During the past 30 years or so, the primary objects of environmental protection in Antarctica were living organisms such as penguins and seals, and their breeding grounds, terrestrial plants and their habitats. The ever growing threats to the icy continent, resulting from increasing human activities, lead SCAR, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs), and recently also the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP) to seek improved measures for conservation of the Antarctic fauna and flora, to actively participate in the preparation of conventions for protection of seals and other marine living organisms, and to elaborate a mandatory code for waste disposal.

Increasingly, many aspects of the study of Antarctica and the high southern latitudes are being aided by various types of numerical models. Among these are the General Circulation Models (GCMs), which are powerful tools that can be used to understand the maintenance of present atmospheric climate and determine its sensitivity to imposed changes. The changes in the ability of GCMs used over the last two decades to simulate aspects of atmospheric climate at high southern latitudes are traced and it is concluded there has been a steady improvement in model products. The task of assessing model climates in high southern latitudes is made difficult by the uncertainties in the data used for the climatological statistics. It is suggested that the quality of the climates produced by most modern GCMs in many aspects cannot be said to be poor, especially considering the uncertainties in ‘observed’ climate. There is obviously need for improvements in both modelling and observations. Finally, some topics are highlighted in which the formulation of models could be improved, with special reference to better treatment of physical processes at high southern latitudes.

The presence and distribution of alien plant species on subantarctic Marion and Prince Edward Islands is reviewed and updated. This study documents the finding of a well established population of Cerastium fontanum on Prince Edward Island. An additional taxa, Senecio sp., is recorded in association with a recurrence of Plantago lanceolata on Marion Island. Propagules of both these taxa have recently been dispersed to the island in building material imported from South Africa. The distribution of Agrostis stolonifera and Sagina apetala on Marion Island has increased markedly between 1981 and 1989.

The female attendance behaviour of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) and subantarctic fur seals (A.tropicalis), which breed sympatrically on subantarctic Marion Island, was investigated. Over the same period after the breeding season, the mean duration of feeding trips to sea, and percentage of time spent at sea, did not differ significantly between lactating females of the two species. The difference in mean duration of shore visits was significant and the longer onshore attendance of A. tropicalis probably related to the lower demand by their pups which grow at a slower rate. The subpolar maternal adaptations of A. gazella were unchanged under the more temperate environment at Marion Island, and it remains to be established unequivocally whether conditions there are limiting to the species.

Population growth rates of Antarctic and temperate isolates of the microflagellate Heteromita globosa Stein and of the ciliate Colpoda cucullus Müller were determined during incubation both under constant 3.5° and 8.0°C, and under temperature regimes fluctuating on 24-hour cycles, between 0° and 15°C, to simulate Antarctic microclimates. Fluctuating temperatures did not inhibit growth. No growth of Colpoda occurred at 3.5°C. It is suggested that successful growth in nature depends upon the microclimate providing sufficient degree-hours per day above encystment/excystment threshold temperature (+1.5°C for Heteromita about +4°C for Colpoda). The minimum number of degree-hours above threshold needed for growth of Colpoda is estimated to lie between 48 and 96. Monitored microclimates in the maritime Antarctic do not provide enough degree-hours per day, though subantarctic microclimates are more favourable, as may be exceptionally warm localities in the continental Antarctic where daily insolation is high in summer. These data are consistent with the recorded presence of Colpoda spp. in the subantarctic and rarely in the continental Antarctic, and their absence from the maritime Antarctic.

