Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T16:32:25.044Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Summer–winter transitions in Antarctic ponds I: The physical environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2011

Ian Hawes ,
Karl Safi ,
Brian Sorrell ,
Jenny Webster-Brown  and
David Arscott
Ian Hawes*
Affiliation:
Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
Karl Safi
Affiliation:
NIWA Ltd, PO Box 11-115, Hamilton, New Zealand
Brian Sorrell
Affiliation:
Dept of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus 3, Denmark
Jenny Webster-Brown
Affiliation:
Waterways, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
David Arscott
Affiliation:
Stroud Water Research Center, Avondale, PA 19311, USA
*
ian.hawes@canterbury.ac.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Meltwater ponds are one of the most widespread aquatic habitats in ice-free areas of continental Antarctica. While most studies of such systems occur during the Antarctic summer, here we report on ice formation and water column attributes in four meltwater ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf during autumn, when they went from ice-free to > 80 cm thickness of ice. Ice thickness grew at an average rate of 1.5 cm d-1 in all ponds and as ice formed, salts and gases were excluded. This resulted in conductivity rising from 3–5 to > 60 mS cm-1 and contributed to the ebullition of gases. Incorporation of gas bubbles in the ice resulted in a high albedo and under-ice irradiance declined faster than incident, the former falling below 1 W m-2 (daily average) by early April. After two months of ice formation, only 0–15% of the volume of each pond was still liquid, although this represented 5–35% of the pond sediment area, where much of the biological activity was concentrated. We suggest that the stresses that the freezing process imposes may be as important to structuring the biotic communities as those during the more benign summer growth period.

Keywords

conductivityice formationirradianceMcMurdo Ice Shelf
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , June 2011 , pp. 235 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, E.E., Priscu, J.C., Fritsen, C.H., Smith, S.R. Brackman, S.L. 1998. Permanent ice covers of the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes, Antarctica: bubble formation and metamorphism. Antarctic Research Series, 72, 281–295.Google Scholar
Debenham, F. 1920. A new mode of transportation by ice: the raised marine muds of south Victoria Land (Antarctica). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 75, 51–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gow, A.J. Epstein, S. 1972. On the use of stable isotopes to trace the origins of ice in a floating ice tongue. Journal of Geophysical Research, 77, 6652–6657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawes, I., Howard-Williams, C. Fountain, A. 2008. Ice-based freshwater ecosystems. In Vincent, W.F. & Laybourn-Parry, J., eds. Polar lakes and rivers - Arctic and Antarctic aquatic ecosystems. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 103–118.Google Scholar
Hawes, I., Howard-Williams, C. Pridmore, R.D. 1993. Environmental controls on microbial biomass in the ponds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Archiv für Hydrobiologie, 127, 271–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawes, I., Schwarz, A.-M.J., Smith, R. Howard-Williams, C. 1999. Environmental conditions during freezing, and response of microbial mats in ponds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 11, 198–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawes, I., Safi, K., Webster-Brown, J., Sorrell, B. Arscott, D. 2011. Summer–winter transitions in Antarctic ponds II: Biological responses. Antarctic Science, 23, 10.1017/S0954102011000058.Google Scholar
Howard-Williams, C. Hawes, I. 2007. Ecological processes in Antarctic inland waters: interactions between physical processes and the nitrogen cycle. Antarctic Science, 19, 205–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard-Williams, C., Pridmore, R., Downes, M.T. Vincent, W.F. 1989. Microbial biomass, photosynthesis and chlorophyll a related pigments in the ponds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 1, 125–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quesada, A., Fernández-Valiente, E., Hawes, I. Howard-Williams, C. 2008. Benthic primary production in polar lakes and rivers. In Vincent, W.F. & Laybourn-Parry, J., eds. Polar lakes and rivers - Arctic and Antarctic aquatic ecosystems. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 179–196.Google Scholar
Schmidt, S.W., Moskal, W., De Mora, S.J., Howard-Williams, C. Vincent, W.F. 1991. Limnological properties of Antarctic ponds during winter freezing. Antarctic Science, 3, 379–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swithinbank, C. 1970. Ice movement in the McMurdo Sound area of Antarctica. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Antarctic Glaciological Exploration. Wallingford: IAHS, 472–486.Google Scholar
Vincent, W.F. James, M.R. 1996. Biodiversity in extreme aquatic environments: lakes, ponds and streams of the Ross Sea sector, Antarctica. Biodiversity and Conservation, 5, 1451–1471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wait, B.R., Webster-Brown, J.G., Brown, K.R., Healy, M. Hawes, I. 2006. Chemistry and stratification of Antarctic meltwater ponds I: Coastal ponds near Bratina Island, McMurdo Ice Shelf. Antarctic Science, 18, 515–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar