EGU25-13638, updated on 15 Mar 2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13638
EGU General Assembly 2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Unlocking Weddell Sea Ice History Through Snow Petrel Stomach Oil Deposits
Zhongxuan Li1, Ewan Wakefield1, Mike Bentley1, Dominic Hodgson2, James Grecian1, Darren Grocke3, Richard Phillips2, and Erin McClymont1
Zhongxuan Li et al.
  • 1Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, UK
  • 2British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, CB3 0ET
  • 3Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK

Snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea) stomach-oil deposits offer a unique archive for reconstructing historical occupation patterns (e.g., Steele and Hiller, 1997) and assessing Antarctic sea-ice variability (e.g., McClymont et al., 2022). Snow petrels forage within the summer sea ice but return to ice-free bedrock to nest, creating stomach-oil deposits that encapsulate records of their diet and the environmental conditions within the sea ice. This study examines four deposits (SVMUM003, 005, 007, 009) spanning the last ~30,000 years, collected from Svarthamaren, in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to analyze fatty acids and alcohol biomarkers, alongside isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, we identify dietary shifts potentially linked to changes in foraging behaviour. These shifts are associated with environmental drivers including sea-ice extent and oceanographic conditions. Our findings highlight the potential of snow petrel stomach oil deposits as proxies for long-term ecological monitoring in polar ecosystems. By revealing changes in marine food web dynamics and the impacts of environmental variability, this research enhances our understanding of how Antarctic top predators respond to shifting environmental conditions.

Steele, W.K. and Hiller, A., 1997. Radiocarbon dates of snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea) nest sites in central Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Polar Record33(184), pp.29-38.

McClymont, E.L., Bentley, M.J., Hodgson, D.A., Spencer-Jones, C.L., Wardley, T., West, M.D., Croudace, I.W., Berg, S., Gröcke, D.R., Kuhn, G. and Jamieson, S.S., 2022. Summer sea-ice variability on the Antarctic margin during the last glacial period reconstructed from snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea) stomach-oil deposits. Climate of the Past18(2), pp.381-403.

 

How to cite: Li, Z., Wakefield, E., Bentley, M., Hodgson, D., Grecian, J., Grocke, D., Phillips, R., and McClymont, E.: Unlocking Weddell Sea Ice History Through Snow Petrel Stomach Oil Deposits, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13638, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13638, 2025.