31 March 2019, Volume 30 Issue 1

    

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  Contents Vol. 30 No. 1 2019

  Advances in Polar Science. 2019, 30(1): 0-0.

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  Contents Vol. 30 No. 1 March 2019
  
  Editorial
  
  Reviews
  
  The Asian Forum for Polar Sciences: An assessment of regional cooperation
  Andrea COLOMBO
  
  Interplanetary shock-associated aurora
  LIU Jianjun, HU Hongqiao, HAN Desheng & YANG Huigen
  
  Articles
  
  A characteristic study of humic acids isolated from Arctic fjord sediments
  Jennees MATHEW, Aswathy SHAJI, Anu GOPINATH, Kottekkattu Padinchati KRISHNAN, Sanil Vadakkan LOUIS & Anoop Pullarkkat PRADEEP
  
  Role of lithology, weathering and precipitation on water chemistry of lakes from Larsemann Hills and Schirmacher Oasis of East Antarctica
  Rajesh ASTHANA, Prakash K SHRIVASTAVA, Hari B SRIVASTAVA, Ashit K SWAIN, Mirza Javed BEG & Amit DHARWADKAR
  
  Constraints on early Paleozoic magmatic processes and tectonic setting of Inexpressible Island, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica
  CHEN Hong, WANG Wei & ZHAO Yue
  
  Characterizing three-dimensional features of Antarctic subglacial lakes from the inversion of hydraulic potential—Lake Vostok as a case study
  LI Yan, LU Yang, ZHANG Zizhan, SHI Hongling & XI Hui
  
  Terahertz atmospheric windows for high angular resolution terahertz astronomy from Dome A
  Hiroshi MATSUO, Shengcai SHI, Scott PAINE, Qijun YAO & Zhenhui LIN
  
  
  Cover picture: Optical aurora observed at Zhongshan Station (paper by Liu J J, et al., page 11)
Editorial Note
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  Editorial

  Huigen Yang, Ian Allison

  Advances in Polar Science. 2019, 30(1): 0-1.

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  This issue of Advances in Polar Science exclusively contains papers that are about polar research programs and activities of countries in the Asian region. Although several Asian nations (Japan, India, China, Republic of Korea) have been involved in Antarctic research for more than 30 years, there is a new and growing interest in the Asian region in scientific activity in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The Asian Forum for Polar Sciences (AFoPS), established in 2004, is a regional consortium that aims to facilitate scientific research for the support and protection of polar environment, which has achieved multilateral research and logistics cooperation among Asian nations. The first paper in this issue, by A. Colombo, reviews the organisation, activities and achievements of AFoPs over fifteen years.
  The other papers here present research results, from both polar regions, over a broad spectrum of natural science, ranging from investigation of the organic composition of Arctic sediments through to the possibility of terahertz observations of distant galaxies from the high Antarctic plateau. Some of these papers were first presented at the scientific sessions of 2017 and 2018 Annual General Meetings of AFoPs held in Shanghai and Xiamen during China’s chairmanship of the Forum.
  We are grateful for the assistance from—Dr. Wentao Huang (Polar Research Institute of China), Dr. Satoshi Imura (National Institute for Polar Research, Japan), Dr. Hiroshi Matsuo (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Dr. Rahul Mohan (National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research, India), Dr. Azizan Abu Samah (National Antarctic Research Center, Malaysia), Dr. Hyoung Chul Shin (Korea Polar Research Institute), Dr. Masaki Tsutsumi (National Institute for Polar Research, Japan), Dr. Voranop Viyakarn (Polar Science Consortium of Thailand), Dr. Kentaro Watanabe (National Institute for Polar Research, Japan), Dr. Yong Yu (Polar Research Institute of China), Dr. Beichen Zhang (Polar Research Institute of China), Dr. Hongyan Zhou (Polar Research Institute of China)—who served as Guest Editors for some of the papers in this issue.
Reviews
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  The Asian Forum for Polar Sciences: An assessment of regional cooperation

  Andrea COLOMBO

  Advances in Polar Science. 2019, 30(1): 1-10.

