Twenty-seventh Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting Cape Town, South Africa, 24 May–4 June 2004

Polar Record ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-96 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Mcmurdo Dry Valleys ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic

The texts of the Decisions and Resolutions, and the text of Measure 1 (2004), together with a summary of the Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Managed area No. 2, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Southern Victoria Land, adopted at XXVII ATCM were reproduced in SCAR Bulletin No 155, October 2004. A summary of the Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Managed Area No. 3, Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, George V land, together with Measures 2–4, are reproduced here. The full versions of all the Decisions, Measures and Resolutions are on the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat website at http://www.ats.org.ar/

scholarly journals Draft Genome Sequences of the Antarctic Endolithic Fungi Rachicladosporium antarcticum CCFEE 5527 and Rachicladosporium sp. CCFEE 5018

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (27) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Coleine ◽  
Sawyer Masonjones ◽  
Laura Selbmann ◽  
Laura Zucconi ◽  
Silvano Onofri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Draft Genome ◽  
Mcmurdo Dry Valleys ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Genome Sequences ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Rock Inhabiting Fungi

ABSTRACT The draft genome sequences of Rachicladosporium antarcticum CCFEE 5527 and Rachicladosporium sp. CCFEE 5018 are the first sequenced genomes from this genus, which comprises rock-inhabiting fungi. These endolithic strains were isolated from inside rocks collected from the Antarctic Peninsula and Battleship Promontory (McMurdo Dry Valleys), Antarctica, respectively.

scholarly journals Management of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas: permitting, visitation and information exchange practices

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.R. Pertierra ◽  
K.A. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Full Disclosure ◽  
Environmental Management Practices ◽  
Previous Season ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Specially Protected Areas

AbstractAntarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) represent the highest level of area protection within the Antarctic Treaty area. To reduce environmental impacts, ASPA visitors must comply with the Area's management plan and receive an entry permit from an appropriate national authority. Parties to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty are obliged to exchange information on: i) the number of permits allocated for the forthcoming season, and ii) the number of visits to ASPAs during the previous season. We assessed the effectiveness of current permitting and information exchange practices by examining ASPA visitation data supplied to the Antarctic Treaty System's Electronic Information Exchange System during 2008/09–2010/11. We found that Parties have interpreted and implemented the protected area legislation inconsistently. Furthermore, some Parties did not fulfil their obligations under the Protocol by failing to provide full information on ASPA visitation. Estimations suggested that the level of ASPA visitation varied with ASPA location and the main value being protected. However, without full disclosure by Parties, ASPA visitation data is of limited use for informing general and ASPA-specific environmental management practices. Improved provision and formal interpretation of ASPA visitation data are recommended to enable more co-ordinated and effective management of activities within ASPAs.

scholarly journals Geochemical features and sources of hydrocarbons and fatty acids in soils from the McMurdo Dry Valleys in the Antarctic

Polar Science ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genki I. Matsumoto ◽  
Eisuke Honda ◽  
Kazuhiko Sonoda ◽  
Shuichi Yamamoto ◽  
Tetsuo Takemura
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Mcmurdo Dry Valleys ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
The Antarctic

South Africa and the Antarctic, 1920–1960

Polar Record ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 32 (180) ◽  
pp. 25-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus J. Dodds
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
African State ◽  
The United States ◽  
The South ◽  
African Government ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
Antarctic Continent ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractThe South African state has never made a formal claim to the Antarctic continent. In the inter-war period, the South African government prepared a number of memorandums and discussion papers on the subject of a ‘South African sector in the Antarctic.’ This paper not only critically interprets those government papers, but, more importantly, assesses the reasons why South Africa never made a formal claim. It is suggested that relations with Britain and the Empire, as well as the activities of Norway and the United States, were crucial determining factors. Finally, the implications for later South African involvement in the South Atlantic and the Antarctic Treaty System are briefly considered.

scholarly journals Endolithic Fungal Species Markers for Harshest Conditions in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Life ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Coleine ◽  
Nuttapon Pombubpa ◽  
Laura Zucconi ◽  
Silvano Onofri ◽  
Jason E. Stajich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sun Exposure ◽  
Thermal Fluctuations ◽  
Fungal Species ◽  
Mcmurdo Dry Valleys ◽  
Community Diversity ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Internal Transcribed Spacer Region ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Cold Desert ◽  
The Antarctic

The microbial communities that inhabit lithic niches inside sandstone in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys of life’s limits on Earth. The cryptoendolithic communities survive in these ice-free areas that have the lowest temperatures on Earth coupled with strong thermal fluctuations, extreme aridity, oligotrophy and high levels of solar and UV radiation. In this study, based on DNA metabarcoding, targeting the fungal Internal Transcribed Spacer region 1 (ITS1) and multivariate statistical analyses, we supply the first comprehensive overview onto the fungal diversity and composition of these communities sampled over a broad geographic area of the Antarctic hyper-arid cold desert. Six locations with surfaces that experience variable sun exposure were sampled to compare communities from a common area across a gradient of environmental pressure. The Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) identified were primarily members of the Ascomycota phylum, comprised mostly of the Lecanoromycetes and Dothideomycetes classes. The fungal species Friedmanniomyces endolithicus, endemic to Antarctica, was found to be a marker species to the harshest conditions occurring in the shady, south exposed rock surfaces. Analysis of community composition showed that sun exposure was an environmental property that explained community diversity and structured endolithic colonization.

