• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.396-399
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• 2020

The Antarctic freshwater copepod, Boeckella poppei (Mrazek, 1901), has the widest range of distribution extending from southern South America to Antarctic continent, among all Boeckella species. Boeckella poppei is the only freshwater copepod known to be inhabiting the Antarctic continent. In present study, we analyzed the DNA barcodes of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of B. poppei from King George Island, Antarctica. The intraspecific genetic distances varied from 0% to 13% and interspecific genetic distances ranged from 11% to 14%. The overlap of DNA barcode gap suggests careful threshold-based delimitation of species boundaries.

• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.434-435
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• 2007

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• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2021

This study was carried out to investigate the moss flora of Barton Peninsula on King George Island of Antarctica. The study presented here was based on field surveys of Barton Peninsula conducted by the author during the austral summer season in 2012/2013, 2013/2014, 2014/2015 and herbarium specimens from Hiroshima University. The result of the study showed that the moss flora Barton Peninsula consisted of a total of 35 species, with 11 families and 21 genera.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.187-193
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• 2015

Candida (also known as Pseudozyma) antarctica lipase B (CAL-B) has been intensely studied in academic and industrial fields. However, the research related to its homologous enzymes has been rarely reported. In the current investigation, protein sequence similarity search of CAL-B has been conducted and six homologous protein sequences were identified. After the syntheses of their codon-optimized genes, the synthetic genes have been cloned into a periplasmic expression vector to express in Escherichia coli. Among six homologous sequences, four sequences were successfully expressed in E. coli. The hydrolytic activities of the expressed proteins towards 4-nitrophenyl acetate and 4-nitrophenyl butyrate were measured and compared with those of CAL-B to identify whether the expressed proteins work as a hydrolase. It has been revealed that the expressed proteins can hydrolyze the substrates and the specific activities were determined as $(1.3-30){\times}10^{-2}{\mu}mol/min/mg$, which are lower than those of CAL-B. Among these homologous enzymes, Pseudozyma hubeiensis SY62 exhibits the comparable enantioselectivity to that of CAL-B towards the hydrolysis of (${\pm}$)-1-phenylethyl acetate.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.343-353
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• 2018

Ocean tides in Antarctica are not well constrained mostly due to the lack of tidal observations. Especially, tides underneath and around ice shelves are uncertain. InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) data has been used to observe ice shelf movements primarily caused by ocean tides. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to estimate tidal constituents underneath the Sulzberger ice shelf, West Antarctica, solely using ERS-1/2 tandem mission DInSAR (differential InSAR) observations. In addition, the tidal constituents can be estimated in a high-resolution (~200 m) grid which is beyond any tidal model resolution. We assume that InSAR observed ocean tidal heights can be derived after correcting the InSAR data for the effect of atmospheric loading using the inverse barometric effect, solid earth tides, and ocean tide loading. The ERS (European Remote Sensing) tandem orbit configuration of a 1-day separation between SAR data takes diminishes the sensitivity to major tidal constituents including $K_1$ and $S_2$. Here, the dominant tidal constituent $O_1$ is estimated using 8 differential interferograms underneath the Sulzberger ice shelf. The resulting tidal constituent is compared with a contemporary regional tide model (CATS2008a) and a global tide model (TPXO7.1). The InSAR estimated tidal amplitude agrees well with both models with RMS (root-mean-square) differences of < 2.2 cm and the phase estimate corroborating both tide models to within $8^{\circ}$. We conclude that fine spatial scale (~200 m) Antarctic ice shelf ocean tide determination is feasible for dominant constituents using C-band ERS-1/2 tandem mission InSAR.

• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.111-124
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• 2006

This study examines seasonal variability of the surface energy balance at the King Sejong Station, Antarctica, using measurements and estimates of the components related to the balance for the period of 1996 to 2004. Annual average of downward shortwave radiation at the surface is 81 $Wm^{-2}$ which is 37% of the extraterrestrial value, with the monthly maximum of 188 $Wm^{-2}$ in December and the minimum of 8 $Wm^{-2}$ in June. These values are relatively smaller than those at other stations in Antarctica, which can be attributed to higher cloudy weather conditions in Antarctic front zone. Surface albedo varies between ~0.3 in the austral summer season and ~0.6 in the winter season. As a result, the net shortwave radiation ranges from 117 $Wm^{-2}$ down to 3 $Wm^{-2}$ with annual averages of 43 $Wm^{-2}$. Annual average of the downward longwave radiation shows 278 $Wm^{-2}$, ranging from 263 $Wm^{-2}$ in August to 298 $Wm^{-2}$ in January. The downward longwave radiation is verified to be dependent strongly on the air temperature and specific humidity, accounting for 74% and 79% of the total variance in the longwave radiation, respectively. The net longwave radiation varies between 25 $Wm^{-2}$ and 40 $Wm^{-2}$ with the annual averages of 30 $Wm^{-2}$. Accordingly, the annual average energy balance is dominated by radiative warming of a positive net all-wave radiation from September to next March and radiative cooling of a negative net all-wave radiation from April to August. The net all-wave radiative energy gain and loss at the surface is mostly balanced by turbulent flux of sensible and latent heat. The soil heat flux is of negligible importance in the surface energy balance.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.341-346
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• 2009