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  This paper presents a review of the current status of Asian countries’ relations with Antarctica, aimed at deepening understanding of the role of the Asian Forum for Polar Sciences (AFoPS) in the area covered under the Antarctic Treaty. The paper critically examines the current situation regarding the Asian presence in Antarctica and provides a historical outline of the AFoPS. Whereas the activities of individual Asian countries in Antarctica have been extensively analyzed in previous studies, those of the AFoPS constitute a research gap within the scholarly literature. Therefore, an assessment of the role of the AFoPS within the wider Antarctic region from both the policy and scientific perspectives is necessary to better understand its relationship with other international organizations that are active in the area covered by the Antarctic Treaty. Over the course of its relatively short history, the AFoPS has accomplished a number of achievements. These include the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Arctic Science Committee and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. Additionally, collaborative activities have been undertaken by members of the Forum, entailing, for example, exchanges of personnel, cooperation and support extended within scientific projects. Consequently, AFoPS member countries that traditionally lack a polar background, such as Thailand and Vietnam, have been able to conduct scientific activities in Antarctica.
  
  
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  Interplanetary shock-associated aurora

  Jianjun LIU, Hongqiao HU, Desheng HAN, Huigen YANG

  Advances in Polar Science. 2019, 30(1): 11-23. https://doi.org/10.13679/j.advps.2019.1.00011

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  Interplanetary shocks or solar wind pressure pulses have prompted impacts on Earth’s magnetospheric and ionospheric environment, especially in causing dynamic changes to the bright aurora in the polar ionosphere. The auroral phenomenon associated with shock impingements, referred to as shock aurora, exhibits distinct signatures differing from other geophysical features on the dayside polar ionosphere. Shock aurora provides a direct manifestation of the solar wind–magnetosphere–ionosphere interaction. Imagers onboard satellites can obtain the associated large-scale auroral characteristics during shock impingement on the magnetopause. Therefore, auroral data from satellites are very useful for surveying the comprehensive features of shock aurora and their general evolution. Nonetheless, the ground-based high temporal-spatial resolution all-sky imagers installed at scientific stations play an essential role in revealing medium- and small-scale characteristics of shock aurora. Here, we focus on shock aurora imaging signatures measured by imagers onboard satellites and ground-based all-sky imagers.
  
  
Articles
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  A characteristic study of humic acids isolated from Arctic Fjord sediments

  Mathew JENNEES​​, S ASWATHY​, Gopinath ANU​, K P KRISHNAN, V L SANIL​, P P ANOOP​

  Advances in Polar Science. 2019, 30(1): 24-34. https://doi.org/10.13679/j.advps.2019.1.00024

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  Humic substances are ubiquitous natural materials found in sediments as a product of biochemical transformation reactions representing a significant proportion of organic carbon cycle on earth. This study involves the analysis of humic substances with special emphasis on humic acids (HAs) in sediments collected from the Kongsfjorden System of Arctic region in June, 2017. The characterization of the isolated HAs were done using various spectroscopic techniques viz. UV-visible, Fluorescence, FTIR and NMR. Isolated HAs were also undergone for elemental analysis along with other characterization. The UV spectral analysis results with a lower E4/E6 ratio suggesting the presence of HAs with high degree of aromaticity and condensation. Indications for the presence of hydroxyl, methyl, methylene, carbonyl, carboxyl, phenol, alcohol and amide groups were obtained from the FTIR spectrums of HAs. NMR spectral characteristics also confirm the presence of OH group as well as the presence of CH protons adjacent to C=X, were X can be any electronegative element. This also confirms the presence of carbonyl group which is also evident in the FTIR spectral studies. Presence of aliphatic regions slightly more dominated with long chain and/or alicyclic moieties rather than methyl groups was also inferred from the results of NMR.
  
  
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  Role of lithology, weathering and precipitation on water chemistry of lakes from Larsemann Hills and Schirmacher Oasis of East Antarctica

  Rajesh ASTHANA, Prakash K SHRIVASTAVA, Hari B SRIVASTAVA, Ashit K SWAIN, Mirza Javed BEG, Amit DHARWADKAR

  Advances in Polar Science. 2019, 30(1): 35-51. https://doi.org/10.13679/j.advps.2019.1.00035

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  Schirmacher Oasis and Larsemann Hills areas represent two different periglacial environments of East Antarctica. Schirmacher Oasis is characterized by a vast stretch of ice-shelf in the north and East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) to its south. Whereas, in Larsemann Hills area the northern and north-western boundary is coastal area and EAIS in the southern part, exhibiting polar lowland between the marine and continental glacial ecosystems. Physico-chemical parameters of water samples from different lakes of both of these two distinct locations are quite contrasting and have indicated influence of lithology, weathering, evaporation and precipitation. The lake water chemistry in Larsemann Hills area is mainly governed by the lithology of the area while Schirmacher lakes exhibit influence of precipitation and rock composition. All major ions of lake waters indicate balanced ionic concentrations. The atmospheric precipitation has significantly modified the ionic distributions in the lakes and channels. Carbonation is the main proton supplying geochemical reactions involved in the rock weathering and this is an important mechanism which controls the hydrochemistry. The lake water hydrochemistry differs widely not only between two distant periglacial zones but also within a short distance of a single periglacial entity, indicating influence of territorial climate over hydrochemistry.
  
