In the United States there has been a move afoot to try to stimulate federally funded investigators to explore meaningful ways of communicating their scientific activities through educational outreach programs. The goal is to help improve the quality of mathematics and science education in both early and secondary education. Dr Rita Colwell, the current Director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), feels strongly that the time has come for higher education to do its part to help improve precollege science education, a persistent problem in the United States and many other industrialized countries. After all, institutions of higher education stand to benefit by seeing students enter college with sound fundamental science skills, and the taxpayers, who ultimately fund national science programs, benefit from an economy fuelled by both renewed and improved scientific talent.

Composition, abundance, and distribution of suprabenthos from a depth between 1 and 1.33 m above the seafloor were analysed. The samples were taken during ANT XV/3 with RV Polarstern in February and March 1998 by means of the supranet of an epibenthic sledge along two transects in the southern Weddell Sea (Vestkapp and Halley Bay) and one east of King George Island. At each of these three transects, five to six stations were taken in water depth between 200 and 2000 m. In total, 34 057 specimens were sampled at 16 stations, yielding 1 205 050 individuals for all stations standardized to 1000 m3 hauls. Of these, copepods were usually the most abundant group in the supranet (805 822 ind 1000 m−3. The suprabenthic fauna of the southwest of Vestkapp (Weddell Sea) transect was dominated by planktonic taxa in terms of individual numbers especially at the deeper stations (938–1983 m). At Halley Bay the total abundance of plankton was lower but its relative abundance (> 80%) was also high, whilst off King George Island peracarid crustaceans were an important fraction.

The gut contents of three species of cumaceans: Eudorella splendida, Vaunthompsonia inermis and Campylaspis maculata, and three species of tanaids: Nototanais antarcticus, N. dimorphus and Peraeospinosus pushkini from the shelf of Admiralty Bay and two cumaceans: Diastylis mawsoni and Ekleptostylis debroyeri from the deeper Antarctic shelf were studied. With the exception of Campylaspis maculata, which is a predator or scavenger, and Ekleptostylis debroyeri, whose gut was filled with mud only, detritus was an important diet component of all the species studied. On the basis of qualitative and quantitative components of diatom taxa it can be concluded that the food of Diastylis mawsoni comes from the pelagial, whereas the food of the other peracarids is of benthic origin. Species inhabiting the shallowest waters consume almost exclusively epipelic food, whilst those living below the euphotic zone feed mostly on particles sedimented from the pelagial; taxa occurring at intermediate depths feed on pelagic matter, but also of epiphytic and of epipelic origin.

The scavenging megafauna of the South Georgia and Shag Rocks slope in the south-west Atlantic (625–1519 m) were investigated using autonomous baited camera systems. Two surveys were conducted: the first in 1997 (13 deployments) used a conventional 35 mm stills camera with a 200 J flash, whilst the second in 2000 (15 deployments) used low-light digital video cameras. The scavenging community responded rapidly to the arrival of bait on the sea floor and was dominated by stone crabs (Lithodidae) and toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides). Stone crabs took up residence around the bait until it was consumed, with a maximum number of 108 in the field of view after four hours. The most frequently observed crab species was Paralomis formosa. Paralomis spinosissima, Neolithodes diomedea and Lithodes sp., were also observed. Toothfish were the most frequently observed scavenging fish and were seen during all but one deployment, typically making brief visits (1–2 min) to the bait, but appeared startled by the flash in the 1997 survey. Labriform swimming (sculling with the pectoral fins) was the principal form of locomotion in toothfish (0.22 body lengths (BL) sec−1), but they were capable of more rapid sub-carangiform (using caudal trunk and fin) motion (3 BL sec−1) when startled. Other scavenging fish observed included the blue-hake Antimora rostrata, grenadiers (Macrourus spp.), skates, liparids and zoarcids.

Early stages of toothfish are reported from cruises between 1978 and 2001. South Georgia was regularly sampled, Shag Rocks was briefly sampled in three summers, and Burdwood Bank was sampled in 1997. Most samples were using 8 m2 and 1 m2 nets in the upper 250 m and upper 3 m, respectively. Forty-three pelagic larval/early juvenile stages between 18.2 and 63 mm standard length (Ls) were taken between December and March. Four specimens were taken at Burdwood Bank, one at Shag Rocks, and 38 at South Georgia. Forty fish were from the upper 250 m, and 23 from the upper 3 m. They occurred onshelf and offshore over water depths between 10 and 3000 m. Estimated growth rate, at South Georgia from 11 cohorts (including published data), is c. 1% Ls, d−1 (n = 39). From this and a hatch size of 15 mm Ls, the predicted hatching season is November to mid-December. From seven trawl surveys during summer at South Georgia and Shag Rocks between 1986 and 2000, the mean depth of the smaller demersal juveniles 13–25 cm total length (LT) was < 140 m, indicating that early juveniles probably migrate inshore.

