Balance Ice Fluxes for the Antarctic ice sheet. These ice fluxes (in km^2/yr)represent the (hypothetical) distribution of ice flux that would keep the Antarctic ice sheet in its present shape (i.e. surface topography), under the influence of a prescribed accumulation distribution. The present fluxes were computed using computer code BalanceV2 (by Warner) (outlined in Budd and Warner 1996, and detailed in Fricker, Warner and Allison 2000), using the surface accumulation dataset of Vaughan et al (1999), and the ice sheet surface elevation dataset distributed by BEDMAP (attributed to Liu et al 1999). This ice flux dataset represents the (hypothetical) distribution of ice flux that would keep the ice sheet topography in its present shape, under the influence of the given accumulation distribution.

Balance Ice Velocities for the Antarctic ice sheet. These ice velocities (in m/yr) represent the (hypothetical) distribution of depth-averaged ice velocities that would keep the Antarctic ice sheet in its present shape (i.e. surface topography and thickness), under the influence of a prescribed accumulation distribution. The present fluxes were computed using computer code BalanceV2 (by Warner) (outlined in Budd and Warner 1996, and detailed in Fricker, Warner and Allison 2000), using the surface accumulation dataset of Vaughan et al (1999), the ice sheet surface elevation dataset distributed by BEDMAP (attributed to Liu et al 1999), and the ice sheet thickness compilation distributed by the BEDMAP consortium (Lythe et al 2001).

This line shapefile represents the following features of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: Subtropical Front (STF); Subantarctic Front (SAF); Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front (sACCf); Polar Front (PF); Southern Boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current as described in Alejandro H. Orsi, Thomas Whitworth III, and Worth D. Nowlin Jr (1995) On the meridional extent and fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Deep-Sea Research 42 (5), 641-673. The shapefile was created from data provided by lead author Alejandro Orsi to the Australian Antarctic Data Centre in August 2001. The data in the files from Alejandro Orsi was also combined in a csv file. The data available for download includes the original data, the shapefile and the csv file.

Our understanding of how environmental change in the Southern Ocean will affect marine diversity,habitats and distribution remain limited. The habitats and distributions of Southern Ocean cephalopods are generally poorly understood, and yet such knowledge is necessary for research and conservation management purposes, as well as for assessing the potential impacts of environmental change. We used net-catch data to develop habitat suitability models for 15 of the most common cephalopods in the Southern Ocean. Full details of the methodology are provided in the paper (Xavier et al. (2015)). Briefly, occurrence data were taken from the SCAR Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. This compilation was based upon Xavier et al. (1999), with additional data drawn from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, biodiversity.aq, the Australian Antarctic Data Centre, and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. The habitat suitability modelling was conducted using the Maxent software package (v3.3.3k, Phillips et al., 2006). Maxent allows for nonlinear model terms by formulating a series of features from the predictor variables. Due to relatively limited sample sizes, we constrained the complexity of most models by considering only linear, quadratic, and product features. A multiplier of 3.0 was used on automatic regularization parameters to discourage overfitting; otherwise, default Maxent settings were used. Predictor variables were chosen from a collection of Southern Ocean layers. These variables were selected as indicators of ecosystem structure and processes including water mass properties, sea ice dynamics, and productivity. A 10-fold cross-validation procedure was used to assess model performance (using the area under the receiver-operating curve) and variable permutation importance, with values averaged over the 10 fitted models. The final predicted distribution for each species was based on a single model fitted using all data: these are the predictions included in this data set. The individual habitat suitability models were overlaid to generate a 'hotspot' index of species richness. The predicted habitat suitability for each species was converted to a binary presence/absence layer by applying a threshold, such that habitat suitability values above the threshold were converted to presences. The threshold used for each species was the average of the thresholds (for each of the 10 training models) chosen to maximize the test area under the receiver-operating curve. The binary layers were then summed to give the number of species estimated to be present in each pixel in the study region.

This parameter set was developed to provide a plausible implementation for the ecological model described in Bates, M., S Bengtson Nash, D.W. Hawker, J. Norbury, J.S. Stark and R. A. Cropp. 2015. Construction of a trophically complex near-shore Antarctic food web model using the Conservative Normal framework with structural coexistence. Journal of Marine Systems. 145: 1-14. The ecosystem model used in this paper was designed to have the property of structural coexistence. This means that the functional forms used to describe population interactions in the equations were chosen to ensure that the boundary eigenvalues of every population were all always positive, ensuring that no population in the model can ever become extinct. This property is appropriate for models such as this that are implemented to model typical seasonal variations rather than changes over time. The actual parameter values were determined by searching a parameter space for parameter sets that resulted in a plausible distribution of biomass among the trophic levels. The search was implemented using the Boundary Eigenvalue Nudging - Genetic Algorithm (BENGA) method and was constrained by measured values where these were available. This parameter set is provided as an indicative set that is appropriate for studying the partitioning of Persistent Organic Pollutants in coastal Antarctic ecosystems. It should not be used for predictive population modelling without independent calibration and validation.

