Interactive effects of body mass changes and species-specific morphology on flight behavior of chick-rearing Antarctic fulmarine petrels under diurnal wind patterns.

For procellariiform seabirds, wind and morphology are crucial determinants of flight costs and flight speeds. During chick-rearing, parental seabirds commute frequently to provision their chicks, and their body mass typically changes between outbound and return legs. In Antarctica, the characteristic diurnal katabatic winds, which blow stronger in the mornings, form a natural experimental setup to investigate flight behaviors of commuting seabirds in response to wind conditions.

The 2019/2020 summer of Antarctic heatwaves.

This summer, a heatwave across Antarctica saw temperatures soar above average. Temperatures above zero are especially significant because they accelerate ice melt. Casey Station had its highest temperature ever, reaching a maximum of 9.

Meteoritic dust from the atmospheric disintegration of a large meteoroid.

Much of the mass of most meteoroids entering the Earth's atmosphere is consumed in the process of ablation. Larger meteoroids (> 10 cm), which in some cases reach the ground as meteorites, typically have survival fractions near 1-25 per cent of their initial mass. The fate of the remaining ablated material is unclear, but theory suggests that much of it should recondense through coagulation as nanometre-sized particles.