Automated satellite remote sensing of giant kelp at the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)

Giant kelp populations that support productive and diverse coastal ecosystems at temperate and subpolar latitudes of both hemispheres are vulnerable to changing climate conditions as well as direct human impacts. Observations of giant kelp forests are spatially and temporally uneven, with disproportionate coverage in the northern hemisphere, despite the size and comparable density of southern hemisphere kelp forests. Satellite imagery enables the mapping of existing and historical giant kelp populations in understudied regions, but automating the detection of giant kelp using satellite imagery requires approaches that are robust to the optical complexity of the shallow, nearshore environment. We present and compare two approaches for automating the detection of giant kelp in satellite datasets: one based on crowd sourcing of satellite imagery classifications and another based on a decision tree paired with a spectral unmixing algorithm (automated using Google Earth Engine). Both approaches are applied to satellite imagery (Landsat) of the Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas (FLK), an archipelago in the southern Atlantic Ocean that supports expansive giant kelp ecosystems. The performance of each method is evaluated by comparing the automated classifications with a subset of expert-annotated imagery (8 images spanning the majority of our continuous timeseries, cumulatively covering over 2,700 km of coastline, and including all relevant sensors). Using the remote sensing approaches evaluated herein, we present the first continuous timeseries of giant kelp observations in the FLK region using Landsat imagery spanning over three decades. We do not detect evidence of long-term change in the FLK region, although we observe a recent decline in total canopy area from 2017–2021. Using a nitrate model based on nearby ocean state measurements obtained from ships and incorporating satellite sea surface temperature products, we find that the area of giant kelp forests in the FLK region is positively correlated with the nitrate content observed during the prior year. Our results indicate that giant kelp classifications using citizen science are approximately consistent with classifications based on a state-of-the-art automated spectral approach. Despite differences in accuracy and sensitivity, both approaches find high interannual variability that impedes the detection of potential long-term changes in giant kelp canopy area, although recent canopy area declines are notable and should continue to be monitored carefully.

Globodera pallida. [Distribution map].

A new distribution map is provided for Globodera pallida (Stone) Behrens. Chromadorea: Tylenchida: Heteroderidae. Hosts: Solanaceae, especially potato (Solanum tuberosum), tomato (S. lycopersicum) and aubergine (S. melongena). Information is given on the geographical distribution in Africa (Algeria, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia), Asia (India, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Indonesia, Java, Japan, Hokkaido, Pakistan, Turkey), Europe (Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Crete, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Sicily, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Mainland, Madeira, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales), North America (Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, Costa Rica, Panama, United States, Idaho), Oceania (New Zealand), South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, Peru, Venezuela).

‘The Dagger of Dispossession Will Be Ripped Out’: The Malvinas/Falkland Islands in Argentine Song (1941–82)

In April 1982, Great Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falkland Islands/Malvinas. On 14 June, the defeated Argentine military began the evacuation of the Islands. Most Argentines came to view this short war as an absurd adventure entered into by a military dictatorship in decline trying to cling on to power. Yet by analysing Argentine songs about the Malvinas from 1941 to 1982, this article shows that the national imaginary had long included ideas of sovereignty usurped and captive islands awaiting redemption. Argentine songs about the Malvinas, I maintain, can be analysed as expressions of an ‘emotional community’ around the Islands. By examining the emphases, constants and changes in the songs emerging from that community, we get a clearer picture of how ideas about the territory and its recovery changed over time.

Revisiting the Past, Narrating War Memories: Retelling the Falklands War in A Soldier’s Song

Private Ken Lukowiak was a member of the Second Battalion Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) of the British Army deployed to the Falkland Islands for the 1982 British-Argentine conflict. The veteran’s creative drive motivated him into writing down his memories, and writing helped him overcome his war traumas. This paper seeks to explore Lukowiak’s memoir as a work offering an alternative retelling of the Falklands War, based on a deep emotional framework, in contrast to the narrative of heroism favoured by mass media. His personal account emphasizes the psychological distress and detachment of a soldier in opposition to the supposedly exemplary and outstanding behaviour of troops as often portrayed in mainstream journalism during and after the armed conflict.