scholarly journals Climatology of katabatic winds in the McMurdo dry valleys, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

2004 ◽  
Vol 109 (D3) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Nylen ◽  
Andrew G. Fountain ◽  
Peter T. Doran
Keyword(s):  
Mcmurdo Dry Valleys ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Katabatic Winds ◽  
Victoria Land

Antarctica, Viña del Mar and the 1990 UN debate

Polar Record ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 27 (162) ◽  
pp. 211-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New York ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
International Research ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Research Station ◽  
30Th Anniversary ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractThe Xlth Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative Meeting in Viña del Mar, Chile (19 November to 6 December 1990) aired the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties' views on conservation, following the collapse of support for the minerals convention. Almost simultaneously at the United Nations Assembly in New York, the eighth successive annual discussion on Antarctica included the usual critique of the Treaty System's political and legal framework. The conservationist emphasis apparent in 1989 continued in 1990, accompanied by an attack on Antarctic science. Particular emphasis was placed on adverse environmental impacts from the crowding together of scientific stations. Treaty parties countered with their long-standing opposition to UN interference in Treaty matters. Resolutions on Antarctica sought to exclude South Africa from ATS activities and to consider the establishment of a UN international research station. The 1990 discussions showed that the Treaty System at its 30th anniversary fails to enjoy universal support, and contributed to an emerging debate on the merits of Antarctic science.

Evidence for regional climate change in the recent evolution of a high latitude pro-glacial lake

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Webster ◽  
Ian Hawes ◽  
Malcolm Downes ◽  
Michael Timperley ◽  
Clive Howard-Williams
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Change ◽  
Physical Structure ◽  
Mcmurdo Dry Valleys ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
The North ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Upper Mixed Layer

Lake Wilson, a perennially ice-capped, deep (>100 m) lake at 80°S in southern Victoria Land was investigated in January 1993. Water chemistry and physical structure showed three distinct layers; an upper c. 35 m mixed layer of low salinity, moderately turbid water; a less turbid mid layer, 20 m thick of slightly higher salinity and supersaturated with oxygen; and a deep 20 m brackish layer (conductivity c. 4000 μS cm−1) with anoxic conditions in the lower 5 m. Extreme supersaturation of N2O (up to 400 times air saturation) together with high nitrate concentration (4000 mg m−3) was recorded in the deep layer. Phytoplankton biomass and photosynthetic activity was confined to the upper mixed layer and the band of supersaturated dissolved oxygen located at 40–55 m appears to represent a relict layer from when the lake level was lower. The evidence from a comparison of profiles between 1975 and 1993 suggests that Lake Wilson has risen 25 m since 1975, synchronous with a period of lake level rise in the McMurdo Dry Valleys lakes to the north at 77°S. Geochemical diffusion models indicate that Lake Wilson had evaporated to a smaller brine lake about 1000 yrs BP, which also fits the pattern shown by the McMurdo Dry Valleys lakes. Climate changes influencing lake levels have thus covered a wide area of southern Victoria Land.

Snow recurrence sets the depth of dry permafrost at high elevations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. McKay
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Mcmurdo Dry Valleys ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Recurrence Intervals ◽  
High Elevations ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractDry permafrost on Earth is unique to the Antarctic and is found in the upper elevations of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Despite its widespread presence in the Dry Valleys, the factors that control the distribution of dry permafrost and the ice-cemented ground below it are poorly understood. Here I show, by a combination of theoretical analysis and field observations, that the recurrence of snow can explain the depth of dry permafrost and the location of ice-cemented ground in Antarctica. For data from Linnaeus Terrace at 1600–1650 m elevation in Upper Wright Valley a recurrence intervals of about two years explains the presence of ground ice at 25 cm depth, under 12.5 cm of dry permafrost. Snow recurrence periods longer than 10 years would create only dry permafrost at this site. The snow gradient in University Valley resulting from the windblown snow from the polar plateau creates a corresponding gradient in the depth to ice-cemented ground. On the floor of Beacon Valley, the presence of dry permafrost without underlying ice-cemented ground indicates snow recurrence intervals of more than 10 years and implies that the ancient massive ice in this valley is not stable. Snow recurrence may also set the depth to ground ice on Mars.

A Late Holocene desiccation of Lake Hoare and Lake Fryxell, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.B. Lyons ◽  
S.W. Tyler ◽  
R.A. Wharton ◽  
D.M. McKnight ◽  
B.H. Vaughn
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Mcmurdo Dry Valleys ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
The Past ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lake Fryxell ◽  
Climatic History

Stable isotope data from waters of lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica are presented in order to establish the climatic history of this region over the past two millennia. New data from Lake Fryxell and Lake Hoare in Toylor Valley, along with previously published data from Lake Vanda, Wright Valley and Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley are used to infer the recent climatic history of MDV. Lakes Vanda, Fryxell and Bonney appear to have lost their ice covers and evaporated to small, hypersaline ponds by 1000 to ~1200 yr BP. Lake Hoare either desiccated or did not exist prior to 1200 yr BP. These data indicate a major lowering of lake level prior to ~1000 yr BP, followed by a warmer and/or more humid climate since then.

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