This dataset accompanies the paper 'Antarctic Marine Viruses: A Review and Future Perspectives' and compiles quantitative data on Antarctic marine viruses, including sampling locations, viral abundance, lytic viral production, carbon release by lysis, associated environmental factors and others. The primary aim of this dataset is to consolidate existing measurements on Antarctic marine viruses, facilitating future research on viral ecology, biogeochemical cycling, ecosystem dynamics, climate modelling in polar marine environments.

The Antarctic Slope and Coastal Currents are key ocean circulation features around the Antarctic margin, driving the transport of heat, salt and nutrients around the continent. They are also coupled to the hydrography of the region, where in certain locations around Antarctica, the weakening of these currents facilitate the cross-slope transport of warm water onto the continental slope, inducing basal melt of ice shelves and increasing glacial and ice sheet flow, resulting in global sea level rise. However, a lack of observations in this remote region limits our understanding of these current systems. This work examined the dynamics of the Antarctic Slope and Coastal Currents, which shed new light on their temporal and spatial variability and has implications on their roles in the climate system. In Part I of this work we examined an intrinsic variability in warm water intrusions on the Antarctic continental slope through canyons, with narrower canyons resulting in more irregular intrusions in an idealised channel ocean model. Using dynamical systems theory we found that this intrinsic variability arises from the Antarctic Slope Current, driven by feedbacks between eddy generation and surface wind stress input. In Part 2 of this work we compared eddy and current velocities across a 1/10 degree and 1/20 degree regional ocean-sea ice model, showing that eddy activity is more than doubled in the 1/20 degree model than the 1/10 degree model, with minimal differences in current velocities. Eddy activity and coastal current velocities were found to exhibit a hysteresis loop with sea ice, with sea ice growth leading a dampening of eddy activity and current velocities, a feature more strongly represented in the higher resolution model. In Part III of this work modelled Antarctic Slope Current changes under a transient meltwater perturbation were investigated, representative of projected meltwater inputs under climate change. The Antarctic Slope Current increases non-linearly over time as more meltwater is added around Antarctica, with an increased acceleration towards the middle of the 21st century. The non-linear acceleration is attributed to a strengthened salinity gradient across the continental slope, driven by poleward shifting warm waters. This work provides new dynamical insight into the variability of these circulation features, but also motivates further investigation into these emergent phenomena to better understand their impact on our changing Antarctic climate.

This project used marine benthic imagery and fine-scale oceanographic data to refine existing models of the contemporary circumpolar distribution of Antarctic benthic biodiversity, and used oceanographic models developed in the ACEAS program to generate spatial predictions of the distribution of various aspects on benthic biodiversity and blue carbon under future climate scenarios. ***Access to data is currently embargoed, to be made available ~June 2026***

The Whole-Antarctic Ocean Model (WAOM) is based on the Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS) with thermodynamic ice shelf interactions following Galton-Fenzi et al. (2012)¹. WAOM simulations of the present-day (year 2007) were used to investigate the physical drivers of Antarctic ice shelf basal melting via an ocean heat budget in a longitudinal framework. Ice shelves buttress the Antarctic Ice Sheet and therefore are critical in the dynamics of ice sheet instability and its contribution to sea level rise. New insights into the seasonal melting mechanisms and its importance at circum-Antarctic scale were investigated in Dias et al (2025)². 1) Galton-Fenzi B, Hunter JR, Coleman R, Marsland SJ, & Warner RC. (2012) Modeling the basal melting and marine ice accretion of the Amery Ice Shelf, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 117 (C9). https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JC008214 2) Boeira Dias F, England MH, Morrison AK, & Galton-Fenzi B. (2025).: On the seasonal variability of ocean heat transport and ice shelf melt around Antarctica, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3905

The data result from an analysis of gridded satellite altimetry time series of ice surface elevation for the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Multiple linear regression is performed, including parameters associated with the cumulative sum of each of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The gridded data include the original data and the derived parameters and statistical values. Four grids are provided. Two grids are from separate regressions performed on data after applying one of two different spatial smoothing filters (10 km and 200 km Gaussian functions). Two further grids are from regressions after subtracting one of two firn densification models from the 10 km-smoothed altimetry data.

Data pertain to analysis of GRACE time series of mass change in both gridded and basin format. The GRACE data are based on the COST-G solution obtained from http://gravis.gfz-potsdam.de/home. Both 50km regular gridded data and basin-level time series are included, as well as the SAM and ENSO climate indices on which the regressions were based. The gridded datasets provided here include derived quantities from the regressions such as trends, uncertainties, and regression coefficients in NetCDF format.

Globally, terrestrially-breeding marine predators have experienced shifts in species distribution, prey availability, breeding phenology, and population dynamics due to climate change. These central-place foragers are restricted within proximity of their breeding colonies during the breeding season, making them highly susceptible to any changes in both marine and terrestrial environments. While ecologists have developed risk assessments to assess likely climate risk in various contexts, these often overlook critical breeding biology data. To address this knowledge gap, we developed a trait-based risk assessment framework, focusing on the breeding season and applying it to marine predators breeding in parts of Australian territory and Antarctica. Our objectives were to quantify climate change risk, identify specific threats, and establish an adaptable framework. The assessment considered 25 criteria related to three risk components: vulnerability, exposure, and hazard, while accounting for uncertainty. We employed a scoring system that integrated a systematic literature review and expert elicitation for the hazard criteria. Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify key factors contributing to overall risk. Our results identified shy albatross (Thalassarche cauta), southern rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome), Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus), and Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea) with high climate urgency. Species breeding in lower latitudes as well as certain eared seal, albatross, and penguin species were particularly at risk. Hazard and exposure explained the most variation in relative risk, outweighing vulnerability. Key climate hazards affecting most species include extreme weather events, changes in habitat suitability, and prey availability. We emphasise the need for further research, focusing on at-risk species, and filling knowledge gaps (less-studied hazard criteria, and/or species) to provide a more accurate and robust climate change risk assessment. Our findings offer valuable insights for conservation efforts, given monitoring and implementing climate adaptation strategies for land-dependent marine predators is more feasible during their breeding season.