Two geochemical surveys of the major constituents of the Alph River, situated in Walcott Bay, Victoria Land, were undertaken in the austral summer of 1987–88. At the same time, tributaries and the runoff from various glaciers were investigated. The Alph River has an average total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration of 63.5 mgl−1, approximately half that of average world river water. The chemical composition is dominated by Na+ and HCO−3. Glacial melt waters have very low TDS but chemical weathering over the course of a few kilometres causes solute concentrations in the tributaries to exceed those of the Alph River. The composition of the streams is variable, but often Ca2+ is the principal cation. Enrichment factor and mass balance calculations indicate that the salts in the Alph River and its tributaries have a substantial non-marine component. Chemical weathering of calcite, mirabilite, gypsum and halite contribute solutes to the aquatic system. A “Gibbs Plot” [TDS versus Na:(Na+Ca) weight ratio] indicates that water samples from direct glacial runoff fall outside the world water envelope. They have low solute levels but enhanced Ca2+ concentrations, resulting from the aeolian deposition and subsequent dissolution of calcitic material.

Ischyodus dolloi Leriche 1902, the youngest record of the species, and Chimaera seymourensis sp. nov. are described from the La Meseta Formation, Late Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula.

Atmospheric carbon monoxide and methane were studied spectroscopically in the Arctic and Antarctic. Seasonal variations of CO are evident in both polar regions, absolute values of abundance being three times larger in the Arctic than in the Antarctic. Increasing concentration trends were confirmed for both gases: 0.8% per year for Antarctic CO, 0.5% per year for Antarctic CH4 and 3.1% per year for Arctic CH4.

In February 1989, the partial skeleton of an ornithopod dinosaur was discovered during a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) expedition, supported by RRS John Biscoe, to the James Ross Island area, east of the Antarctic Peninsula. This was only the second dinosaur to be found in the continent of Antarctica, the first being an ankylosaur collected three years earlier (Olivero et al. 1986, Gasparini et al. 1987, Gasparini 1988, Gasparini & Olivero 1989, Olivero et al. 1991).

On the basis of a skull from the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, a gadiform fish is reported from the Antarctic region for the first time. This specimen, the most completely preserved fossil teleost cranium yet described from Antarctica, provides convincing evidence for the presence of Gadiformes in a far southerly location under temperate climatic conditions 40 m.y. ago. The exoccipital condyles, supraoccipital and lambdoidal crests, and post-temporal and supratemporal fossae are well preserved, as are the roofing bones on the posterior half of the skull. Comparative osteological study indicates that these features are very similar in appearance to those of merlucciids (hakes) and gadids (cods).

The mapping of sea, landice, sea ice and clouds, from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images taken over Antarctica in daylight is investigated and a classification scheme is proposed on the basis of thresholds retrieved from multispectral patterns of representative data. The scheme, which can be used for real time analysis of AVHRR images in scientific and logistic activities, gives satisfactory separation of different categories. Major misclassification occurs between ice clouds and land ice because of their very similar spectral signature in the AVHRR channels. Comparison of classified samples, obtained from visual inspection of images and from application of the scheme, exhibits a confusion matrix with accuracy A=92% over areas almost free from ice clouds.

The bivalve Aulacomyella is described formally from Tithonian deposits of the Antarctic Peninsula region for the first time. Two species are recognized. A. willeyi Kelly sp. nov. was collected in situ from the Nordenskjöld Formation, Longing Gap on the east coast of Graham Land, and in clasts reworked into Cretaceous glide block deposits on James Ross Island. A. cf. problematica Furlani is recorded from the Himalia Ridge Formation, Fossil Bluff Group, Alexander Island. These Antarctic records are the first published systematic descriptions of the genus from the Southern Hemisphere. Together with Mexican and Turkish records, they represent the last known occurrences of this genus. Globally the genus is particularly abundant during the Kimmeridgian and Early Tithonian stages and is therefore of value as a biostratigraphic indicator. It was almost certainly an epibyssate suspension feeder, although the precise palaeoecological setting for Aulacomyella is uncertain. It normally occurs in black shales or mudstones. The most likely life habits were either living epifaunally on the sea floor, where it bloomed under episodic dysaerobic conditions in an otherwise anaerobic environment, or pseudoplanktonically infesting floating sea weeds etc. Of these hypotheses the former is preferred here.