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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Eos @eos.org · 23d

Could underwater walls keeping warm water away from glaciers be the key to limiting future ice melt? Not so fast, new research says.

Underwater Glacier-Guarding Walls Could Have Unintended Consequences - Eos

Although they would likely impede the warm currents that melt glaciers, such walls would also likely block fish migration and nutrient upwelling, harming marine ecosystems and Greenland fisheries.

eos.org

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Eos @eos.org · 26d

Underwater barriers might slow warm currents from melting Greenland’s glaciers, but not without hurting fisheries, @markinchina.bsky.social and colleagues point out in a recent commentary. eos.org/research-spo...

Underwater Glacier-Guarding Walls Could Have Unintended Consequences - Eos

Although they would likely impede the warm currents that melt glaciers, such walls would also likely block fish migration and nutrient upwelling, harming marine ecosystems and Greenland fisheries.

eos.org

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

EGU Biogeosciences Division (BG) @egubg.bsky.social · 29d

🗞️ New article in Biogeosciences #EGU by Henry F. Houskeeper and Stanford B. Hooker ⬇️
Read more:

The primacy of dissolved organic matter to aquatic light variability

Abstract. Absorption and scattering by optically active constituents (OACs) modify the sunlit aquatic light environment, facilitating the derivation of biogeochemical data products at scales spanning…

bg.copernicus.org

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Hilde Oliver @hildeoliver.bsky.social · Sep 6

In pursuing this, my coauthors Jessie Turner, Alex Castagna, Henry Houskeeper, and Heidi Dierssen taught me a lot about more carefully considering satellite Chl products in optically challenging areas. And many thanks to the L&O Early Career Publication Honor for supporting publishing this work!

High Antarctic coastal productivity in polynyas revealed by considering remote sensing ice‐adjacency effects

Ocean color-based estimates of Antarctic net primary productivity (NPP) have indicated low nearshore productivity in ice-adjacent waters, contrasting with coupled physical–biogeochemical models. To u....

aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Hilde Oliver @hildeoliver.bsky.social · Sep 6

This has major implications for our estimates of Antarctic coastal primary productivity, with large differences in NPP estimates for L2gen Chl products vs. those using an atmospheric correction less susceptible to adjacency (POLYMER, used by ESA OC-CCI). The effects are strongest in small polynyas.

Two subplots, showing the median and IQR Chl % difference and NPP % difference between the L2gen and POLYMER Chl products as a function of distance from the coastline. Both show an exponential decay from the coastline to ~100 km from the coast, with Chl being a factor of 600% different at the coast, and NPP being a factor of ~70% different.

log-log scatterplot and linear regression showing the NPP% difference (using L2gen vs. POLYMER) vs. the mean open water area for each Antarctic coastal polynya. There is a strong linear relationship between polynya size and NPP % difference, with an R2 of 0.66.

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Hilde Oliver @hildeoliver.bsky.social · Sep 6

🌊 I have a new paper out in L&O Letters! We show that ocean color-based estimates of chlorophyll concentrations within 100 km of the Antarctic coastline are severely underestimated when applying the standard NASA L2gen atmospheric processing. This is caused by adjacency effects from ice and snow.

Figure 1 from the paper, showing four subplots of maps of the west Antarctic shelf extending from the West Antarctic Peninsula to the Ross Sea. Figure caption: January 10-yr (2010–2019) mean (a) OBPG/L2gen Chl a (which shows low Chl near the coastline), (b) OBPG nFLH (which shows elevated nFLH near the coastline), (c) OC-CCI Chl a (which also shows high Chl near the coast, agreeing with the pattern in the nFLH), and (d) difference in Chl a products OC-CCI Chl a minus OBPG/L2gen Chl a, over the west Antarctic shelf (which shows a band of much higher Chl, ~5-10 ug/L, extending along the entire west Antarctic coastline).

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Carlos Moffat @carlosmoffat.com · Aug 22

An excellent article in the NYTimes about the impending demise of the last U.S. Antarctic research vessel, the N.B. Palmer, featuring US and overseas colleagues (including @polarrobs.bsky.social). Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/c...

Trump’s Cuts May Spell the End for America’s Only Antarctic Research Ship

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Ellen Prager, PhD @elprager.bsky.social · Aug 22

It's not just Florida, the US ocean economy depends on science. Great piece by Dr. Dennis McGillicuddy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)!🧪🌊
www.tampabay.com/viewpoints/2...

Florida’s ocean economy depends on science | Column

From sharks to plankton, ocean life matters deeply to Florida.

www.tampabay.com

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Mark Hopwood @markinchina.bsky.social · Aug 20

Are technological fixes to climate change better 'solutions' than doing nothing?

This narrow framing ignores complex ecological risks & the undermining of climate action.

A more realistic framing is that geoengineering 'solutions' at best partially mitigate one problem by creating more risks 🌊 🐳 🧊

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Rob Larter @polarrobs.bsky.social · Aug 19

Excellent article explaining the situation relating to the only US Antarctic research icebreaker. Stopping research on why flow of some marine-based glaciers in Antarctica has accelerated, discharging increasing amounts of ice into the ocean, won't stop it happening. We'll just know less about it.

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · Aug 19

The National Science Foundation will stop operating the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker and slash polar science funding by 70 percent, devastating Antarctic research

U.S. Researchers May Never Probe Deep into Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Again Without This Ship

The National Science Foundation will stop operating the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker and slash polar science funding by 70 percent, devastating Antarctic research

www.scientificamerican.com

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Maggi Brisbin @margaretbrisbin.bsky.social · Aug 18

Excited to share new published work on Phaeocystis antarctica microbiomes! Given the world, I was hesitant to self-promote, but a key finding is P. antarctica phycosphere interactions should be studied in situ. Antarctic fieldwork is necessary! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#microbialsky

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · Aug 5

🌊 New study reveals that silica-rich diatoms, not coccolithophores, drive bright satellite signals south of the Great Calcite Belt in the Southern Ocean

Diatom frustules mimic calcite reflectance; reshaping how we interpret ocean colour, plankton biogeog and carbon export

phys.org/news/2025-08...

