Biomarkers and diatoms as tracers of phytoplankton communities and past sea ice conditions in the southwestern Ross Sea, Antarctica: drivers and variability over the last 200 years

de Jong, Emma M.; Crosta, Xavier; Naeher, Sebastian; Duncan, Bella; Etourneau, Johan; Lee, Jae Il; McKay, Robert; Winton, V. Holly L.

doi:10.5194/bg-23-6979-2026

Articles | Volume 23, issue 19

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-6979-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-6979-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 19

Research article

|

07 Oct 2026

Research article |

| 07 Oct 2026

Biomarkers and diatoms as tracers of phytoplankton communities and past sea ice conditions in the southwestern Ross Sea, Antarctica: drivers and variability over the last 200 years

Emma M. de Jong, Xavier Crosta, Sebastian Naeher, Bella Duncan, Johan Etourneau, Jae Il Lee, Robert McKay, and V. Holly L. Winton

Data sets

Biomarkers and diatoms in a transect of southwestern Ross Sea sediment cores Emma Maria de Jong et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.989298

Short summary

This study examines chemical and biological traces (biomarkers) of microscopic algae in Antarctic sediments. We show how sea ice conditions and different phytoplankton communities influence the types of biomarkers preserved on the seafloor, and how these records reveal an overall increase in sea ice duration in the Ross Sea over the past 200 years.