of diatom ooze that are distinct in size sorting and Pliocene diatoms. These “interstadial” units can be traced across most of the Prydz Channel, and are underlain by additional glacial marine units. Debris related to the Lambert Deep is distinct from detritus from eastern Prydz Bay and deposition of these two sources within the channel oscillated during the LGM. We suggest that coastal drainage systems contributed to a limited glaciation of the shelf during the LGM, rather than direct outflow via the Lambert/Amery system. It is proposed that shelf-wide glaciation is related to the duration of glacial sea level lowstands rather than the absolute magnitude of eustatic fall during such episodes.

Knowledge of copepod abundance and distribution has been limited, particularly in the Indian Ocean sector, as the use of coarse sampling gear has meant that copepods were frequently lost from the catch. This study analyses samples obtained from Prydz Bay using a fine mesh (300 μm) Rectangular Midwater Trawl (RMT1) net during summer 1992–93. Results demonstrate that a net of mesh 4.5 mm used in previous studies underestimates total copepod abundance by a factor of 38. The abundance of the smaller species has been underestimated the most. New estimates of copepod biomass indicate that copepods represent approximately 27% of krill biomass. Copepod and krill distributions are shown to be discrete at 82.4% dissimilarity. Mean temperature accounted for 33.6% of the variation in copepod distribution while two of the species showed a slight correlation with chlorophyll a pigment data. These results highlight the numerical importance of copepods and the species' distributions in the East Antarctic marine ecosystem.

Over the past 15 years, Japanese, Australian and Russian expeditions to Prydz Bay have collected about 30 000 km of bathymetric data, 6000 km of sidescan sonar data and more than 250 sediment grab and core samples. These data were used in the present study to compile surficial sediment, bathymetric, and geomorphological maps of the Prydz Bay region. Lithofacies distribution was determined by surficial sediment data analysis using sample matrix (Q-mode) and cluster analysis techniques based on data from 206 sites. Data included percentage biogenic silica (opal), calcium carbonate, gravel, mud, and relative abundance of two diatom species (Fragilariopsis curta and F. kerguelensis). Five lithofacies are identified from the available data: (1) slightly gravelly sandy mud (g)sM lithofacies, (2) siliceous mud and diatom ooze (SMO) lithofacies, (3) F. kerguelensis pelagic ooze lithofacies, (4) F. curta gravelly muddy sand gmS lithofacies and (5) calcareous gravel lithofacies. In many areas the lithofacies correlate to geomorphological provinces as defined by previous investigators using 3.5 kHz and sidescan sonar data. In some cases, Holocene SMO sediments are seen to drape over iceberg plough marks, implying that these are relict features. These five lithofacies are likely to dominate most of the East Antarctic shelf region and may be helpful in defining sedimentary successions resulting from ice-sheet advance and retreat over glacial-interglacial cycles.

Several grounding zone wedges were left on the floor and flanks of Prydz Channel in western Prydz Bay by the Lambert Glacier during the last glacial cycle. Seismic profiles indicate that vertical accretion at the glacier bed was the most important depositional process in forming the wedges, rather than progradation by sediment gravity flows. Sidescan sonographs reveal extensive development of flutes on the sea floor inshore from the wedges, indicating deformable bed conditions beneath the ice. The region inshore of the east Prydz Channel wedge features extensive dune fields formed by currents flowing towards the grounding zone. This orientation is consistent with models of circulation beneath ice shelves in which melting at the grounding line generates plumes of fresher water that rise along the base of the ice shelf, entraining sea water into a circulation cell. The Lambert Deep is surrounded by a large composite ridge of glacial sediments. Internal reflectors suggest formation mostly by subglacial accretion. The sea floor in the Lambert Deep lacks dune fields and shows evidence of interspersed subglacial cavities and grounded ice beneath the glacier. The absence of bedforms reflects sea floor topography that would have inhibited the formation of energetic melt water-driven circulation.