  
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  Constraints on early Paleozoic magmatic processes and tectonic setting of Inexpressible Island, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

  Hong CHEN, Wei WANG, Yue ZHAO

  Advances in Polar Science. 2019, 30(1): 52-69. https://doi.org/10.13679/j.advps.2019.1.00052

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  During the Cambrian and Ordovician, widespread magmatic activity occurred in the Ross Orogen of central Antarctica, forming the Granite Harbor Intrusives and Terra Nova Intrusive Complex. In the Terra Nova Intrusive Complex, the latest magmatic activity comprised the emplacement of the Abbott Unit (508 Ma) and the Vegetation Unit (~475 Ma), which were formed in different tectonic settings. Owing to their similar lithological features, the tectonic transformation that occurred between the formation of these two units has not been well studied. Through a detailed geological field investigation and geochemical and geochronological analyses, four types of magmatic rock—basalt, syenite, mafic veins, and granite veins—were identified on Inexpressible Island, Northern Victoria Land. Our SHRIMP (Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe) zircon U–Pb ages of the basalt and the granite veins are 504.7 ± 3.1 and 495.5 ± 4.9 Ma, respectively. Major- and trace-element data indicate a continental-margin island-arc setting for the formation of these two rock types. The zircon U–Pb ages of the syenite and the monzodiorite veins are 485.8 ± 5.7 and 478.5 ± 4.0 Ma, respectively. Major- and trace-element compositions suggest a collisional setting for the former and an intracontinental extensional setting for the latter. These results elucidate the evolution from subduction to collision and intracontinental extension in Northern Victoria Land during the 20 Ma spanning the late Cambrian–Early Ordovician and improve our understanding of the tectonics and evolution of the Ross Orogen in the Transantarctic Mountains.
  
  
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  Characterizing three-dimensional features of Antarctic subglacial lakes from the inversion of hydraulic potential—Lake Vostok as a case study

  Yan LI, Yang LU, Zizhan ZHANG, Hongling SHI, Hui XI

  Advances in Polar Science. 2019, 30(1): 70-75. https://doi.org/10.13679/j.advps.2019.1.00070

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  To estimate basal water storage beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, it is essential to have data on the three-dimensional characteristics of subglacial lakes. We present a method to estimate the water depth and surface area of Antarctic subglacial lakes from the inversion of hydraulic potential method. Lake Vostok is chosen as a case study because of the diverse and comprehensive measurements that have been obtained over and around the lake. The average depth of Lake Vostok is around 345±4 m. We estimated the surface area of Lake Vostok beneath the ice sheet to be about 13300±594 km2. The lake consists of two sub-basins separated by a ridge at water depths of about 200–300 m. The surface area of the northern sub-basin is estimated to be about half of that of the southern basin. The maximum depths of the northern and southern sub-basins are estimated to be about 450 and 850 m, respectively. Total water volume is estimated to be about 4658±204 km3. These estimates are compared with previous estimates obtained from seismic data and inversion of aerogravity data. In general, our estimates are closer to those obtained from the inversion of aerogravity data than those from seismic data, indicating the applicability of our method to the estimation of water depths of other subglacial lakes.
  
  
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  Terahertz atmospheric windows for high angular resolution terahertz astronomy from Dome A

  Hiroshi MATSUO, Shengcai SHI, Scott PAINE, Qijun YAO, Zhenhui LIN

  Advances in Polar Science. 2019, 30(1): 76-80. https://doi.org/10.13679/j.advps.2019.00076

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  Atmospheric transmission from Dome A, Antarctica, presents new possibilities in the field of terahertz astronomy, where space telescopes have been the only observational tools until now. Using atmospheric transmission measurements from Dome A with a Fourier transform spectrometer, transmission spectra and long-term stabilities have been analyzed at 1.461 THz, 3.393 THz, 5.786 THz and 7.1 THz, which show that important atmospheric windows for terahertz astronomy open for a reasonable length of time in the winter season. With large aperture terahertz telescopes and interferometers at Dome A, high angular resolution terahertz observations are foreseen of atomic fine-structure lines from ionized gas and a water ice feature from protoplanetary disks.