Throughout history ‘explorers’ from advanced countries have named place they have ‘discovered’ in lands occupied by native people from time immemorial, with the result that many local place-names have been disregarded and their history forgotten. Antarctica, however, is the one great land region on Earth that was truly ‘discovered’ when the South Shetland Islands were sighted in 1819, so that the place-names that gradually evolved in later exploration enshrine all the history of human endeavour on the continent.

A technique for moult staging Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana) was used in the analysis of field samples to predict intermoult periods and hence assess growth and the effects of seasonal changes in food availability. The proportion of moulting krill was used, in conjunction with laboratory data on the duration of this phase, to predict the moulting frequency (intermoult period, IMP). The moulting frequency was then combined with appropriate daily growth increments from laboratory study to assess overall growth in the krill sampled. The effects of seasonal fluctuations in food availability on moulting frequency were examined for samples taken at five different locations and times of year. Moulting rate was not linearly related to the availability of phytoplankton, although it is likely that this factor has a marked effect. Similarly, although temperature affects IMP, the data indicate that this is not a simple relationship either. These preliminary data indicate the value of utilizing this technique in the analysis of field samples of Antarctic krill.

Hydrocarbons in the environment occur as complex mixtures. The detection of low-level anthropogenic contamination can be difficult as many of the compounds can also be found in biogenic materials. Results obtained in the Antarctic show that accepted methods of distinguishing biogenic from contaminating hydrocarbons are inconsistent. The samples taken from South Georgia in the vicinity of derelict whaling stations had odd-to-even carbon number ratios in the range 0.8–1.0. An offshore site had the highest levels for phytane and the lowest for pristane. The pristane-to-phytane ratio varied between 0.4 and 1.4 and contradicted the interpretation of the odd-to-even ratio at several sites. A value of less than 1.0 for these ratios has been taken to indicate anthropogenic origin. A number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were detected at all the sites, but the concentration gradient did not correspond with that of the n-alkanes. It is therefore recommended that recognition of anthropogenic input is based on quantification of all compounds against a well-defined baseline. The source of the pollution can then be estimated from the distribution patters of the hydrocarbons.

A number of studies have suggested that high concentrations of organisms in sea ice may be the result of harvesting and concentration by frazil ice. Laboratory experiments have shown that frazil ice can concentrate organisms from two to four times above levels in the underlying water. The concentrations in nature, however, can be considerably higher. The apparent discrepancy between laboratory results and field observations can be explained by the longer temporal and spatial scales that allow more contact of ice crystals with particles and with one another in the sea. It is also likely that small-scale circulation features, such as Langmuir circulation, enhance the ability of frazil ice to concentrate organisms in a natural setting.

Between September 1987 and February 1988, Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella (Peters) at Heard Island fed mainly on fish with an average 95.2% of scats in monthly collections containing fish remains. Pelagic myctophids constituted more than 50% of fish taken by fur seals at the beginning of the summer season and again at the end when there was an influx of non-breeding male seals. During the middle period from October to December, fish from the surrounding shelf area comprised the bulk of the diet. These included various benthic nototheniid species, the bentho-pelagic ice fish Champsocephalus gunnari Lönnberg and skate (Bathyraja spp.), the latter being found in over 60% of scats in October and November. The population of Antarctic fur seals at Heard Island is increasing at about the same rate as at South Georgia. There the increase is thought to be due to the high availability of krill E. superba, but in the present study no euphausiid remains were found, so the increasing population at Heard Island has been supported on a diet of fish. Whether this population increase can be sustained in future on a diet of fish is arguable. Trial fishing around Heard Island indicates that one of the major dietary items of the seals (C. gunnari) is of probable commercial importance and therefore any plans for the establishment of a fishery on Heard Island grounds must be considered in this light.