The petrography and mineralogy of Iherzolite nodules from an intrusive body of alkaline-ultrabasic rocks on Jetty Peninsula. The nodules are massive with a porphyritic hypidiomorphic granular texture. The main rock-forming minerals are: olivine, pyroxene, garnet and chrome spinel. The nodules are coarse granular spinel-garnet Iherzolites that are chemically similar to pyrope peridotite from Krezemze, Czechoslovakia, and pyrope-bearing peridotite from alkaline ultrabasites of Yakutia, USSR. The Al2O3 content in enstaties and Ca/(Ca + Mg) ratio in co-existing chrome diopside suggest that equilibrium conditions of the mantle mineral assemblage are: T = 875–900°C, P = 20–24 kbar, conditions typical of the spinel-pyrope facies of the upper mantle. Depths of withdrawal of the inclusions do not exceed 60–75 km. Available age determinations of the intrusive alkaline-ultrabasic rocks (145–150 Ma) suggest that alkaline-ultrabasic magmatism and withdrawal of plutonic nodules were related to rifting which resulted in the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent in the late Mesozoic.

A preliminary palynological study of Beacon Supergroup sedimentary rocks exposed at Milorgfjella, Dronning Maud Land, has yielded a relatively rich and well preserved palynoflora dominated by spores and pollen grains, but also including acritarchs and green algae. The palynoflora is dominated by the pterophyte spores Punctatisporites gretensis, Punctatisporites parvus, Granulatisporites spp., Microbaculispora tentula Horriditriletes spp. and Verrucosisporites andersonii, and the gymnosperm pollen grains Plicatipollenites spp. and Cannanoropollis spp. Also present are the lycopod spore Jayantisporites pseudozonatus, the praecolpate pollen grain Marsupipollenites striatus and the monocolpate pollen grain Cycadopites cymbatus. The palynoflora indicates freshwater conditions or, at least, a major freshwater influence on the depositional environment. Comparison of the palynoflora with others from Gondwana suggests an Early Permian (Asselian–Sakmarian) age.

The youngest pre-caldera volcanism of Deception Island is represented by a thick sequence of subaerial pyroclastic deposits which has been grouped as the Yellow Tuff Formation. Most of these deposits were related to the explosive activity of a central vent which was destroyed during the formation of the caldera. Two members can be distinguished in this formation. The lower member is mainly composed of 1 to 12 m thick massive pyroclastic flow deposits with interbedded air-fall and surge deposits. The upper member is in stratigraphical continuity with the lower member and consists of base surge deposits with minor air-fall and thin pyroclastic flow deposits. The pre-caldera deposits have undergone a palagonitic alteration which produced crystallization of smectites, Fe-oxides, zeolites and calcite.

Marie Byrd Land is amongst the most inaccessible and least visited regions of Antarctica. It contains a large alkaline volcanic province, with 18 large central volcanoes and numerous small satellitic centres, ranging in age from late Oligocene (c. 28–30 Ma) to Recent (LeMasurier 1990). The volcanic rocks provide an outstanding record of the late Cenozoic glacial and volcanic history of Antarctica. The volcanism has been described within a region-wide model of hot-spot impingent at the base of the crust, widespread eruption of mafic plateau lavas and the sequential release of more evolved magmas from crustal chambers beneath central volcanoes situated along a series of reactivated, orthogonal basement fractures (LeMasurier & Rex 1989). Most of the volcanoes have been studied only on a reconnaissance level.

Unmanned magnetometer stations (UMS) have been developed and were installed at remote location near Syowa station, Antarctica (69°S, 40°E) to perform field tests in the harsh Antarctic environment. The UMS was powered by a thermo-electric generator fuelled by kerosene (LTEG) which supplies 87 Watts continuously to the load. The LTEG and instrumentation (flux gate magnetometer, data logger, chronometer) were installed in a thermally insulated shelter (0.9 m by 1.8 m by 1.9 m). The shelter and an 800 l fuel tank were mounted on a sled, and were towed by snow tractor. The UMS were installed at Kizahasi beach, Skarvsnes (50 km south-west of Syowa) and at H-100 of the Mizuho route (100 km south of Syowa) in the early spring of 1988 and operated until the end of the year. The data obtained will be used for a study of the spatial phase and amplitude structure of the ionospheric current systems and a response of the local induction currents to them.