Antarctic lake cores record a history of precipitation in the preservation of climate sensitive microbial communities. Comprehensive integration of our precipitation records with other climate proxies such as ice core temperature records and historical climate data are dependent upon accurate dating of this lake sediment. Fourteen lakes and ponds of the Windmill Islands were sampled in 1998 for diatoms and in 1999 for water chemistry. The waterbodies included in this study fall into one of 3 broad categories: saline lake (greater than 5m deep; greater than, or equal to, 3 parts per thousand - salinity), saline pond (less than 5m deep; greater than, or equal to, 3 parts per thousand - salinity) or freshwater pond (less than 5m deep; less than 3 parts per thousand - salinity). Saline Lakes Beall Lake, the largest lake on Beall Island, is situated in a rocky catchment with evidence of breeding penguin pairs nearby. Outflow into the small lake on the northwestern point of Beall Lake occurs at elevated lake levels. Holl Lake, the largest lake on Holl Island, is contained by ridges to the NE and SW with an obvious outflow to the SE. At the time of sampling (20 Dec 1998), penguin feathers were observed in the sediment. In 2001 large numbers of penguins were observed behind the NE ridge in addition to the numerous skuas nesting on most nearby peaks. Lake A is the westernmost lake on Browning Peninsula. This large closed saline lake has a very thick ice cover (~2.5 m) and very little evidence of birdlife. Lake M is the easternmost lake sampled on Browning Peninsula. This large closed saline lake had a very thick ice cover (3.0 m) at the time of sampling. Saline Ponds Lake Warrington is the largest waterbody on Warrington Island. Found in the centre of Warrington Island, this small shallow (1.9 m) saline pond was almost completely frozen (ice cover of 1.6 m), with ca. 0.3 m of water below the ice at the time of sampling. The lake catchment is muddy with runoff towards Robertson Channel (to the NE) and the ice cover showed signs of sediment entrapment giving a gritty texture. Lake G is located on northeastern Peterson Island. This very saline (greater than 60 ppt) shallow (1.0 m) pond was almost completely frozen (ice cover of 0.8 m), with ca. 0.1 m of water below the ice at the time of sampling. Lake G is close to breeding penguin sites and there was a noticeable discolouration of the surface water at the time of sampling. Lake I is the easternmost of the three sites visited on southern Peterson Island. This shallow (0.3 m) saline pond is very close to breeding penguin sites and was sampled by hand as the ice cover (0.1 m) was almost as thick as the lake depth. Lake K is approx. 400 m to the west of Lake I on central southern Peterson Island. This completely frozen saline pond is also very close to breeding penguin sites. Lake L is the southernmost pond sampled on Peterson Island. This almost completely frozen shallow (~0.8 m/0.8 m ice cover) saline pond is very close to breeding penguin sites with noticeable discolouration of the top ca. 0.2 - 0.3 m of water at the time of sampling. Freshwater Ponds Lake B, a shallow (0.9 m) freshwater pond, is located on the western side of Browning Peninsula, approx. 500 m to the south of Lake A. Lake C is a shallow (1.0 m) freshwater pond in the central valley of Browning Peninsula. Lake D is a shallow (0.5 m) freshwater pond in the central valley of Browning Peninsula approx. 500 m to the north of Lake C. This lake was sampled by hand as the ice cover (~0.5 m) was almost as thick as the lake depth. Lake E is a shallow (3.1 m) freshwater pond in the central valley of Browning Peninsula approx. 250 m to the north of Lake D. Lake F is the northernmost pond sampled from the central valley of Browning Peninsula. This freshwater pond is approx. 500 m to the north-west of Lake E. The sediment/species samples were collected in November and December 1998, the water samples were collected in December 1999. The fields in this dataset are: Lake Name Code Location Latitude Longitude Lake Depth Ice Depth Water Sample Salinity Lake Area Catchment Elevation Nitrite Nitrate Silicon Phosphate pH Species The numbers given in the species spreadsheet are for percentage abundance, ie the relative abundance of each species in the community.

Preliminary Metadata record for data expected from ASAC Project 1126 See the link below for public details on this project. ---- Public Summary from Project ---- Previous work on anti-freeze proteins (AFPs) in bacteria isolated from saline lakes in the Vestfold Hills, has shown that only around 10% of isolates possessed AFP activity. This suggests that the majority of bacteria may be using other mechanisms to avoid freezing or possibly are non-functional at sub-zero temperatures. We propose building on our previous work to ascertain if AFP occurrence is characteristic of particular taxonomic groups, or whether its evolution is random among different species. The fields in this dataset are: Lake Date Air Temperature Ice Thickness Sample Type Depth Height of ice core sample from ice/water interface Thickness of Ice core sample Salinity Water Temperature Nitrate Nitrite Ammonia Phosphate Bacteria Flagellates Chlorophyll DOC - Dissolved Organic Carbon COV of DOC - Coefficient of Variance

Microsoft Access database containing a compilation of CTD data collected in the Southern Ocean from Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre (ACE CRC) and Hydrographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean (SOA) data sources. This SOA data contains discrete CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth) station data along with a 1 x 1 degree gridded CTD data set interpolated in space and time. Parameters include pressure, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients (phosphate, nitrate+nitrite, and silicate). Ocean Tools software developed by AAD is available in conjunction with this database to manipulate, extract and visualise data (including station map, transect selection, xy plots, vertical cross sections, geostrophic velocity/transport calculations). The download file contains an access database of the compiled CTD data, a word document containing further information about the structure of the database and the data (AAD CTD Data.doc), and a folder of the original source data, including readmes providing reference details, and specific information.

