Polish Polar Research

A glacier lake outburst flood occurred on James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula region, during the 2004-2005 austral summer season. The source lake was located on the Lachman II ice-cored rock glacier, and formed prior to 1980. The size of the lake has been increasing gradually since the 1990s. The lake basin extended to approximately 220 m in length and 160 m in width by the end of February 2005. We observed that the lake had drained by February 2005, and found a deep gully on the south side of the lake rim. It appears that the lake level rose and water overflowed the lake rim here. James Ross Island contains a large number of debris-covered glaciers, ice-cored moraines, and rock glaciers with glacier lakes which are dammed by these features or which form upon them. As climatic warming has recently been reported for this region, further glacier lake outburst floods seem likely to occur.

This study used ground penetrating radar soundings to examine a tongue-shaped rock glacier (64°04’S 58°25’W) on James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula, in January 2005. The rock glacier studied has multiple well-developed transverse ridges and approximately 800 m long from the talus of its head to its frontal slopes and is 300 m wide in the middle. The longitudinal ground penetrating radar profile identified debris bands which dip up-glacier, similar to the thrust structures in the compression zone of a valley glacier. Transverse ground penetrating radar profiles indicated a layered structure which is inclined towards the central part of the rock glacier and which resembles the transverse foliation of a valley glacier. Consequently, the internal structure of the rock glacier is revealed as being similar to the “nested spoons” common in the interior of valley glaciers. We concluded that this rock glacier has been created by the deformation of a glacier ice core and a thick and continuous debris mantle.

Large-scale stone-banked lobes and terraces are distributed over an area of 1 km2 of gentle slope on Rink Plateau in the northern part of James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula region. Topographically, there are two main features: relatively high risers up to 5 m high and distinct frontal ridges. In order to understand the processes responsible for these lobes and terraces, the authors have monitored air and ground temperatures and movement of stones on the surface over the period 1995-2005. In February 2005, the subsurface structures were surveyed by ground penetrating radar and drilling. The ground penetrating radar profiles identified the bedrock surface. The surface morphology of the lobes corresponds closely with that of the bedrock. The relatively high risers of these lobes are presumed to be due to a cessation of frontal advance.

Mount Flora at Hope Bay, in northernmost part of Antarctic Peninsula, is a famous Jurassic flora locality. It has already been studied for a hundred years, but however, it is still possible to find there new taxa. Based on two species of liverworts found at Mount Flora (Schizolepidella gracilis and Schizolepidella birkenmajeri sp. nov.), the present study discusses affiliation of the genus Schizolepidella to liverworts. The new species Schizolepidella birkenmajeri is erected.

Trematomus newnesi (Nototheniidae), a bentho-pelagic fish, caught off Adélie Land (eastern Antarctic) was examined for the presence of internal parasitic worms. These fishes were infected with 11 species and larval forms of parasites: Digenea (Macvicaria pennelli, Neolebouria terranovaensis, Genolinea bowersi, and Elytrophalloides oatesi), larval Cestoda (two forms of tetraphyllidean metacestodes, bilocular form and trilocular form, and diphyllobothriid plerocercoids), Acanthocephala (Metacanthocephalus campbelli, M. johnstoni) and larval Nematoda (Contracaecum osculatum, C. radiatum). Larval cestodes were the dominant parasites, whereas acanthocephalans were relatively rare. Five species and larval forms were recorded also in fish caught in the Davis Sea. A check list of parasites of T. newnesi recorded in the eastern- and western Antarctic comprises 21 species and larval forms. Probably, T. newnesi plays an important role in life cycles of parasitic worms in the Antarctic.

Zooplankton was investigated at fixed site in 24 hours in Kongsfjorden, a glacial fjord situated on the west coast of Spitsbergen (Svalbard) (79°N, 12°E), in order to unveil the level of diurnal variability in community composition and abundance. Parallel to zooplankton study water temperature and salinity were measured while information on local tides and winds was obtained from external sources. Observed changes did not exceed the range of variability regarded intrinsic, resulting from the nature of plankton. Because of this low variability we are of the opinion that the data presented can be regarded a valid measure of the natural heterogeneity of zooplankton communities in hydrologically dynamic Arctic coastal waters in summer. The observed changes in zooplankton were primarily induced by the complex dynamics of the fjord’s water masses. In spite of importance of tidal forcing, the variability in zooplankton did not demonstrate similar temporal fluctuations due to modification of the water movement by other irregular forces (local wind). Also, we have not found any indication of diel vertical migration in coastal water in the Arctic under the condition of midnight sun.

Saprotrophic filamentous microfungi were isolated by means of the soil dilution method from soil samples collected from four locations in the Bellsund region of Spitsbergen (77°33’N, 14°31’E) representing the following forms of surface micro-relief: an old stormbank, a sorted circle, a frost fissure between tundra polygons, and the central part of a tundra polygon. The fungal isolates were identified and screened for their ability to grow at low temperatures. The oligotrophy of psychrophilic and psychrotrophic strains was then determined as the ability of growth on silica gel without a C source added. Differences in some physico-chemical properties were found between the soils sampled from the four sites. A total of 89 taxa from 17 genera were isolated. Most of the isolates were species of Mortierella, Penicillium, Chrysosporium and Phialophora, and half of them were psychrophiles. Fungal communities isolated from a frost fissure between tundra polygons (site 3) and from the central part of a tundra polygon (site 4) were dominated by psychrophiles but those isolated from an old stormbank (site 1) and a sorted circle (site 2) were predominantly psychrotrophic. Oligopsychrophilic taxa accounted for 27% and oligopsychrotrophic for 20% of all the isolated taxa but only from 0.7% to 11.7% and from 1.2% to 6.3% of the total number of cfu (colony forming unit) isolated from an individual site, respectively. The results of the present study suggest that the abundance of fungi in Arctic soil is mostly affected by the content of organic matter in the A horizon and the plant cover, but other factors, such as the stage of soil development and the micro-relief of the surface, are more important for species richness of fungal communities.