A meta-analysis was undertaken to examine the vulnerability of Antarctic marine biota occupying waters south of 60 degrees S to ocean acidification. Comprehensive database searches were conducted to compile all English language, peer-reviewed journals articles and literature reviews that investigated the effect of altered seawater carbonate chemistry on Southern Ocean and/or Antarctic marine organisms. A document detailing the methods used to collect these data is included in the download file.

Data are the MSLP (Mean Sea Level Pressure) field of the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) (http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/rt/amps/) available to download via www.earthsystemgrid.org. Data are 45km resolution for the domain d001 (lower left lat/lon = -24.72209 N, 38.30463 E, upper right lat/lon = -21.82868 N, -144.07805 E). Data are 3-hourly forecasts (t=0 to t=120) made every 12 hours using the Polar Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Data has been converted from grib to nc, 45km resolution polar stereographic to a 0.5 degree resolution latlon grid and concatenated into a single continuous dataset using the first 4 forecasts from each 12-hours. Where data was missing forecasts from the previous 12-hours are used. Data available: 28/10/2008 to 31/12/2012. Data were processed in this manner to be usable by the Melbourne University cyclone tracking scheme (Murray, R. J., and I. Simmonds (1991) A numerical scheme for tracking cyclone centres from digital data. Part I: Development and operation of the scheme, Australian Meteorological Magazine, 39, 155-166.) to investigate Antarctic polar lows. Data are 3-hourly forecasts (from t=0 to t=120) made every 12 hours, which have been processed into a continuous 3-hourly dataset using the first 4 forecasts of every 12 hours. Missing data are filled by previous forecasts.

This model was produced as part of Australian Antarctic Science project 4037 - Experimental krill biology: Response of krill to environmental change - The experimental krill research project is designed to focus on obtaining life history information of use in managing the krill fishery - the largest Antarctic fishery. In particular, the project will concentrate on studies into impacts of climate change on key aspects of krill biology and ecology. This metadata record is to reference the paper that describes the model. There is no archived data output from this data product. Taken from the abstract of the referenced paper: Estimates of productivity of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, are dependent on accurate models of growth and reproduction. Incorrect growth models, specifically those giving unrealistically high production, could lead to over-exploitation of the krill population if those models are used in setting catch limits. Here we review available approaches to modelling productivity and note that existing models do not account for the interactions between growth and reproduction and variable environmental conditions. We develop a new energetics moult-cycle (EMC) model which combines energetics and the constraints on growth of the moult-cycle. This model flexibly accounts for regional, inter- and intra-annual variation in temperature, food supply, and day length. The EMC model provides results consistent with the general expectations for krill growth in length and mass, including having thin krill, as well as providing insights into the effects that increasing temperature may have on growth and reproduction. We recommend that this new model be incorporated into assessments of catch limits for Antarctic krill.

This dataset contains environmental layers used to model the predicted distribution of demersal fish bioregions for the paper: Hill et al. (2020) Determining Marine Bioregions: A comparison of quantitative approaches, Methods in Ecology and Evolution. It contains climatological variables from satellite and modelled data that represent sea floor and sea surface conditions likely to affect the distribution of demersal fish including: depth, slope, seafloor temperatures, seafloor current, seafloor nitrate, sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a standard deviation and sea surface height standard deviation. Layers are presented at 0.1 degree resolution. "prediction_space" is a Rda file for R that consists of two objects: env_raster: a raster stack of the environmental layers pred_sp: a data.frame version of the env_raster where some variables have been transformed for statistical analysis and bioregion prediction. "Env_data_sources.xlsx" contains a description of each environmental variable and it's source.

This data record has been compiled for a statistical methods study, conducted by Abigael Proctor as part of her PhD research in 2018. The data in this record have been used to showcase a new statistical method for determining no effect concentration (NEC). The study uses the data in this record to compare NEC and LCx estimates for copper in four Antarctic marine invertebrate species. The data associated with this record are a subset of four existing larger datasets: 1. amphipod: AAS_2933_Orchomenella_pinguides_Sensitivity_metals_Davis_2010-11 2. copepod: AAS_4100_Toxicity_Copepods 3. gastropod: AAS_2933_MetaToxicityMarine_JuvenileGastropods_Kingston2007 4. ostracod: AAS_2933_MetalToxicityMarine_BrownOstracods_Kingston2007 Subset details are described in the excel file provided.