This dataset contains CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) and nutrient (nitrate, nitrite (insignificant concentrations), phosphate, silicate) data obtained from the Second International BIOMASS Experiment (SIBEX II) cruise of the Nella Dan, during January 1985. This cruise is the fourth in a series of six cruises, conducting a long term field survey on krill and other zooplankton. 64 CTD casts were taken in the Prydz Bay region, and nutrient data were collected at 44 of the stations. Casts were made to 1000 m or to near bottom if shallower. Oceanographic and nutrient sampling was done a supplement to the krill research program, and therefore was not always ideal for oceanographic purposes. The fields in this dataset are: cruise name station number date start time ship name station position cast depth sea bottom depth Depth Nitrate Nitrite Phosphate Silicate Manganese (Mn) Pressure Temperature Salinity Sigma-T Specific Volume Anomaly Geopotential Anomaly Number of samples Temperature Deviation Conductivity Deviation This dataset was updated by Angela McGaffin to include a summary excel file. This download file also contains the original datasets.

1.The lakes and ponds in the Larsemann Hills and Bolingen Islands (East-Antarctica) are characterised by cyanobacteria-dominated, benthic microbial mat communities. A 56-lake dataset representing the limnological diversity among the more than 150 lakes and ponds in the region was developed to identify the nature and quantify the effects of the abiotic conditions structuring the cyanobacterial and diatom communities. 2.Limnological diversity in the lakes of the Larsemann Hills and Bolingen Islands is primarily determined by salinity and salinity related variables (concentrations of major ions, conductivity and alkalinity), and variation in lake morphometry (depth, catchment and lake area). Low pigment, phosphate and nitrogen concentrations, and DOC and TOC levels in the water column of most lakes underscore the ecological success of benthic microbial mats in this region. 3.Benthic communities consisted of prostrate, sometimes finely laminated mats, flake mats, epilithic and interstitial microbial mats. Mat physiognomy and chlorophyll/carotenoid ratios were strongly related to lake depth, but not to salinity. 4.Morphological-taxonomic analyses revealed the presence of 27 diatom morphospecies and 34 cyanobacterial morphotypes. Mats of shallow lakes (interstitial and flake mats) and those of deeper lakes (prostrate mats) were characterized by different dominant cyanobacterial morphotypes. No relationship was found between the distribution of these morphotypes and salinity. In contrast, variation in diatom species composition was strongly related to both lake depth and salinity. Shallow ponds are mainly characterised by aerial diatoms (e.g. Diadesmis cf. perpusilla and Hantzschia spp.). In deep lakes, communities are dominated by Psammothidium abundans and Stauroforma inermis. Lakes with conductivities higher than 1.5 mS/cm become susceptible to freezing out of salts and hence pronounced salinity fluctuations. In these lakes Psammothidium abundans and Stauroforma inermis are replaced by Amphora veneta. Stomatocysts were only important in shallow freshwater lakes. 5.Ice cover influences microbial mat structure and composition both directly by physical disturbance in shallow lakes and by influencing light availability in deeper lakes, as well as indirectly by generating salinity increases and promoting the development of seasonal anoxia. 6.The relationship between diatom species composition and salinity and depth is statistically significant. Transfer functions based on these data can therefore be used in paleolimnological reconstruction to infer changes in the precipitation-evaporation balance in continental Antarctic lakes. These data were also collected under the auspices of the Micromat Project, Biodiversity of Microbial mats in Antarctica (see the URL below). The fields in this dataset are: Lake Lake number Location Latitude Longitude Altitude (m) Area (ha) Catchment (ha) Depth (m) Distance from Plateau Distance from Sea Geology Substrate Presence Absence pH Alkalinity Nitrate Nitrite Ammonium Silicate Phosphate Oxygen Salinity Turbidity Conductivity Sodium Potassium Calcium Magnesium Chlorine Sulphur Bicarbonate Hydrocarbonate Total Organic Carbon Dissolved Organic Carbon

From 1991 to 2000 14 voyages have been completed in the Southern Ocean. Measurements of DMS (Dimethylsulfide) and DMSP (Dimethylsulfoniopropionate) have been carried out on surface and subsurface waters together with physical and biological measurements, with a view to understanding the main processes that affect DMS in the Southern Ocean. The first flux measurements have been carried out for DMS (see Curran and Jones 2000) in the last 3 years a concerted study has been carried out in the seasonal ice zone this study aims to identify the major phytoplankton assemblages responsible for DMS and DMSP production in the sea ice zone. It is thought that the sea ice zone also contributes to DMS in the atmosphere. This is being quantified. The fields in this dataset are: Site Date Time (local) Latitude Longitude Snow Cover (metres) Core Length (metres) DMSPt (nano Mols) Chlorophyl a (micrograms per litre) Sea Ice depth (metres) Pigments Fucoxanthin (micrograms per litre) Peridinin (micrograms per litre) 19' hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin (micrograms per litre) Salinity (ppt) Nitrate (micro Mols) Nitrite (micro Mols) Silicate (micro Mols) Phosphate (micro Mols)