Abstract

Oceanographic sampling of physics and phytoplankton has continued year-round at Rothera since 1997/8 season by a series of Marine Assistants. Alongside this long-term sampling there have been a large number of other projects by UK collaborators and increasingly with Dutch colleagues. These extra projects bring a wide variety of skills and techniques to study processes in Ryder Bay. The collaboration with the Dutch was formalised several years ago and they have funded a series of projects, provided four new containerised labs that live in the Gerritsz building and an extra boat. I will present the key findings from the long term sampling and give early results from the Dutch sampling. The extra projects examine in detail the causes and consequences of the changes that we have seen. A shift towards less sea ice in winter is the dominant driver of the observed changes and this mirrors an overall decline in sea ice along the west Antarctic Peninsula.