The diet of breeding Antarctic shags (Phalacrocorax bransfieldensis) was investigated at four colonies on the Danco Coast, Antarctic Peninsula, by the analysis of 616 pellets (regurgitated casts) collected from December 1997 to February 1998. Overall, demersal-benthic fish were the most frequent and important prey at all the colonies, followed by octopods and gastropods. Amongst fish, Notothenia coriiceps was the main prey in all of the sampling sites, followed in similar importance by Gobionotothen gibberifrons at Cape Herschel, Primavera Island and Midas Island and in less importance by Harpagifer antarcticus at Py Point. There were marked differences among colonies in the size of the fish consumed. The largest and the smallest specimens were eaten by shags from Midas Island and Py Point respectively. This was mainly influenced by the number of specimens of the smallest fish species, H. antarcticus, consumed at Py Point. The differences in the diet composition may be related to the different foraging areas used by the shags. Results from this study differ from previous studies around the Antarctic Peninsula. The shags at the Danco Coast preyed markedly more intensively than those at the South Shetland Islands on G. gibberifrons. This finding reflects the low abundance of this fish species in inshore waters (< 100 m depth) at the South Shetland Islands and supports the use of the Antarctic shags to monitor trends in local populations of coastal fish species.

Australodelphis mirus (Delphinidae n. gen., n. sp) is a small extinct Early Pliocene dolphin known from five individuals from shallow-water strata of the Sørsdal Formation, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. Australodelphis mirus is the first higher vertebrate named from the Oligocene-Pleistocene interval on land in Antarctica, and is the first cetacean fossil from the polar margin of circum-Antarctic Southern Ocean that postdates the break-up of Gondwana. The dolphin is convergent in skull form with some living beaked whales (Mesoplodon spp.; Family Ziphiidae) in its long, narrow and toothless upper jaw and face, but skull suture patterns, basicranial sinuses, and ear-bones indicate close relationship with living long-beaked dolphins (Delphinidae). Australodelphis mirus perhaps was a suction-feeding squid-eater which occupied quiet near-shore shelf waters influenced by glaciers but probably lacking major sea-ice. Possible ecological equivalents of A. mirus (small ziphiids, long-beaked dolphins) do not occupy Antarctic waters today, perhaps excluded by cold conditions and/or sea-ice cover. Earlier Pliocene cetaceans worldwide reveal significant extinct and sometimes bizarre taxa, and extant families with ranges quite different from today, pointing to climate-related changes in cetacean ecology in the last 2–3 million years.

A 51.85 m ice core collected from site LGB65 (accumulation rate 127 kg m−2 a−1, mean annual temperature −33.1°C) in Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica, during the 1996–97 Chinese First Antarctic Inland Expedition has been analysed for chemical composition and oxygen isotope ratio. Based on the high definition of seasonal variations of major ions, the ice core was dated with errors within ± 3 years. The continuous sulphate analysis of the ice core provides an annually resolved proxy history of southern hemisphere volcanism in the past 250 years. High nssSO42−, concentrations seem to be well correlated to some explosive volcanic eruptions, such as Tambora (AD 1815), Coseguina (AD 1835), Krakatoa (AD 1883) and Tarawera (AD 1886). In comparison with other volcanic records, it seems that nssSO42− concentration data provide a better proxy for detecting volcanic activity than nssSO42− fluxes in low and intermediate accumulation regions, however, in high accumulation regions, small and moderate events may be more identifiable using of nssSO42− flux data.

The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) in 1982, 1986, and 1996, operated a Proton Precession Magnetometer (PPM) at its Antarctic stations Dakshin Gangotri/Maitri (located at ∼70°S, ∼12°E). Comparison of the average quiet-time value of total intensity F for these years with values of F obtained at the same geographic location (interpolated from iso-intensity contours of F on World Magnetic Charts and IGRF Maps) for earlier years, suggested that over the last 75 years at this location, F has dropped from ∼49 000 nT in 1922, to ∼40 000 nT in 1996 i.e. ∼120 nT per year. Further inspection at nearby Antarctic stations reveals a drop of ∼108 nT yr−1 at Novolazarevskaya, ∼100 nT yr−1, at Georg Forster and ∼95 nT yr−1 at Syowa; Mawson situated still further away shows a drop of ∼72 nT yr−1, while Dumont d'Urville located very near the magnetic pole showed a drop of ∼50 nT yr−1 until 1994. A study of the observed F values over the past five decades at 23 observatories from the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions indicates that contours of yearly decrease in F follow a definite pattern, with maximum decrease lying in a belt encompassing Maitri. These observations are of importance in the light of modelling works at the Earth's Core–Mantle boundary pointing to two prominent regions of reverse magnetic flux (RMF) occurring beneath South America, South Africa and a large part of Antarctica, and which may merge sometime to cause reversal of the present geomagnetic field polarity. The importance of continuous monitoring of F at various locations in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions is brought out in this work. It is equally important to understand the cause behind this rapid decrease in F.