Candida Antarctica lipase A (CalA) has been used because of its suitability in industrial applications. CalA has unique features capable to accept tertiary and sterically hindered alcohols among many hydrolases. CalA gene was cloned and constructed in expression vector such as pColdIII/CalA and $pPICZ{\alpha}A$/CalA. The gene encoding pColdIII/CalA was functionally expressed in the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli $Origami^{TM}$ B (DE3) cells. The plasmid $pPICZ{\alpha}A$/CalA linearized by BstX I was integrated into 5'AOX1 region of the chromosomal DNA and was functionally expressed in the methyl atrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. Expressed CalA in P. pastoris (0.7 Unit/mL) showed 35 times higher activity than that in E. coli expression system (0.02 Unit/mL).

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• v.73 no.9
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• pp.1263-1268
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• 2018

Three different ice core samples from Antarctica were analyzed to identify activity concentrations of radioactive isotopes. Tracking migration of radioactive isotopes to Antarctica can provide a key clue to understand global environmental changes caused by radiation exposures because the Antarctic ice cores can preserve unique characteristics of various environmental conditions. We are particularly interested in the $^{137}Cs$ nucleus, because it is closely related to radiation exposure from nuclear power plant accidents and nuclear bomb tests. With its half life of $30.17{\pm}0.03$ years, $^{137}Cs$ can also be used to assess the age of sedimentation occurring after around the year 1945. We selected three ice core samples, called Tarn8, Styx27, and H25, from different time periods; the Tarn8 sample is known to be from earlier than ~ 1000 AD, the Styx27 sample is approximately from the year 1945, and the H25 sample is from the year 2012. Radioactive isotope measurements of the ice core samples were performed using a 100% HPGe detector at Cheongpyeong Underground Radiation Laboratory (CURL). We measured the activity of $^{137}Cs$ in the H25 sample to be $0.98{\pm}0.82mBq/kg$. Although the activity has a large uncertainty mainly due to the limited sample quantity, the $^{137}Cs$ isotopes in the Antarctic ice core were measured for the first time in Korea.

• ALGAE
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.241-252
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• 2023

The genera Carolibrandtia and Chlorella have been described as small green algae with spherical cell shapes that inhabit various environments. Species of these genera are often difficult to identify because of their simple morphology and high phenotypic plasticity. We investigated two small coccoid strains from Antarctica based on morphology, molecular phylogeny by two alignment methods which have been applied to previous phylogenetic studies of the genus Chlorella, and comparison of the secondary structures of nuclear small subunit (SSU) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA sequences. Light microscopy of two strains revealed spherical cells containing chloroplasts with pyrenoids, and the morphological characteristics of the strains were nearly identical to those of other Chlorella species. However, based on the phylogenetic analyses of nuclear SSU and ITS rDNA sequences, it was determined that the Antarctic microalgal strains belonged to two genera, as the Chlorella and Carolibrandtia. In addition, the secondary structures of the SSU and ITS2 sequences were analyzed to detect compensatory base changes (CBCs) that were used to identify and describe the two strains. A unique CBC in the SSU rDNA gene was decisive for distinguishing strain CCAP 211/45. The ITS2 rDNA sequences for each strain were compared to those obtained previously from other closely related species. Following the comparison of morphological and molecular characteristics, we propose KSF0092 as a new species, Chlorella terrestris sp. nov., and the reassignment of the strain Chlorella antarctica CCAP 211/45 into Carolibrandtia antarctica comb. nov.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.281-287
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• 2015

Two mini neutron monitors are installed at Concordia research station (Dome C, Central Antarctica, $75^{\circ}06^{\prime}S$, $123^{\circ}23^{\prime}E$, 3,233 m.a.s.l.). The site has unique properties ideal for cosmic ray measurements, especially for the detection of solar energetic particles: very low cutoff rigidity < 0.01 GV, high elevation and poleward asymptotic acceptance cones pointing to geographical latitudes > $75^{\circ}S$. The instruments consist of a standard neutron monitor and a "bare" (lead-free) neutron monitor. The instrument operation started in mid-January 2015. The barometric correction coefficients were computed for the period from 1 February to 31 July 2015. Several interesting events, including two notable Forbush decreases on 17 March 2015 and 22 June 2015, and a solar particle event of 29 October 2015 were registered. The data sets are available at cosmicrays.oulu.fi and nmdb.eu.