New study illuminates how diatoms thrive in—and light up—the Southern Ocean

An area of the remote Southern Ocean that's long confused ocean color satellites by reflecting large amounts of turquoise-colored light appears to be full of silica-rich diatoms, according to a new st...

phys.org

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Hilde Oliver @hildeoliver.bsky.social · Aug 5

🌊 New modeling study led by Mike Wood: Increasing fluxes of meltwater from Greenland fuel greater summer productivity in Disko Bay, Greenland. Subglacial discharge emerging from the glacier grounding line drives turbulent buoyant plumes that boost local productivity through nitrate upwelling.

Increased melt from Greenland’s most active glacier fuels enhanced coastal productivity - Communications Earth & Environment

Melting from Greenland’s glaciers increases primary productivity in Qeqertarsuup Tunua by up to 40%, according to analysis of biogeochemical modelling.

www.nature.com

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Hilde Oliver @hildeoliver.bsky.social · Aug 4

🌊 New paper led by Barney Balch: High-reflectance waters south of 54°S in the Pacific dominated by diatoms, not coccolithophores as satellites suggest (biogenic silica backscattering exceeds calcite >10×). Unexpectedly, however, coccolithophore calcification rates were still elevated down to 60°S!

Biological, Biogeochemical, Bio‐Optical, and Physical Variability of the Southern Ocean Along 150°W and Its Relevance to the Great Calcite Belt

Particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) concentration was highest in the Great Calcite Belt (GCB) and south of 54°S, where biogenic silica (BSi) was also highest Optical backscatter by BSi exceeded ca...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Jul 29

the one thing i genuinely did not anticipate from this administration was its vicious, know nothing hostility to any and everything that might even be adjacent to science and scientific research. they genuinely one to destroy the entirety of the nation’s research capacity. and for what, exactly?

Michael Lowry @michaelrlowry.bsky.social · Jul 28

If you think I've forgotten about the hurricane satellites, think again. The Navy is permanently unplugging them this week, on the brink of the busiest stretch of the season. There's so much more to this story, and I have the latest scoop. ⬇️

Navy Set to Unplug Critical Hurricane Satellites this Week

Abrupt termination of satellite data by U.S. Department of Defense sends forecasters scrambling for a fix on the brink of the busiest stretch of the hurricane season

michaelrlowry.substack.com

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Paul Voosen @voosen.me · Jul 28

My latest: Polar scientists warn that the White House and NSF are planning to terminate the Nathaniel Palmer, the only US research icebreaker capable of handling Antarctic extremes, this October.

So far the plan has seen minimal pushback from Congress.

NSF plans abrupt end to lone U.S. Antarctic research icebreaker

Imminent termination of the RV Nathaniel B. Palmer shocks polar scientists

www.science.org

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Carlos Moffat @carlosmoffat.com · Jul 25

🌊❄️🧪 🇦🇶 Please share:

We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.

If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Lily Dove @solilyquy.bsky.social · Jul 7

The Secretary of Commerce's new policy requiring his personal review of all NOAA contracts over $100,000 is directly harming American science. 🧪

How do I know? Because this morning, twelve of America's rising leaders in climate science (including myself) were furloughed.

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Hilde Oliver @hildeoliver.bsky.social · Jul 7

Solidarity…

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Eos @eos.org · Jun 18

How much of the phytoplankton in the Palmer Deep is homegrown, and how much of it is delivery? New @jgroceans.bsky.com research investigates.
Work by @j-veatch.bsky.social, @scottdoney.bsky.social, @lifewesea.bsky.social. eos.org/research-spo...

Where Do Antarctic Submarine Canyons Get Their Marine Life? - Eos

A new study investigates how much of the phytoplankton in the Palmer Deep submarine canyon is homemade and how much is delivered.

eos.org

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Jun 1

this obsession with a handful of high status universities is also low key an indication of elite disdain for the institutions that educate most americans who attend colleges and universities

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Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · Apr 8

The SWARM field team built an ocean observatory to uncover how ocean currents create grocery stores of prey for penguins. Their findings published in Communications Earth & Environment could reshape understanding of marine ecosystems. 🧪 🌊

An Antarctic Ecosystem Influenced by Coastal Currents

It took us about a week to get there, and years of preparation to be ready for the journey that awaited us once we arrived. Alas, after a few plane rides, a few days loading the boat with all our gear, and 5 days sailing across the infamously rough Drake Passage, Palmer Station came into sight from the bow of the R.V.

go.nature.com

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · Mar 23

The election has just been called for April 28.

If you are a Canadian living outside the country, get your mail-in ballot here ASAP:

travel.gc.ca/travelling/l...

Canada election live: Canadian PM Mark Carney calls snap election

Carney has asked the governor general to dissolve Parliament, launching an election campaign amid a trade war with the US.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Hilde Oliver

Peter Crockford @earth2pete.bsky.social · Dec 19

Marine Zn limitation is a thing bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/...

High metabolic zinc demand within native Amundsen and Ross sea phytoplankton communities determined by stable isotope uptake rate measurements

Abstract. Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for most eukaryotic phytoplankton. Zn uptake by phytoplankton within the euphotic zone results in nutrient-like dissolved Zn (dZn) profiles with a lar...

bg.copernicus.org

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