Macrofossils discovered in the Battye Glacier Formation (Pagodroma Group) of the Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica, provide important insight into marine life of the mid-Tertiary, rarely preserved elsewhere on the continent. Recorded are five species of macroinvertebrates; these are Adamussium n. sp.? cf. colbecki (Smith, 1902) (Bivalvia), Laternula? sp. (Laternulidae), Mytilidae genus and species indeterminate (Bivalvia), Bivalvia genus and species indeterminate, and Polychaeta genus and species indeterminate. Based on stratigraphical data and faunal composition, the clasts are dated as no younger than Early Miocene. This is one of the oldest reports of Adamussium from Antarctica, previously known from the Late Pliocene to Recent with a possible record in the Late Oligocene–Early Miocene. Palaeoecological data and facies analysis indicate that these taxa inhabited a shallow- to mid-shelf marine environment of normal salinity that was oligotrophic. The substrate was a soft, pebbly and sandy bottom that was sufficiently mobile to sponsor deep burrowing forms.

The paper presents two years of observations (1995 and 1996) for water velocity and temperature near the Ross Ice Shelf edge, where a mooring, composed of three current meters, five temperature and three conductivity sensors, one turbidimeter, two sediment traps and one Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, was deployed. The mooring site was chosen to study the behaviour of the Ice Shelf Water, within the framework of the Project on the Climatic Long-term Interaction for the Mass balance in Antarctica of the Italian National Programme for Antarctic Research. The Ice Shelf Water outflow from below the Ross Ice Shelf is a persistent phenomenon in this area, but it is characterized by impulsive injections often associated with recirculation processes. Two years of data records of physical variables are investigated here in order to analyse the Ice Shelf Water outflow behaviour and to give an estimate of this feature. Our results show that the Ice Shelf Water events have variable duration (from one to seven days) and present an interannual variability in their timing. In spite of this, the mean Ice Shelf Water outflow during the overlapping period of the two time series is quite similar: 0.15 Sv for 1995 and 0.28 Sv for 1996.

This paper addresses the study of the thermohaline circulation and convective processes induced by the presence of a coastal polynya in Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica). These processes are analysed by means of oceanographic observations and numerical simulations. Time series of hydrological parameters and currents show the High Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW) formation with the mixing of the water column down to great depths, and a seasonal cycle of kinetic energy. A two-dimensional time dependent model for the numerical simulation of the effects of polynya on the circulation has been implemented. This model allows estimation of the contribution of thermohaline forcing on the circulation pattern, the amount of ice production consistent with the observed salinity distribution and annual cycle of currents and the amount of HSSW exported. The thermohaline forcing due to the polynya is able to induce strong horizontal currents up to 40 cm s−1 near the polynya area, as well as vertical movements of the order of 1 cm s−1. An annual ice production, ranging from 45 m to 90 m, mixes the water column at great depths, up to 750 m, and increases the salinity of the surface incoming waters up to 34.82. The estimated net north-eastward transport of HSSW ranges from 0.34 Sv to 1.23 Sv, depending on ice production.

Energy from the outer regions of the magnetosphere may be transferred to the polar ionosphere by plasma waves. A magnetometer array operated during the Antarctic winter observed Ultra-Low-Frequency (ULF) plasma waves in the Pc 1–2 (0.1–10.0 Hz) frequency range, propagating parallel to the surface of the Earth in a waveguide or duct centred at ∼300 km altitude in the ionosphere. These compressional fast mode plasma waves most likely originated in the outer magnetosphere as shear mode plasma waves guided along the geomagnetic field. The region of origin in the magnetosphere for the waves is not certain as several widely spaced volumes map along geomagnetic field lines to a relatively close ensemble in the polar ionosphere. This paper compares the direction of propagation for the waves with signatures of magnetospheric regions geomagnetically projecting onto the ionosphere. Regions such as the polar cusp, low latitude boundary layer and mantle were observed by DMSP spacecraft and a SuperDARN high-frequency radar. The most likely region in the polar ionosphere for the fast mode waves to have originated from is equatorwards of the polar cusp, suggesting the field guided waves originated just inside the magnetopause. A case is made for association of the observed Pc1-2 ULF waves with post-noon, field-aligned-current systems driven by reconnection of the solar Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) and the geomagnetic field near the magnetopause.