The production of Antarctic Bottom Water is influenced by Ice Shelf Water which is formed due to the modification of shelf water masses under huge ice shelves. The coupling of inflow conditions, thermohaline processes at the ice shelf base and the sub-ice shelf circulation is studied with a two-dimensional thermohaline circulation model which has been developed for a section perpendicular to the ice shelf edge. Different boundary conditions appropriate to the Filchner Ice Shelf regime are considered. The model results indicate that, in general, shelf water is transported toward the grounding line, where at the ice shelf base melting occurs with a maximum rate of 1.5 my−1. Accumulation of ice takes place at the end of the melting zone close to the ice shelf edge with a rate on the order of 0.1 my−1. The location of this accumulation zone determines whether or not the density increase by salt rejection causes an upper circulation cell and the separation of the modified water mass from the ice shelf base at mid-range depth. At the ice shelf edge the simulated temperature, salinity, helium and δ18O values for the temperature minimum layer are typical for Ice Shelf Water. However the sub-ice shelf circulation is highly variable as well as sensitive to changes in boundary conditions. Moderate changes in the characteristics of the inflowing water or in sea-floor topography may double the intensity of the circulation. Non-linear processes in the accumulation zone cause variabilities which can be described by an ice shelf edge oscillator influencing the entire circulation regime.

Chick feeding in common diving petrels (Pelecanoides urinatrix exsul) and South Georgia diving petrels (P. georgicus) was studied on Bird Island, South Georgia. Complete chick meals removed from the proventriculus of adults averaged 25.5 g (n = 32) for common diving petrels (17.6% of adult mass) and 23.3 g (n = 24) for South Georgia diving petrels (20.2% of adult mass); neither contained stomach oils. The sum of the positive mass increments during overnight weighings (SUM) averaged 48.6 g for common diving petrel chicks (n = 78 chick nights) and 41.6 g for South Georgia diving petrel chicks (n = 78 chick nights). Average adult feeding frequencies were 0.95 meals day−1 and 0.92 meals day−1, respectively. Relative meal size in diving petrels was similar to that of other procellariiforms, but SUM averaged about twice that of other petrels. The lower conversion efficiency of meals to body mass in diving petrel chicks reflects the absence of stomach oils in the diet. Higher chick feeding frequency and lower variance in SUM are consistent with the hypothesis that diving petrels forage nearshore on reliable food supply compared with other procellariiforms.

The family Acanthonotozomatidae is widely distributed, especially in the Antarctic Ocean. Although many acanthonotozomatids are very conspicuous (they are relatively large and often armoured with teeth on tergites and appendages) very little is known about their biology (Just 1978, Coleman 1989).

Trachyandesite lava flows and trachytic dykes exposed at ‘Gandalf Ridge’ and near Lake Morning on the northern slopes of Mount Morning represent the oldest exposed volcanic rocks in the Erebus volcanic province of the McMurdo Volcanic Group. Conventional whole rock K-Ar age determinations show the rocks are mid-Miocene, ranging between 14.6 and 18.7 Ma. North–south trending faults, which parallel the Transantarctic Mountains, cut the dated dykes. The faults are probably part of a broad fault zone which bounds the uplifted Transantarctic Mountains and the down-dropped Ross Sea/Ross Ice Shelf embayment.

The necessity for uniform reference systems for conventional maps (analogue) and geographic information systems (digital) is discussed. It is recommended that the following scales and projections are used for Antarctic maps: general maps at scales smaller than 1:1 000 000 should use a stereographic projection. Maps up to a scale of 1:1 000 000 should be compiled according to the specifications of the International Map of the World (IMW) 1:1 000 000. Ellipsoids are used as reference surfaces for the various map projections. Differences of the ellipsoidal parameters of the WGS72 and WGS84 systems have to be considered if accuracies better than 10 m are required. Geographic information systems may store data in vector or raster format and in geographic or in geodetic coordinates. For a raster format which is referred to the geographic (spheroidal) grid the term of ‘geographic raster’ is introduced, in contrast to the ‘geodetic raster’ which is referred to a plane cartesian coordinate system. The Institut für Angewandte Geodäsie (IfAG) is establishing the ‘Geocoded Information System Antarctica’ (GIA) using digital satellite image recordings. Internal storage of data in the GIA is in the form of the geodetic raster (and not by spheroidal coordinates). For the scale range 1:250 000 to 1:1 000 000 the size of the raster element is 60 m × 60 m. For smaller scales, satellite image data of a raster width of 240 m × 240 m are preferred.

‘All cartographers' trouble began with the abolition of the flat-Earth theory ’

The records obtained from a monostatic acoustic sounder run at Halley, Antarctica, have been analysed with the use of data from instruments on a 32 m mast and from radiosonde ascents. Echoes representing ground-based layers, waves, and shallow gravity currents are discussed. The spiky ground-based echo is related to a westerly surface wind, whilst a layered wavy flow is related to surface easterlies. Such relationships are consistent with the sloped inversion wind regime at Halley.