Analysis of nunataks of the Antarctic Peninsula as multiproxy data sources on environmental change and climate dynamics

The Antarctic Peninsula AP has been among the fastest warming regions on Earth during the last 60 years. Such warming has important implications for geoecological processes, but many such effects are still poorly understood. Glaciers and vegetation are among those expected to show the most dramatic responses to changing climate in the AP region.

NUNANTAR will address two main hypotheses:

1 Glacier thinning rates in nunataks ie islands of land surrounded by glaciers can be inferred since the onset of the deglaciation and their comparison with recent/contemporary dynamics will allow framing recent rates of glacier shrinking and compare them with the Late Pleistocene-Holocene record.

2 Nunataks in the AP are hotspots of biodiversity and may have acted as vegetation refugia during glaciations, with a key role for species migration routes from the AP towards continental Antarctica.

NUNANTAR will focus on five climatically-contrasted nunataks across the AP, located along N-S and W-E transects. At each site, we will apply a multiple-dating approach combining absolute cosmogenic, lichenometry and relative dating techniques Schmidt hammer/Equotip; vegetation colonization to reconstruct the spatio-temporal patterns of glacial advances/retreats since the Last Glacial Maximum. The analysis of remote sensing and aerial imagery, old pictures and glaciological data, will elucidate if the recent glacial retreat in the AP is part of natural climate variability or if it results of climate change in Antarctica. The molecular characterization of some vegetation communities will allow evaluating the role of nunataks as refugia and sources of vegetation post-glacial spreading.

The multidisciplinary team of NUNANTAR will address our hypotheses completing five tasks carried out using cutting-edge field technologies, analytical methodologies and statistical techniques:

Task 1-Remote sensing mapping

Task 2-Field work activities

Task 3-Laboratory analyses

Task 4-Reconstruction of the deglaciation

Task 5-Identification and analysis of biodiversity patterns

NUNANTAR will be led by the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning / Centre for Geographical Studies of the University of Lisbon IGOT/CEG-UL, a centre with a long record of Antarctic research that hosts the Portuguese Polar Program PROPOLAR. The IGOT/CEG-UL team will work together with a strong multidisciplinary team of international collaborators that will provide expertise and equipment for NUNANTAR purposes. The team includes members from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Turkey, who will collectively draw on decades of research experience in Polar Regions. The project is supported by PROPOLAR, and will count with field logistical support from the Spanish, Czech and Turkish Antarctic programs. We will continue to present our results at international conferences, publish in high-impact journals and disseminate on the importance of Antarctic research through education and outreach activities.